The country is already selling truck-mounted laser cannons: the Low Altitude Guard and the higher powered Silent Hunter. The Silent Hunter uses a laser to zap ground and air targets up to 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) away, and at closer range is powerful enough to threaten lightly armored vehicles. The government used the Silent Hunter to protect the September 2016 G20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Such "hard kill" systems would be necessary to fight future autonomous drone threats, which won't be so easily disabled by jammed communications. The current use of drones by militaries and everyday citizens, coupled with the promise of AI-enhanced and networked platforms, suggests that we will see more technology and incidents of the kind shown off at Wuhan.

Elon Musk's neural lace project could turn us all into cyborgs, and he says that it's only four or five years away. The billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla has long been an outspoken critic of unrestricted artificial intelligence, and has been quietly researching the concept of "neural lace," a merger of machine learning and human intelligence that could revolutionize our species. In a profile published Monday in Vanity Fair, Musk said he thinks a "meaningful partial brain interface" could be here in less than half a decade. Musk, in general, is kind of terrified of artificial intelligence, saying that he thinks the A.I. takeover is inevitable. The key to survival, he says, is to find a way to create some sort of symbiosis with computers that can enhance human intelligence to compete with the machines.

March 28, 2017 --The race to develop electric autonomous cars might have just become more interesting: Chinese internet giant Tencent has acquired a 5 percent stake in Tesla, becoming the fifth largest shareholder of the US electric car maker. The Shenzhen-based company, known for messaging app WeChat, paid $1.78 billion for 8.2 million shares through a recent stock offering and open-market purchases, according to a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The investment – the largest by a Chinese company in the market of self-driving vehicles and related services – provides Elon Musk's Tesla with an additional boost as it prepares to launch its mass-market Model 3 electric sedan this year. "Tesla is a global pioneer at the forefront of new technologies," a Tencent spokesperson said Tuesday, MarketWatch reported. "Tencent's success is partly due to our record of backing entrepreneurs with capital; Elon Musk is the archetype for entrepreneurship, combining vision, ambition, and execution."

Tinder has always lived on your phone. The dating app, which seduced tens of millions of users with its delightfully simple right-swipe, didn't just have a mobile experience, it was a mobile experience. That changes today, with the release of a browser-based applet the company calls Tinder Online. When it arrives in the US later this year (the company is now testing it in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia, where users with weak cellular connections will finally be able to use Tinder from a desktop), Tinder Online will look a lot like the mobile version. But the company's designers made some changes to the interaction, starting with the swipe.

Tinder is joining the earliest electronic dating services and adding support for web. The app is designed to virtually introduce users to others in a set radius around them via photos and a short biography. Based on that limited information users swipe right if they're intrigued or left if they're not. If both users swipe right, they're matched and can begin a conversation. Tinder originated as an app, but soon it will be available in web browsers on any device.

Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has bought a 5% stake in electric car and solar firm Tesla Inc., according to a regulatory filing submitted Tuesday. The $1.8-billion investment gives one of China's most valuable companies another foothold in a growing industry and provides Elon Musk's Tesla a much-needed infusion of cash as it prepares to introduce its first mass-market sedan, the Model 3. Tencent now owns 8.17 million shares of Palo Alto-based Tesla, making it the company's fifth-largest shareholder, according to Nasdaq. Tencent's emergence as a major shareholder could strengthen Tesla's position in China, where it has seen its car exports surge to 11,839 vehicles in 2016, nearly four times more than in 2015, according to JL Warren Capital. "A Chinese shareholder such as Tencent could well improve the potential for marketing in China," said Daniel Rosen, a partner at the Rhodium Group. The investment comes weeks after Tesla said it needed to raise up to $1.15 billion by selling new stock and convertible securities to shore up its balance sheet for the Model 3. The $35,000 vehicle represents Tesla's biggest attempt yet to shed its status as a luxury-only brand, but questions linger about the company's ability to ramp up production into the hundreds of thousands by the end of 2018.

Whether you're a company implementing or thinking of implementing a chatbot/VA strategy, or an industry veteran, you can't miss this unique event showcasing the experiences of those who've been-there-and-done-that. You'll hear directly from Nationwide Financial, Airbnb, USAA, Anheuser-Busch, Nissan and more! Gain insight into their build, partner or buy decisions, their real-life implementation stories, using bots/VAs to generate customer insights, and the unexpected hurdles they had to overcome. Unlike other bot/VA events, you won't hear speakers "preaching to the choir." You'll hear many unique perspectives from end-users and industry veterans alike.

A new machine-learning based security solution from IBM could help businesses detect phishing sites up to 250% faster than other methods. Announced via a blog post on Monday, the cognitive phishing detection feature is part of the IBM Security Trusteer platform. When it comes to hacking, phishing is one of the oldest tricks in the book. It has stayed around for so long, in part, because it still works. According to IBM Security research cited in the post, some 30% of phishing emails are opened by targeted recipients. Phishing works well because it capitalizes on the fact that humans are typically the weakest link in an organization's cybersecurity.

At first glance you might mistake this worm-like robot as a child's toy. But the innovative machine is the world's first 3D-printed robot that can move forwards or backwards in a wave-like motion. Its designers hope to miniaturise the robot to make it small enough to swallow, allowing it to crawl along through the intestines to actively visualise the digestive system. The innovative machine is the world's first 3D-printed robot that can move forwards or backwards in a wave-like motion The device is the world's first 3D-printed robot that can move forwards or backwards in a wave-like motion. It can climb over obstacles or crawl through unstable terrain like sand and grass, reaching top speeds of 57 centimetres/second – five times faster than similar robots.

Uber has announced that it is shuttering operation in Denmark in April as a result of new taxi laws, marking the latest setback for the US-based ride hailing company. The Danish government in February, passed a reform changing regulations for taxis, following pressure from local taxi driver unions. The new law requires mandatory fare meters in cabs and seat occupancy detectors to activate the airbags. Uber, which says it has 2,000 drivers and 300,000 people using its app in Denmark, said it would not be able to operate unless the regulations were changed. It will officially end its activities in the country on 18 April.