The radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 at the crippledFukushima No. 1 power plant has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, the highest since the triple core meltdown in March 2011, oTokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. said Thursday. The reading means a person could die from even brief exposure, highlighting the difficulties ahead as the government and Tepco grope their way toward dismantling all three reactors that suffered core meltdowns in the March 2011 disaster. Tepco also announced that, based on image analysis, it has discovered a 2-meter hole in the metal grating beneath the pressure vessel inside reactor 2's containment vessel, and discovered a portion of it is warped. The hole could have been caused by melted fuel penetrating the vessel after the March 11, 2011 mega-quake and massive tsunami triggered a station blackout that crippled the plant's ability to keep the reactors cool. The new radiation level, described by some experts as "unimaginable," far exceeds 73 sieverts per hour, the previously highest radiation reading monitored in the interior of the reactor.

As the World Economic Forum unraveled last week in Davos, Switzerland, many leaders highlighted areas of future growth and how to shape the global economy – to promote an economy that will only serve to help improve our lives. Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, was also there discussing how IBM can contribute to this starting with artificial intelligence – or augmented intelligence/cognitive as we say at IBM. Why does IBM choose to use "augmented intelligence" or "cognitive" over "artificial intelligence"? What we've witnessed during each of these stages is some form of mechanics or machinery developed to augment our performance, thereby improving our outcome. Automotive – The assembly line was created to help workers produce more cars and simultaneously made the car more affordable to the masses. Communication – telephone / telex / fax – Gives one the ability to transfer information faster rather than having a messenger or a trained bird fly there.

Will Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant ever be able to talk to each other? Is broadband internet as important as water and electricity? We have it out on these topics and others in War of the Worlds, our new weekly video series that's part talk show, part game show, and part cross-platform debate. This story, "Watch War of the Worlds: Siri and Alexa are frenemies, China stops stupid drones and more" was originally published by Macworld.

Artificial intelligence is slowly seeping into more and more areas of white-collar work. The latest crossover is between tax preparation firm H&R Block and IBM's Watson, with the former using IBM's AI chops to help quiz clients about their tax liabilities. When a customer visits H&R Block to prepare their returns, software powered by IBM will ask questions about their year -- looking for big events like selling a house or buying shares that might introduce tax-deductibles. It's a standard part of H&R Block's service, but the company hopes that by feeding Watson this data (along with answers provided by human tax preparers), they can improve performance across the board. H&R Block's George Gaustello told The Verge that the idea is to share expertise around the company. "We have 70,000 experts, but let's say 500 of those are very knowledgeable about firefighters, or they know every credit deduction a farmer can get," Gaustello tells The Verge.

This self-flying drone phone case has a camera attached to help people take perfect selfies from any angle. The quirky contraption known as'SELFLY' wraps around any smart phone and then can be unclipped and allowed to glide around independently, so users can get perfect social media snaps from a variety of angles. Funding is currently being sought for the device on Kickstarter, with backers able to reserve their own for $99 (£79). It is a flying camera that can fold into a 9mm thin phone case. HD video is recorded to RAM and stored as raw data.

Nato must begin to compete on the cyber-battlefield to counter Russian hacking aimed at undermining democracy in the US and western Europe, the British defence secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, has said. In his most hard-hitting comments yet about Russia, he accused it of targeting the US, France, Germany, Holland, Bulgaria and Montenegro, which is due to become a full Nato member this year. Fallon blamed Russia for helping create the age of fake information. "Today we see a country that, in weaponising misinformation, has created what we might now see as the post-truth age. Part of that is the use of cyber-weaponry to disrupt critical infrastructure and disable democratic machinery," he said.

Inside the offices of Toutiao, it's hard to tell you're just outside of Beijing and not in the heart of Silicon Valley. The walls are decorated with stylish graffiti, and there are all the usual perks: a game room, a gym, and a sumptuous cafeteria. But Toutiao doesn't only look the part. The company makes an insanely popular Chinese news aggregation app called Toutiao (meaning "headlines"). Toutiao boasts some 700 million users in China, with more than 68 million active daily users.

At first, Fan Hui thought the move was rather odd. But then he saw its beauty. I've never seen a human play this move," he says. It's a word he keeps repeating. The move was the 37th in the second game of the historic Go match between Lee Sedol, one of the world's top players, and AlphaGo, an artificially intelligent computing system built by researchers at Google. Inside the towering Four Seasons hotel in downtown Seoul, the game was approaching the end of its first hour when AlphaGo instructed its human assistant to place a black stone in a largely open area on the right-hand side of the 19-by-19 grid that defines this ancient game. And just about everyone was shocked. I've never seen a human play this move.' "That's a very surprising move," said one of the match's English language commentators, who is himself a very talented Go player. Then the other chuckled and said: "I thought it was a mistake." But perhaps no one was more surprised than Lee Sedol, who stood up and left the ...

You awake to commotion – your mother's woken up in the middle of the night and is having trouble breathing. She struggles to sit up, holding her hand to her chest. You rush her to the hospital. As you hold her hand, you can feel her pulse racing – all symptoms of an incredibly quick heartbeat. When you both get there, she feels fine.

Exciting changes are underway for technology in health care. In our post about what to expect in 2017 we touched on many key trends, but one particular emerging technology deserves a closer look: artificial intelligence (AI). "While the U.S. health industry lags behind other industries … in deploying emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, drones, and virtual reality, 2017 is the year to prepare for the eventual arrival of these technologies and their impacts on business models, operations, workforce needs, and cybersecurity risks," stated consulting firm PWC's annual trend report. Here are three ways that artificial intelligence is being used to predict patient outcomes, potentially transforming the way doctors treat patients. In December 2016, Microsoft India, in collaboration with the country's L V Prasad Eye Institute, launched Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE), a research group that will leverage artificial intelligence to deliver large-scale eye care.