Wow! What a year 2016 has been. The big data industry has significant inertia moving into 2017. In order to give our valued readers a pulse on important new trends leading into next year, we here at insideBIGDATA heard from all our friends across the vendor ecosystem to get their insights, reflections and predictions for what may be coming. We were very encouraged to hear such exciting perspectives. Even if only half actually come true, Big Data in the next year is destined to be quite an exciting ride. IT becomes the data hero. It's finally IT's time to break the cycle and evolve from producer to enabler. IT is at the helm of the transformation to self-service analytics at scale. IT is providing the flexibility and agility the business needs to innovate all while balancing governance, data security, and compliance. And by empowering the organization to make data-driven decisions at the speed of business, IT will emerge as the data hero who helps shape the future of the business.

Social media posts have revealed that ISIS has modified commercial drones to drop bombs. Coalition air forces have hit ISIS-made drones and drone production sites in both Syria and Iraq. According to press releases from the Combined Joint Task Force, coalition military forces conducted 32 strikes against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq on January 12th alone, hitting an ISIS drone launch site in Northwestern Iraq. A US central command official told Defense One: 'Over the last two months, coalition forces have observed about one adversary drone every day around Mosul' With the exception of just one day (January 10th), the forces have hit ISIS drones, drone launch sites or drone production sites daily since January 7th. A US central command official told Defense One: 'Over the last two months, coalition forces have observed about one adversary drone every day around Mosul. 'The Coalition has struck a number of what we believed to be unmanned aerial vehicle facilities in Mosul.

We are in the midst of an extraordinary period of computing platform revolution, a renaissance in artificial intelligence, which is going to change the lives of billions of people around the globe. No other technology is gaining more momentum, seeing more progress--or inciting more fear--than the radical sharpening and rise of intelligence of machines. While the promise of AI has been known for years, the current pace of breakthrough is stunning. Machines are set to reach and exceed human performance on more and more tasks, thanks to advances in dedicated hardware, faster and deeper access to big data, and newer sophisticated algorithms that provide the ability to learn and improve based on feedback. AI has driven crucial progress in fields such as medicine, where it has spurred breakthroughs in disease diagnosis and the development of treatment plans.

Panasonic's relationship with robots is pretty well established at this point. Now the company is taking it one step further with the HOSPI(R) Autonomous Delivery Robot. From January 14th to the 18th, it'll inhabit the ANA Crowne Plaza Narita in Japan, delivering bottled drinks right from the fridge in its belly. It'll also be giving out bus directions according to a press release. Sounds a little bit less creepy than a robotic velociraptor checking you into a hotel, at least.

Many current fears around AI and automation center around the idea that superintelligence could somehow "take over," turning streets around the globe into scenes from The Terminator. While there is much to be gained from discussing the safe development of AI, there's another more imminent danger: Autonomous weapons. On Friday, after three years of negotiations, the UN unanimously agreed to take action. At the Fifth Review Conference of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, countries around the world agreed to begin formal discussions--which will take place for two weeks at the 2017 UN convention in Geneva--on a possible ban of lethal, autonomous weapons. Talks will begin in April or August, and 88 countries have agreed to attend.

The Nintendo Switch video game console will sell for about $260 in Japan, starting March 3, the same date as its global rollout in the U.S. and Europe. The Japanese company promises the device will be packed with fun features of all its past machines and more. The Kyoto-based maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games announced details of the Switch's release Friday at the Tokyo Big Sight events hall. It said the console will sell for $299.99 in the U.S. Customers in Europe would need to ask retailers there for prices. In teaser videos, Nintendo Co. has shown players using a handheld whose remote controller section detaches from the left and right sides of the main part of the device's display.

The new console can be played on a TV or on the go. On Thursday, Nintendo finally offered an in-depth look at the Nintendo Switch, its next video game console launching in two months. The Switch is a home console with a tablet at the center. It can attach to a docking station connected to a home TV, or travel with players by connecting two remote-like controllers called "Joy-Cons." In case you missed Nintendo's event Thursday night in Tokyo, here were the five biggest announcements: It will launch on March 3 worldwide for $299.99.

It's already been a busy year for cybersecurity, as U.S. President Barack Obama warned NATO allies last weekend to closely monitor their impending elections for the kind of suspected Russian hacking that afflicted the latest U.S. presidential election. And last week top U.S. intelligence directors testified about those hacks at a Senate hearing, where topics included ever more sophisticated cyber-attacks and the growing need to fortify American cybersecurity strategy. Machine learning -- along with solid fundamentals -- will likely be a key component of reliable cybersecurity in 2017. "Criminals are fighting a 21st century war, attacking our critical infrastructure and financial systems using unconventional techniques, while we defend ourselves with antiquated methods," The Hill stated last week. "All the passwords, tokens and other forms of strong authentication are meaningless if a person is tricked into handing over their credentials, inadvertently installs rogue software on their device that performs certain actions, or unwittingly gives a criminal access to their machine or account."

In a bid to keep up with its rivals including Tesla and Google, Nissan has announced its plans to bring real-world demonstrations of autonomous vehicles to the UK. The on-road demonstrations will take place in London in February, where passengers will be able to experience the technology in a modified Nissan LEAF. The demonstrations mark the first time Nissan's autonomous drive technology will be showcased on public roads in Europe. Since December, Nissan has been using driverless cars to tow other vehicles around its production facility in Japan. The technology is currently being tested at Nissan's Oppama production in in Yokohama, near Tokyo.

If autonomous cars are to be made available in the UK, car makers first need their vehicles to do hard miles on domestic roads. Nissan knows this, so today it confirmed that it will deploy a fleet of LEAF vehicles in London next month, giving it the opportunity to publicly test its autonomous drive technology for the first time in Europe. Nissan says that while it hasn't yet finalised the routes its cars will take, they "will be public roads with full agreement from the relevant local authorities." The government, which has already spent millions funding intelligent car trials, supports the pilot, noting that such trials will help the UK become "a world leader in the development and testing of auto technology." It's not the first time Nissan has demonstrated its self-driving capabilities on public roads. The first tests began in Tokyo in October 2015, expanding to Silicon Valley in January 2016.