This post is part of an ongoing blog series examining "Sure Things" (predictions that are almost guaranteed to happen) and "Long Shots" (predictions that are less likely to happen) in cybersecurity in 2017. In the last few years, the digital footprint of organizations has expanded beyond the confines of the on-premise data center and private cloud to a model that now incorporates SaaS and public clouds. To date, InfoSec teams have been in a reactive mode while trying to implement a comprehensive security strategy across their hybrid architecture. In 2017, we will see a concerted effort from InfoSec teams to build and roll out a multi-cloud security strategy geared toward addressing the emerging digital needs of their organizations. Maintaining a consistent security posture, pervasive visibility, and ease of security management across all clouds will drive security teams to extend their strategy beyond security considerations for public and private clouds and also focus on securely enabling SaaS applications.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2015 file photo, Sahara, a rare red-haired female Hamadryas Baboon holds 3 weeks old dark-furred baby in the Ramat Gan Safari Park near Tel Aviv, Israel. A new study in France shows that baboons can make human-like vowel sounds, and its authors say the discovery could help scientists better understand the evolution of human speech. The study was published in the journal Plos One on Wednesday Jan. 11, 2017 by a team of scientists. FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2015 file photo, Sahara, a rare red-haired female Hamadryas Baboon holds 3 weeks old dark-furred baby in the Ramat Gan Safari Park near Tel Aviv, Israel. A new study in France shows that baboons can make human-like vowel sounds, and its authors say the discovery could help scientists better understand the evolution of human speech.

As China's economy enters a period of slowing growth, its leaders are increasingly looking to robots to pick up the pace. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. As China's economy enters a period of slowing growth, its leaders are increasingly looking to robots to pick up the pace.

A robot companion could soon help prevent the elderly from feeling lonely. Elli.Q uses artificial intelligence to slowly learn what its owner likes, and will help those less confident with technology to use social media, video chats and play games online. The robot, which its inventors claim is one of most advanced social companion robots in the world, has now been launched during an exhibition at at The Design Museum in London. Elli.Q uses artificial intelligence to slowly learn what her owner likes, and will help those less confident with technology to use social media, video chats and play games online Using'body language' that conveys emotion, speech interface, sounds, lights and images to express herself, Elli.Q is designed to be easily understood. Using AI, it learns the preferences, behaviour and personality of her owner.

HTC has finally launched one of its most anticipated phones, but it's not called HTC Ocean. Instead, the company has chosen to call it the HTC U Ultra. HTC launched two new devices in Taiwan on Thursday -- the HTC U Ultra and the HTC U Play. While the Play seems to be a budget device, the Ultra comes with new and interesting features. Although HTC has resisted from calling it the flagship device, the HTC U Ultra has features such as the Sense Companion voice assistant. The HTC U Ultra seems to be a premium device, going by its features and price.

HTC has unveiled two new smartphones with artificial intelligence that can learn a user's phone habits and support them. The firm revealed the HTC U Play and U Ultra, both of which house AI software called HTC Sense Companion. The U Ultra features a small second screen at the top of the display that is designed to stay on, offering a faster window to important notifications. Like Apple, HTC has controversially ditched the headphone jack, meaning users will need to rely on wireless headphones or use an adapter. HTC's new smartphones contain artificial intelligence that can learn a user's phone habits and support them, the technology giant said.

We have been seeing a sudden rise in the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL). It looks like the long "AI winter" is finally over. It is interesting to note that AI was mentioned by Alan Turing in a paper he wrote back in 1950 to suggest that there is possibility to build machines with true intelligence. Then in 1956, John McCarthy organized a conference at Dartmounth and coined the phrase Artificial Intelligence. Much of the next three decades did not see much activity and hence the phrase "AI Winter" was coined.

FUKUSHIMA – In a world first, a drone successfully delivered a flask of hot soup to surfers on Thursday during a test of an unmanned flying vehicle traveling a preset route of more than 10 km. The industry ministry and the Fukushima Prefectural Government were among those conducting the test in a coastal area of Minamisoma in the prefecture, north of the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Traveling at 43 kph, the drone took 15 minutes to cover the 12 km from the Fukushima Hama-Dori Robot Testing Zone to Kitaizumi, a popular surfing spot. It was the first test of its kind in the world involving a drone flying for more than 10 km on a programmed route to make a delivery, according to the prefectural government. The robot testing zone is a designated area for testing robots to be used during post-disaster relief activities. An official of the prefecture said that as Japan has only a limited number of areas where long-distance drones can be tested, Fukushima will invite robot- and drone-related businesses to the prefecture as part of efforts to recover from the nuclear accident.

Teradata India released its technology predictions for the India market in 2017. According to a recent predictions report, smart cities as planned by the government of India will use nearly 1.6 billion IoT connected devices by 2016, an increase of 39 per cent from 2015. Smart commercial buildings are predicted to be the highest user of IoT until 2017, followed by smart homes. Together these two categories will consume just over 1 billion connected devices by 2018. The Internet of Things (IoT) has vast implications for government institutions from city hall to international governing bodies.

Sieving through hundreds of resumes to find the right candidate for a vacancy has always been a time-consuming task for HR professionals. That tedious process is set to become easier with the launch of a next generation HR technology solution by Edge Networks, a Bengaluru-based HR tech startup. "Edge Networks was built on the premise of how one could alleviate search friction for firms when they are hiring," says Arjun Pratap, founder, Edge Networks. "We started with resumes and job descriptions and our ability to build technology to read and match the two, like a hiring manager. This led to building an HR technology platform, backed by artificial intelligence and data science that would enable workforce optimisation and workforce transformation for organisations."