SINGAPORE – A boom in consumer drone sales has spawned a counter-industry of startups aiming to stop drones flying where they shouldn't, by disabling them or knocking them out of the sky. Dozens of startup firms are developing techniques -- from deploying birds of prey to firing gas through a bazooka -- to take on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are being used to smuggle drugs, drop bombs, spy on enemy lines or buzz public spaces. The arms race is fed in part by the slow pace of government regulation for drones. In Australia, for example, different agencies regulate drones and counter-drone technologies. "There are potential privacy issues in operating remotely piloted aircraft, but the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's role is restricted to safety. Privacy is not in our remit," a CASA official said.

In an era of historic innovation fueled by unprecedented access to data and technology, the low cost and risk of entering new markets has leveled the playing field for business. Today, any ambitious innovator can easily introduce a new application or product that can reinvent business models and transform the client experience. In their Day 2 Keynote at 19th Cloud Expo, Mercer Rowe, IBM Vice President of Strategic Alliances, and Raejeanne Skillern, Intel Vice President of Data Center Group and GM, discussed how clients in this new era of innovation can apply data, technology, plus human ingenuity to springboard to advance new business value and opportunities. Speaker Bios Mercer Rowe is Vice President, Strategic Partners for IBM's Cloud Business Unit. In this capacity, he plays a pivotal role in IBM's growth and transformation by teaming with IBM's global strategic business partners to mutually enhance IBM's industry leading cloud portfolio of technology and services.

There are many good things to say about IBM Bluemix cloud services. In case you aren't familiar with this cloud computing software, it's a new tool that lets you solve real-world problems with the help of IBM infrastructure, Watson, and IBM's many software programs and services. It all comes together on the Bluemix cloud platform to create a unique and useful data collection for companies to analyze and learn from. It's being touted as one of the best new tools for helping businesses solve their biggest problems and improve their bottom lines through the Internet of Things. Now, IBM has announced several new cloud data services and features that will go with Bluemix.

More cities are adding smart city features so that Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and other connected technologies can improve the lives of citizens and visitors. As everyone knows, technology moves fast and finding out what's in store next is crucial to stay in the game. Diabetics have been waiting for years for better technology to manage their condition. Some got tired of waiting and hacked together an open source hardware and software solution. The concept of a smart city has been around for more than a decade, but it was only recently that the phrase "smart city" became part of the modern lexicon.

This is the 2-part blog version of a talk I've given at DOAG Conference this week. I've also uploaded the slides (no ppt; just pretty R presentation;-)) to the articles section, but if you'd like a little text I'm encouraging you to read on. That is, if you're in the target group for this post/talk. For this post, let me assume you're a SQL girl (or guy). With SQL you're comfortable (an expert, probably), you know how to get and manipulate your data, no nesting of subselects has you scared;-).

Areas like virtual reality, self-driving cars, and artificial intelligence matured from seemingly distant concepts into tangible products that will eventually upend the ways people live and work. Amid all of this excitement, shares of artificial intelligence companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook each outperformed the Nasdaq Composite benchmark in 2016. Not all AI stocks performed as swimmingly, though. And more importantly, what does this mean for each of these artificial intelligence stocks heading in 2017? Baidu is in the midst of conforming to new, tougher standards for its search results that the Chinese government mandated earlier this year after the death of a Chinese student sparked a national uproar surrounding shady online advertising practices among pseudo-healthcare companies.

Changes in the tech world are coming faster than ever before, and are more complex. The Internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics, biometrics, digital currencies, 3D printing are just some of the mind-blowing technologies that are shaking things up -- and are poised to go mainstream. This week, I am headed to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to get a first-hand glimpse of what's in store for the future of tech. I'm sure it will be an exciting time -- and a great way to predict what's coming next. The developing sector of IoT has helped to keep this show hopping, as connected devices linked up to the Internet give new life to all kinds of gadgets and household goods.

BEIRUT – An air raid has struck several cars in northwestern Syria, killing at least eight people, including al-Qaida-linked fighters and a senior commander with a Chinese Islamic militant faction, an activist group and a local jihadi commander said Monday. The attack occurred late Sunday on a road leading from the town of Sarmada to the Bab al-Hawa area on the border with Turkey, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a local commander with the Fatah al-Sham Front, an al-Qaida-linked group. The militant spoke via text messages on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but the Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said it is widely believed to have been carried out by the U.S.-led coalition. The U.S. has killed some of al-Qaida's most senior commanders in Syria over the past two years in airstrikes.

As cars become smarter, states believe they need to make their roads just as intelligent. Transit planners say'smart roads' will prevent accidents from happening, cut down on travel time and help drivers save fuel. Although a few miles of highway in the US have new technology, states need to learn how roads can communicate with self-driving cars from different makers, as there is no standard on how cars receive data. Transit planners say'smart roads' are key for drivers to get the most from their self-driving cars, like Google's (pictured), as this technology would prevent accidents from happening, cut down on travel and save fuel Driverless cars have been taught to drive more like human motorists in an attempt to help them recognize and respond to risks on the road. And many car makers say their self-driving cars will be safer than those with people behind the wheel and will reduce the 35,000 lives lost to traffic accidents each year, reports The Wall Street Journal. However, for autonomous vehicle owners to fully experience the capabilities of their machines, the roads have to learn a few tricks themselves.

Today, technology is shaping both business and society like never before and playing an increasing role in everything we do. Technology has redefined the way we interact with each other. In governance, technology has altered the way leaders engage with citizens. In business, technology has now become a revenue generator, thereby changing the economic landscape. Today, business driven technology spending has increased rapidly and digitalisation has become the priority of most organisations.