Overhead images like this could only be captured in China. The gigantic scale of the images alone is breathtaking.

About two years ago, AT&T named Affirmed Networks a Domain 2.0 supplier for its virtual evolved packet core (vEPC), and the 5-year-old startup has taken off ever since. The company's claim to fame was jump-started by its vEPC running production traffic in LTE networks. This is important because at the time, not even companies like Ericsson or Alcatel Lucent were commercially shipping their vEPCs. Evolved packet cores are the complex network hardware that cellular data and voice networks rest on. And to be able to virtualize that was quite the accomplishment and performance enhancer for telcos.

It's hard to bet against the continued rise of automation, robots, and artificial intelligence (AI), all of which are already having major impacts on how we work, learn, shop, and play. But being able to predict that robotics and AI will change our lives is a lot easier than predicting they will change our lives. In a recent forecast for 2017 and beyond, for instance, analyst firm IDC said we can expect to continue seeing robotic and AI technologies keep growing more affordable, more capable, and easier to use. The Obama White House said it expects the same, but also warns in a new report that "growth will not be costless" and could harm workers lacking the skills to compete in an AI-driven economy. How the incoming administration plans to address such issues is also uncertain. While President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promised to revive U.S. manufacturing and spend $1 trillion on the nation's infrastructure, he has also tapped Hardee's/Carl's Jr. chief Andrew Puzder -- who supports the use of automation to save on employment costs -- as secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.

If you're not making artificial intelligence your business today, it may put you out of business tomorrow Digital means money -- that's a no-brainer. From traditional conservative companies to progressive enterprises, all are looking to leverage'digital' to compose their future. Over the next few years, new technologies, a changing workforce, and new consumer expectations will create significant change, opportunity and threat. These highly disruptive trends will not only affect us as individuals, they will also impact the organisations we work in and our overall society. The work that got us to the present won't get us to the future because the digital economy requires completely different skill sets and attitudes, as well as greater expectations.

The video game industry has been a surprising growth market this year, fueled by popular games and new technology. These companies stood out in 2016. The gaming sector has performed well in 2016, with many of the top names in the space, from Nintendo (NASDAQOTH:NTDOY) to chipmaker NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), posting solid returns. Well-received new content, impressive new technology, and renewed ideas about how to get both of those to consumers have helped the sector grow this year. Here were some of the winners in 2016, and what the future could hold for these companies.

Eindhoven, Netherlands and Beijing and shenzhen, China and singapore - DECEMBER 27, 2016 - HERE, the Open Location Platform company, NavInfo Co., Ltd ("NavInfo"), a leading provider of digital maps and location services in China, and Tencent Holdings Limited ("Tencent"), a leading provider of Internet value added services in China, today announced their intention to form a strategic partnership to develop and offer best-in-class location services for the Chinese market. Aside from the planned strategic partnership, NavInfo, and Tencent, together with GIC, a leading global investment firm, also intend to jointly acquire a 10% stake in HERE, thereby further broadening the company's shareholder structure. The planned transaction would result in AUDI AG, BMW AG and Daimler AG reducing their indirect shareholding in HERE in equal measure. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals. The planned formation of a joint venture in China: HERE and NavInfo intend to form a 50/50 joint venture in China enabling location services for Chinese and global customers across a range of industries.

The gaming sector has performed well in 2016, with many of the top names in the space, fromNintendo(NASDAQOTH: NTDOY) to chipmaker NVIDIA(NASDAQ: NVDA), posting solid returns.Well-received new content, impressive new technology, and renewed ideas about how to get both of those to consumers have helped the sector grow this year. Here were some of the winners in 2016, and what the future could hold for these companies. Forget GE! Heres how to play the largest growth opportunity in history Forget GE! Heres how to play the largest growth opportunity in history Though it was up around 80% before a mid-December sell-off, the company has still had a remarkable year. Nintendo's resurgence follows the company's decision to finally develop a mobile strategy and bring its timeless characters and stories into a modern age. Nintendo was one of the big winners with the Pokemon Go phenomenon that exploded worldwide this year, and the company announced a new game console called Switch to come out in 2017, which has helped to raise its stock price as well.

To companies grappling with complex data projects powered by artificial intelligence, a system that Nvidia calls an "AI supercomputer in a box" is a welcome development. Early customers of Nvidia's DGX-1, which combines machine-learning software with eight of the chip maker's highest-end graphics processing units (GPUs), say the system lets them train their analytical models faster, enables greater experimentation, and could facilitate breakthroughs in science, health care, and financial services. Data scientists have been leveraging GPUs to accelerate deep learning--an AI technique that mimics the way human brains process data--since 2012, but many say that current computing systems limit their work. Faster computers such as the DGX-1 promise to make deep-learning algorithms more powerful and let data scientists run deep-learning models that previously weren't possible. It costs $129,000, more than systems that companies could assemble themselves from individual components.

Key sectors of interest include Internet of Things, FinTech, Future of Work, Logis-cs/Transporta-on, eHealth, Security and others. BootstrapLabs is a Venture Capital firm based in Silicon Valley and focused on Applied Ar:ficial Intelligence About Us 3. Community of Founders, Intrapreneurs, AI/ML Experts, Execu-ves, Professors, Researchers, Investors focused on Innova-on, Technology and Entrepreneurship 30K PEOPLE Our Community 200K FOLLOWERS 1K ATTENDEES Our online community between BootstrapLabs core team and its closer advisors has over 200K followers. We see traffic on our website and deal flow referral coming from over 60 countries BootstrapLabs brought together over 1,000 people during 2016. Our community is a key pillar of our success and we organize many exclusive private and public AI centric events each year 4. Applied AI Digest #1 2016 Google's DeepMind Beats a Top Player at the Game of Go Zucks to create AI-Powered Jarvis JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC IBM Watson Head on the Future of AI Read Full Articles 5. Applied AI Digest #2 Artificial Intelligence Deals on the RiseCould AI Solve the World's Biggest Problems? Harvard is building an AI Engine as fast as the Brain 6. Applied AI Digest #3 Is Big Data Still a Thing?

"If the consumer visits the store again and takes a picture with the machine, it will be able to recognise his or her face and show the previous purchase history. It will also be able to remember customer's dining habits, and help place an order faster," Wu Zhongqin, Deputy Director, Institute of Deep Learning, Baidu Inc. With another machine with an augmented reality, or AR function, customers are able to interact with the machine, change facial expressions by shaking their heads in front of the machine, take photos, and save them to their phones.