Sony's lineup of games and demos is often slightly different depending on the region. It's something you may have noticed with PlayStation's VR debut in both Europe and the US, -- and that's even more true for Japan. The virtual reality headset launched in Sony's homeland with several titles on the PlayStation Store that are not available elsewhere. While standalone (much less stand-out) games are few, there's still handful of experiences that are only playable with a Japanese PlayStation account. Fortunately for you, I've got one, and have played through some of this Japan-only content.

A robocop prototype worked the room at Dubai's annual computer and electronic trade show taking place this week. The robot patroler was able to salute and shake the hands of attendees. A touchscreen on the robot's body can be used to report crime and pay fines for traffic violations, Gulf Business reports. It can also scan faces. Gitex 2016: Dubai Police Robot to enter service from next year pic.twitter.com/Jl7OuSXcWx

In October, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the U.S. president issued a joint report titled "Preparing For The Future of Artificial Intelligence." If you were waiting for a sign to prove that the Fourth Industrial Revolution had begun, a policy statement from the White House on thinking robots definitively fits the bill. The report consists of a state of AI summary and lays out potential applications. It then delves into questions everyone has about what AI will do to society and public policy. It concludes with a strategic plan for federally-funded R&D for practical AI, based on actual request-for-information (RFI) proposals.

Thanks to its deep learning toolkit, Microsoft is making huge strides in computer-based speech recognition. Just this September, a Microsoft research team achieved an error rate of 6.3 percent on the Switchboard speech recognition benchmark, meaning the software interpreted just 6.3 percent of all words it "heard" incorrectly. The researchers used a recurrent neural network architecture, called long short term memory. Less than a month later, training on a 30,000-word library, they were able to get that down to the 5.9 percent -- about the same percentage of incorrect words that professional transcribers made on the same phone call recordings. It was the very first time that a computer has been able to recognize the words in a conversation as well as people can.

Technology predictions for next year are already filtering in, with artificial intelligence and full-blown analytics and other platforms increasingly seen as among the keys to opening the big data floodgates in 2017. Market watcher Forrester forecasts that AI spending will triple next year as companies "convert customer data into personalized experiences." Application drivers include advanced analytics, machine learning and cognitive computing platforms. The AI spending prediction is bolstered by recent investments in emerging machine and deep learning technology developers. For example, U.K. AI chip developer Graphcore emerged from stealth mode this week with a $30 million funding round aimed at advancing its "intelligent processing unit" (IPU) strategy that combines advanced parallel processing with software tools and libraries. The startup's IPU card plugs into PCI buses to boost the performance of x86 servers.

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Credit Pulse" newsletter to their offering. A criminal whose name has been added to a sanction list compiled by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is highly unlikely to use that exact name when opening a bank account. I handle the news around here.

Liberia has lost access to the entire internet in apparent preparation for shutting down the entire internet. Repeated attacks are flooding the country's network with requests and taking it down entirely. That has intermittently knocked the entire web offline, meaning that people can't access any websites or web services. The attacks appear to be a way for hackers to test a variety of ways of attacking internet connections and taking offline. In that way they resemble the attacks launched recently, when hackers brought down many of the world's biggest websites.

Before you fall back this weekend, it's time to take a look at Google's Assistant-powered Home device, take a spin with GoPro's drone and find out how Singapore is pushing to be the first "Smart Nation." Also, undecided (or, more likely, firmly decided) voters can peruse Engadget's election guide to see where presidential candidates stand on tech issues. Across this 30-mile-wide island, a network of fiber connections and sensors underpin scientists' efforts to address the problems of urban living. The "Smart Nation" plan is trying to address pain points, like energy usage, health and transportation, while also accumulating data to fill out a detailed model of Virtual Singapore, where planners can test new projects to see their potential impact. Nathan Ingraham says Google Home is a great way to show off just how smart Google is, but it doesn't feel like an essential experience yet.

Big things are on the horizon. So what does it mean for the average person? We reported recently on the Insomnobot 3000, a dream come true for anyone who can't seem to get a good night's sleep. This particular Chatbot functions on an SMS level, but you know, if I'm tossing and turning, it's better than nothing. Granted this is only one form of artificial intelligence. But the success of the Insomnobot begs the question: "In the bigger scheme of things, where does this AI journey end?"

These structures look like giant robot jellyfish, but they could one day function as eco-friendly hotel lodges. Conceived by Janine Hung, a graduate architect based in the Philippines, the floating lodges boast kitchen and bathroom-equipped living quarters and gardens in their underbelly that can raise fish and grow vegetables. Beneath the surface, the solar-powered structure has'tentacles' which capture and collect rubbish, and filter polluted water - either storing it for human use or returning it to its source clean. Ms Hung, who designed it for Inhabitat's Biodesign Competition this year, received an honorable mention for her innovative creation. 'The Jellyfish Lodge proposes to rehabilitate the world's most polluted river slums by removing waste, treating water, growing food, and purifying air all through solar power,' judges stated.