There's a place where the internet, Wi-Fi, and GPS do not exist. Communication is haphazard: Sometimes messages arrive different times at the same place, the same time at different places, or not at all. For scientists talking to submarines, robots, and other instruments, data travels at dial-up speeds of single bytes per minute--far slower than the megabits per second we use in the office or at home. Oceanographic researchers have gotten around the problem by connecting devices to tethers of fiber optic cable or copper wires, which provide enough bandwidth to stream images of the Titanic or weird creatures that live around underwater volcanic hot springs. But the heavy cables can also get tangled, dragging down the vehicles they connect.

After years of steady growth, innovation and sometimes disappointment, the robotics market is heating up on several fronts amid some new breakthroughs in the arena. Both the industrial and service robotics markets are hot. In addition, the consumer market is seeing a new level of interest, as the industry is invaded by the next wave of so-called personal assistant robots or social robots for the home. Asus, Blue Frog Robotics, InGen, Jibo, NEC, Samsung and others are developing various personal assistant robots for consumers. In addition, a number of companies from China are also developing them. Personal assistant robots might be the next big thing. "If successful, Jibo (and its competitors) could usher in a new consumer electronics market--social robots for the home," said Dan Kara, an analyst at ABI Research. "Personal robots, often called social robots, are technically advanced robots that interact directly with people and are designed to assist in the home, or to act as a companion," Kara said.

With so much time spent online, it can be near impossible to remember where you might have seen that interesting nugget of information. One Seattle-based software firm is trying to battle the digital memory haze by taking snap shots of your computer and tracking everything you have ever looked at on your machine. Called Atlas Recall, its makers say the software is a one-stop search platform that'gives you a photographic memory for your digital life'. A Seattle-based software firm is trying to battle the digital memory haze by tracking everything you have ever looked at on your machine. The makers of Atlas Recall say it is a one-stop search platform that'gives you a photographic memory for your digital life' Atlas Recall runs in the background on a users to device to monitor everything they have looked at.

The Snasci Logo comprises of three smaller rings, intersected by a large ring. Symbolically, this represents an adaptation of the Three Laws of Robotics by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules first appeared in his short story "Runaround" (1942). Quoting from the "Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.", the laws are: Whilst these laws are broadly acceptable for a robot, they are too narrow for an Artificial General Intelligence. An artificial General Intelligence must deal with scenarios that go beyond physical interaction with humans.

Luke Dormehl is a tech writer and journalist, he recently had his latest book published, Thinking Machines: The Inside Story of Artificial Intelligence. In light of all the scary stories of how AI will disrupt the world of work and life as we know it, we asked Luke to put a few things into perspective and ease our worries... The classic, sci-fi dystopia often begins with self-aware computers taking the world by force. Today, that view looks more and more like the Hollywood fantasy that it is. The real imminent threat of automation is what it's going to do to employment.

At present, predictive analytics is the most used form of AI in enterprise and companies are focusing on innovation, patenting their AI developments at a faster rate than ever before. Join us as we explore the rise of artificial intelligence in six charts including the top investors in AI and the most used AI enterprise solutions. As of June 2016, artificial intelligence received $974m of funding. This year's funding is set to surpass 2015's total and CB Insights suggests that 200 AI-focused companies have raised nearly $1.5 billion in equity funding. AI isn't limited to the business sphere, in fact the personal robot market, including'care-bots', could reach $17.4bn by 2020.

The two companies will leverage their expertise and advantages in online and offline services to cooperate on projects in mobile Internet, AI, big data and telecom services. Baidu will help China Unicom put the services of more than 10,000 brick-and-mortar outlets and 300,000 franchised stores online. China Unicom will offer Baidu stronger telecom infrastructure support such as Internet data centers and information and communication technology. Robin Li, Baidu board chairman and CEO, said his company already cooperates closely in linking mobile search, mapping and group buying services with China Unicom's services, and Baidu is looking forward to impressive results from AI technology. Wang Xiaochu, board chairman of China Unicom, called the move an important step for cross-sector cooperation between Internet companies and telecom firms in line with the government's "Internet Plus" proposal to upgrade traditional sectors with IT technology.

Just because Halloween is over doesn't mean the fears have ended. A new project uses autonomous computers to discover your deepest nightmares. The project, dubbed "Nightmare Machine," comes from a partnership between Australia and the U.S. The algorithm would let a computer understand what makes certain videos or images scary. One would hope the algorithm would then remove the scary bits and replace them with something more appealing. However, it uses data to transform any photo into something terrifying.

There is no consistent definition of digitization. Every industry and every department perceive it and react differently. How would you define digitization with respect to your industry? Michael Wei: Digitization has been the major shifting force for the last 4 decades, and it will continue to be a critical force in the next several decades ahead of us. The scope and impact are substantially wider than what we perceive, that's where I think the inconsistency comes from – each player stems from its own roots to look at digitization and has reached a definition from a partial view.

Emerging technology may help wildlife officials beat back traffickers. Antipoaching patrols like this team at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya may soon use AI technology to stay one step ahead of criminals. Poachers kill an estimated 96 African elephants every day, causing conservationists to warn that the iconic animals could disappear in our lifetime if the tide doesn't turn. But now scientists hope a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool could help wildlife officials get a leg up against poachers. PAWS, which stands for Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security, is a newly developed AI that takes data about previous poaching activities and outputs routes for patrols based on where poaching is likely to occur.