The Schiaparelli robot probe has not sent back a message it was expected to from the surface of Mars. The problem could mean that the lander has been lost. If so, it would bring a tragic end to humanity's newest hopes of finding alien life on the planet. But the European Space Agency warned against writing off the chances of finding the lander. There was still a decent chance that the lander might be heard from.

The European Space Agency appear to have determined that its Schiaparelli probe has landed on Mars. Scientists had initially worried that the hugely important robot – which is intended as a demonstration of the technology used for landing, as well as to test theories about the potential of life on Mars – was lost, because it didn't send back an initial message to say that it was safe. But scientists said that they had received a signal back from Mars Express, a craft currently orbiting around the red planet about the probe. But they didn't initially confirm that meant that the lander had arrived on the planet safely. From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater.

Today with the growth of the internet of things there is a surge in usage of fast internet, smartphones, portable devices, smart TV, smart wearable and connected cars among retail consumers. This indicates the rise of connected consumers. This has made the huge impact in the retail landscape and the retail experience is evolving from multi-channel to Omni-channel. The connected consumer requires connected retail. Omni-channel retailing means establishing a presence on many channels and platforms (i.e. Physical stores remain the foundation of retailing, evidenced by the fact that - in the internet era, 90% of retail sales still take place in physical stores. According to eMarketer, the total retail sales in the US topped 4.53 trillion in 2013, of this brick-and-mortar sales still command a vast majority of the retail market nearly 4.27 trillion. According to A.T. Kearney, 95 percent of all retail sales are captured by retailers with a brick-and-mortar presence in total retail. Two-thirds of consumers who purchase online use the store before or after the transaction. The role of the brick & mortar store is changing, NOT going away. Stores remain at the heart of retailers' relationships with consumers, even in today's "Omni Channel" world where online and physical sales appear to rule. According to a report, When it comes to product trial and tests, respondents indicate a clear preference for physical stores. Despite the growing popularity of e-commerce and digital retailing are capturing headlines in news media and inspiring spirited debates (blah, blah..) retailers plan how best to invest for future success, including a plan to build an another planet. The e-commerce retail market share is only 263 billion. It is only 5.8% of the market share. Small basket, single channel, ineffective delivery, can't see, can't feel or try made it as a hard business model. Is pure play e-commerce is an unprofitable business model? Investment on e-commerce is "river of no returns"? Are we nearing the end of the e-commerce bubble? Is M-commerce the future of retail? Drop out, make an app, go viral and make money?

On October 2, Peshmerga fighters operating against ISIS near Erbil, Iraq, shot down a small hobby drone, the kind you might buy off of Amazon. But when they investigated the downed device, it exploded, killing them and injuring two French paratroopers, based out of Orleans, according to Le Monde. With that unfortunate blast, it is believed, ISIS claimed its first casualties via a weaponized hobby drone. It was a surprise to some, but not to all. The U.S. military has been pushing anti-drone tech to U.S. forces in the region with "a sense of urgency," Lt. Gen. Michael Shields, the director of Joint Improvised Threat-Defeat Organization, or JIDO, told reporters on Wednesday.

Columnist Ed Baig reviews Pixel, which features the high-IQ Google Assistant and a competitive, high-end smartphone camera. Guests inspect the new Pixel phone by Google after it was introduced at a Google product event in San Francisco, Calif., Oct 4, 2016. SAN FRANCISCO -- When Google's new smartphone goes on sale this week, no one is expecting an iPhone-like hit -- at least not right away. Despite a splashy launch and a "Made by Google" marketing campaign, not to mention some positive reviews, the Pixel is still taking on the likes of the wildly popular iPhone. Samsung's recent spate of troubles may boost Pixel sales with defecting Note and Galaxy owners, but not enough to make a serious dent in the high-end smartphone market, analysts say.

Advertisers must plan their entry into artificial intelligence. This was the rallying cry from SY Lau, SEVP of Tencent and President of Online Media Group (OMG). He was speaking at the 2016 Ninth Tencent MIND Conference where he laid out a three-step plan for brands looking to break past the A.I barrier in their marketing operations. His first piece of advice was reminiscent of advertising's ultimate promise -- be a trusted brand to people. He observed that rich user data is the fuel for the continuous growth of all brands in this period of digital sophistication.

A few years ago Eric Schadt met a woman who had cancer. It was an aggressive form of colon cancer that had come on quickly and metastasized to her liver. She was a young war widow from Mississippi, the mother of two girls she was raising alone, and she had only the health care that her husband's death benefits afforded her--an overburdened oncologist at a military hospital, the lowest rung on the health care ladder. To walk into such a facility with stage 4 metastatic disease is to walk back in time to the world of the unmapped human genome, when "colon cancer" was understood to have a single cause instead of millions of causes resulting in unique variations, when treatment was the same bag of poison, whether you were in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, or Timbuktu. A time without big data, machine learning, or hope.

Apple is set to reveal a whole new host of Macs at an event at the end of the month. The company will be showing off new computers at an event on 27 October, according to Recode. The event has been long expected – a number of Mac models have gone without updates for many years, and the company has only really introduced one new computer in the last year. That lack of activity has meant that many experts and recommendation sites have warned people not to buy the computers, because updates are expected for so long. Apple's Mac Pro has lagged particularly in that respect – not being updated for more than three years, despite Apple making fun of claims that it couldn't innovate when it released the computer. In recent months, computer specialists of the project MV-IT systems have built a Boeing 737-800 cockpit and reconstructed part of the cabin with 15 seats.

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and Fujitsu Research and Development Center Co., Ltd. are developing new technology to analyze traffic video in order to provide real-time information on congestion, accidents and crime violations. Using machine learning and image processing, the technology analyzes the images from surveillance cameras installed along highways and streets, and groups characteristics that can lead to recognition errors, such as changes in lighting or environmental factors like nighttime and fog. The technology also analyzes moving objects, such as vehicles, bicycles and people, to identify accidents. A comparison of the previous traffic camera technology (left) and a sample of the application Fujitsu is testing (right). Source: Fujitsu The goal is to improve the way surveillance cameras can be used to improve traffic safety, reduce pollution and reduce congestion.

Gartner, Inc. today highlighted the top technology trends that will be strategic for most organizations in 2017. Analysts presented their findings during the sold-out Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place here through Thursday. Gartner defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive potential that is just beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and use or which are rapidly growing trends with a high degree of volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years. "Gartner's top 10 strategic technology trends for 2017 set the stage for the Intelligent Digital Mesh," said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. "The first three embrace'Intelligence Everywhere,' how data science technologies and approaches are evolving to include advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence allowing the creation of intelligent physical and software-based systems that are programmed to learn and adapt. The next three trends focus on the digital world and how the physical and digital worlds are becoming more intertwined. The last four trends focus on the mesh of platforms and services needed to deliver the intelligent digital mesh."