Scott Amyx is a thought leader, speaker and author on wearables and the Internet of Things, and is the managing partner at Venture1st and CEO of Amyx . We often highlight our frailties when we fail -- we are, after all, only human. However, technology is quickly redefining what it means to be human. There is no denying that we are considerably different from the people who came before us, not only in that we successfully wield technology to overcome a range of challenges, but we also utilize it to enhance our current condition. From artificial skin, limbs and organs to touchable holograms and gesture-controlled devices, the trend is quite clear: Transhumanism will very likely be the next stage of human development.

TAIPEI Taiwan has asked Uber Technologies to pay a sales tax bill estimated by local media to be up to about 6.4 million, the government said on Friday, as a decision looms on whether the global ride-hailing service may be ordered to leave the island.

First responders will test the use of drones to help sick or injured people this fall in an initiative that could see the remote-controlled devices added to emergency kits nationwide. The trials in Kyushu will involve medics flying medicines, defibrillators and other medical supplies to places where airborne delivery will be faster than on land. "Drones add more options for rescuers to reach patients," said project leader Yusuke Enjoji, an official in the Saga Prefectural Government. Enjoji is CEO of the group behind the project, the Emergency Medical and Disaster Coping Automated Drones Support System Utilization Promotion Council, or Edac. Trials will involve flights at a Kyushu University campus in Fukuoka and locations in Saga.

Threat of AI taking over humankind could be one step closer to reality, as China is building a range of killer cruise missiles. The missiles, dubbed'death drones, will be equipped with artificial intelligence to guide them in flight and potentially even choose new targets. The country is leading the world in the development of AI weapons, a senior designer said today. China is building a range of killer cruise missiles which will be equipped with AI. President Xi Jinping is overseeing an ambitious military modernisation programme, including developing stealth fighters and building aircraft carriers.

You can get a pretty good idea of a country's wealth by seeing how much it shines at night -- just compare the intense brightness of China and South Korea to the dark mass of North Korea that's sandwiched between them. But nighttime lights don't tell you which neighborhoods or villages within a large region are merely poor and which are home to people living in abject poverty. That's the level of detail policymakers need when they decide where to deploy their economic development programs. You could get that detail by sending legions of survey-takers into crowded slums and sparsely populated rural areas. But that would be hugely time-consuming and cost tens of millions of dollars or more.

Can you imagine taking a cab which is driverless or conducting all basic banking transactions with the help of ATM without requiring a teller. Let's go one step further, your medical treatment being done by a robot or robots teaching you in the classrooms. Well, all of this is not a dream anymore but possible and achievable because of Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence, though in a nascent stage, has already started to enter a lot of fields and is trying to make a mark. AI has already started to automate some type of jobs and it's not far when AI will replace all the repetitive type of jobs in the analytics space and perform it solely without any human intervention.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

The government plans to promote the development of artificial intelligence technology in cooperation with other entities for use in medical, manufacturing and other sectors to mitigate the expected labor shortages that will result from an aging society, officials said Friday. The public-private initiative will involve 20 firms and research institutions such as the government-backed Riken research institute, Toyota Motor Corp. and NEC Corp. The science ministry, which oversees Riken, is planning to seek 10 billion ( 99.7 million) in the fiscal 2017 budget for costs related to the project, which is expected to run for 10 years. In the medical field, AI technology is expected to be used in diagnosing the symptoms of patients and advising doctors on optimal treatments by analyzing electronic medical records and huge amounts of data on similar cases. In the manufacturing sector, for example, AI technologies could be used to detect signs of impending machinery glitches and failures at factories more efficiently than humans to reduce output disruptions.

Japanese companies have jointly started work to develop high-precision three-dimensional maps that will support autonomous driving technologies. Enhancing the safety of autonomous driving requires more detailed information than the capability of exiting car navigation systems, such as the numbers of traffic lanes and their widths, the locations of traffic lights, utility poles and road signs and the slope angles of roads. The consortium of companies, including Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and map publisher Zenrin Co., aim to complete the development of 3-D map standards by 2020, when the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held. Existing autonomous driving technologies mainly utilize information from sensors and cameras mounted on vehicles. But the sensors and cameras may not be able to detect traffic lanes in certain weather and sunlight conditions.

Is AI Stealing Your Job? New Chinese Cruise Missiles to Have'High Level of Artificial Intelligence'