Consumers can look forward to a future increasingly defined by a global voice, and dominated by robots, the Internet of Things (IoT), and virtual and augmented reality (the last of which has become considerably more plausible since the release of Pokemon Go), according to a new trends report by Toronto-based non-profit innovation hub MaRS. Arguably more fascinating than the report's conclusion, however, is its methods: To determine the trends that will define tech's future, authors Farah Momen and Sue McGill calculated the startups that were receiving the most funding, then divided them into sectors. "By analyzing the capital raised over the past year, we can understand: a) which consumer and commerce verticals are seeing the most activity here in Canada (such as wearables and foodtech); and b) which specific, innovative consumer and enterprise business-to-business companies are gaining traction in the market," Momen and McGill wrote in a July 7 press release announcing the report. While ecommerce might be delivering a wider variety of products to consumers than ever before, the final purchase decision is still frequently influenced by their shopping experience, Momen and McGill write – and advancements in VR and AR have created new opportunities for companies to provide an immersive, unforgettable experience, with manufacturers such as Lexus and Volvo implementing virtual test-driving simulations, and Ikea adding an AR feature to its mobile app that lets viewers virtually place and view nearly 300 of the Swedish furniture giant's products in their homes. Sure, we all know about Alexa and Cortana, but more interesting to Momen and McGill is the role that digital shopping assistants could play in retail's future, with companies like Stitch Fix already delivering monthly boxes of curated items chosen by a combination of machine and human stylists.

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 workshop will be led by two AI security experts with years in the field, and will demystify Artificial Intelligence before exploring its application in cyber defense. Dr. Kalyan Veeramachaneni is currently a research scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and has been conducting research in the field for years. He will be joined by Dr. Ignacio Arnaldo, the Chief Data Scientist at PatternEx and former researcher at MIT CSAIL. Together they will facilitate an interactive, vendor agnostic discussion which will provide a foundation for understanding emerging artificial intelligence solutions in InfoSec. "During the time that we have been talking with security leaders from around the world we have found a strong interest in the potential of AI in InfoSec, but there is too much jargon and marketing speak out there," comments Travis Reed, CMO for PatternEx.

The views expressed below are my own and do not reflect those of my employer or its clients. The underlying assumption is that the main objective of science and technology is to help solve the biggest challenges faced by humans, to name a few; climate change, cancer, incompetent rulers, etc. The objective is not necessarily the creation of maximum economic value (the two are not mutually exclusive in theory at least). The movement of science and technology is towards the shores of artificial intelligence (AI) coupled with the hope that it might unlock some of the biggest mysteries of our world. We can all agree that there is a lot of hype about AI.

Recruitment is a prime candidate for automation through artificial intelligence and machine learning, but what does this mean for the human side of hiring? The manual nature of many hiring processes has seen the recruitment sector jump to the front of the HR queue in terms of adopting artificial intelligence. Predictive recruitment analytics: are you ready for the future? Even though the market is still immature and uptake is at the earliest of stages, machine-learning software is making its presence felt. But how significant an impact is it likely to have on HR and recruitment over the next few years?

On the one hand, it makes perfect sense why the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank would want to buy ARM Holdings, the chip designer that pretty much owns the mobile market. SoftBank offered 17 a share in cash for ARM (about 32 billion). That was 43% more than ARM's closing share price on Friday and 41% more than ARM's all-time-high closing share price. This could be the largest-ever tech acquisition of a European company. ARM helped propel the mobile device market forward by crafting designs for low-power microchips.

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

Robots are going to play an integral role in hospital care soon. At least that's what Julie Shah -- an MIT professor who leads the Interactive Robotics Group at the university's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory -- is working on. Shah recently programmed a Nao robot to watch how medical assistants perform tasks so it could help assign patients to the appropriate doctor and move patients to operating rooms and beds. That may seem like a simple task, but can actually be quite complex to handle. At Mount Sinai Beth Israel, the head nurse of the labor ward coordinates 10 nurses, 20 patients, and 20 rooms at the same time.

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

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