Chinese hi-tech firm Baidu has unveiled a plan to let driverless vehicles range freely around an entire city. The five-year plan will see the autonomous cars, vans and buses slowly introduced to the eastern city of Wuhu. Initially no passengers will be carried by the vehicles as the technology to control them is refined via journeys along designated test zones. Eventually the test areas will be expanded and passengers will be able to use the vehicles. "They want to be the first city in the world to embrace autonomous driving," said Wang Jing, Baidu's head of driverless cars, in an interview with the BBC's Click programme.

Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. is eyeing the movie business for growth. Company spokesman Makoto Wakae said Monday details are undecided but the work might be a theater release or a DVD. Nintendo, which makes the Wii U home console and Nintendo 3DS hand-held machine, has licensed its game characters in the past, such as with its Pokemon movies, but it is now thinking about make its own film content. It won't become a full-fledged film studio, but filmmaking is an area it has chosen for future investment of proceeds from selling its stake in the major league Seattle Mariners, planned for later this year, according to Kyoto-based Nintendo. The Japanese daily newspaper Asahi reported Monday that Nintendo's work might be 3-D animation.

Of course, gamers go into every year filled with excitement and anticipation. This is a medium that thrives on slow burn hype, with even tiny indie projects using months of teaser shots and YouTube trailers to garner interest. The good news is, there's usually enough brilliant, innovative and compelling fare to justify that enthusiasm – and 2016 looks to be no exception. Although you could fill a dozen'most anticipated' lists with all the grandiose sequels and blockbusting franchises due out this year, there are also dozens of smaller-scale independent projects, keeping the idiosyncratic and experimental heart of video game culture beating. Here, then, is our pick of the biggest, smallest and strangest titles to look out for in the coming 12 months.

TOKYO, May 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UBIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBIC) (TSE:2158), a leading provider of international litigation support and big-data analysis services, and Hearts United Group Co., Ltd. announced today that on June 1, they will launch DH-AI, a next-generation system designed to detect potential signs of risk contained in comments and other content posted on the Internet using UBIC's KIBIT artificial intelligence (AI) engine. Since UBIC started engaging in joint research with Hearts United Group in October 2015, both companies set out to develop cutting-edge debugging technologies and services using AI. By leveraging their technical expertise, the companies have made steady progress researching AI-based debugging and are now preparing the service for commercialization. In recent years, many firms have launched community and blog websites as a channel to communicate with end users, so as to promote their products and services. Increasingly, malicious comments have been posted on such websites, which often serve to incite hostile exchanges or mislead customers about products and services, resulting in damage to the companies' public images.

While in Hollywood films hi-tech robots are portrayed as a threat, Chinese engineers might be able to change your mind.

"Crowd Control: Heaven Makes a Killing," CNET's crowdsourced science fiction novel written and edited by readers, continues. To read past installments, learn more about the project or see our contributor list, visit the digital table of contents. The headlines on Meta's screens were uncharacteristically ominous in the weeks leading up to his final certification at the academy. Discussions in classes were more easily derailed by questions about the future of interversal trade and immigration asked by students who just weeks earlier were more likely to be drooling or snoring through sessions that were largely remedial, a last chance to catch up. "I don't understand why we can't just offer more positions to the subs," Zulema shouted in frustration during one class, surprising her fellow students with her use of a derogatory term for migrants. "Yea, we need help now," echoed Nara.

When I returned to university to do a graduate degree, I was interested to discover how certain terms are subject to "intellectual interpretation." A word that I was asked to explain during one of my earliest classes was "ontology." Since this term was absent from my dictionary, I originally confused it with "oncology." I faintly recall that oncology involves the study of tumors. After consulting a few sources, I said that ontology is the study of how things come to exist or into being. I came across another perspective although I don't recall the source: ontology is the study of how things gain relevance or become recognized, indicating that existence can be regarded as a matter of recognition. Perhaps there is no monopoly on the exact meaning. However, I would say of ontology in relation to data science, it explains how meaning is attached to data and therefore how that data gains and retains meaning. For example, if I were asked to count the number of trucks in a parking lot, it isn't obvious what should be included: small pick-ups, tow-trucks, commercial hauling vehicles, dump trucks, and maybe heavy construction trucks.

A 1 billion investment in Didi, announced last week, could be the harbinger of a long-term relationship that some analysts speculate could lead to the U.S. company partnering with the ride-hailing company not only in providing software and services, but also down the line in jointly developing self-driving cars. Apple, however, faces a number of challenges in China. It has seen its revenue from the country, its second largest market, dip by 11 percent in the last quarter as smartphone uptake slowed down in China. The company faces regulatory challenges as well. The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television is said to have ordered the company to shut down its iBooks Store and iTunes Movies only six months after the services were launched in the country, amid growing concern about increased regulation and censorship of online services.

The big news this week was STAR, a robot that outperformed surgeons. Initially, the robots were designed to look and work like humans. This was the image from popular comics when I was growing up. However, now that robots have become mainstream, most robots are very unlike humans, and that is their strength. Let us explore this thought.

In a bid to integrate machine learning-based solutions on its platform, Snapdeal, has acquired Gurgaon-based predictive marketing technology startup TargetingMantra for an undisclosed amount. It is a boutique technology company that has been working on the field of personalising shopping experience for customers on ecommerce platforms. Founded by Saurabh Nangia and Rahul Singh in March 2013, TargetingMantra, has offices in Palo Alto and Gurgaon. The company provides a unified platform to manage customers life cycle through personalisation, targeting and big data analytics. In 2014, TargetingMantra had raised 1.1 Mn in seed funding led by 500 Startups, Nexus Venture Partners, and One97 Mobility Fund.