WIRE)--DataRPM, the award-winning Cognitive Data Science company that automates Machine Learning to deliver Recommendation & Prediction data products, today announced a partnership with big data analytics company, Tamr, Inc. "We are truly excited about our partnership with Tamr to expand the portfolio of innovative solutions to provide end-to-end data products," said Sundeep Sanghavi, DataRPM Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Data integration quality and prep is a crucial requirement for every big data initiative. Our partnership further meets the expanding needs of our customers and allows them to truly leverage machine learning all the way from data ingestion to strategic business insights." "DataRPM's Cognitive Data Science Platform automates machine learning for Recommendations & Predictions to deliver continuous insights that propel enterprises' growth dramatically, thus redefining data science with scale, speed and repeatability," further explained Sundeep. "With the dramatic explosion in data, compounded by the growing shortage of data scientists, and the need for faster sprint cycles to launch strategic initiatives, the call of the hour is Cognitive Data Science. By automating Machine Learning, greater value from productized data can now be derived through operationalizing its usage within companies' process flows in a continuous manner. "Tamr's machine-driven, human-guided approach to data preparation aligns closely with DataRPM's machine learning automation," said Andy Palmer, Tamr Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "DataRPM's Prediction and Recommendation models need a continuous flow of clean, unified data that Tamr provides.

Taylor Vinters has invested an undisclosed amount in ThoughtRiver, which will be co-located at the firm's offices in Cambridge, London and Singapore, as well as providing testing and other support services. Tim Pullan, Chief Executive of ThoughtRiver, was formerly Taylor Vinters' Head of Technology & Outsourcing in Asia when he founded the company in 2011 and has subsequently been developing the technology business with support from Taylor Vinters. This marks the second such Legal Tech equity investment by Taylor Vinters, as part of its strategy to develop innovative solutions that streamline how legal businesses operate. Four months ago, Taylor Vinters announced its first equity investment into Legal Tech start-up, Pekama - thought to be the first of its kind in the industry – which is a cloud-based lawyer collaboration software. ThoughtRiver's Contract Intelligence software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan and interpret information from written contracts used in commercial risk assessments, and produces visualisations of the potential risks and other issues.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attacked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's extreme stance on refugees and immigrants during a speech on Tuesday, criticizing "fearful voices for building walls and distancing people they view as others." The founder of the social network spoke about Facebook's goal of sharing ideas during his company's annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco, when he said "instead of building walls, we can help build bridges," by welcoming refugees and immigrants. "It takes courage to choose hope over fear," he said. "Whether we are welcoming a refugee fleeing war or an immigrant seeking opportunity." Facebook launched the FWD.us immigration reform lobbying group in 2013, which advocates for legislation that supports a more open worker visa process.

Facebook plans to unveil two projects on Wednesday that promise to improve Internet connectivity for users in cities and urban areas. The two, called Aries and Terragraph, will be detailed at its F8 conference in San Francisco, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. Together, they represent an extension of Facebook's connectivity efforts that so far have been most closely identified with Aquila, a high-flying drone designed by the company to beam down an Internet signal to remote areas. Getting people online and keeping them connected is key to Facebook's expansion plans. After all, it won't be able to persuade new users to come to its services if the Internet connection isn't reliable.

The marriage of computing power and data is finally bearing fruit in the field of cognitive computing, sometimes called machine learning or, more controversially, artificial intelligence. In its most everyday form, we see it in tools such as Google Translate or Microsoft's Bing Translate, which can translate phrases and documents effortlessly across multiple languages. More futuristically, the promise of self-driving vehicles, which can complete entire road journeys without driver intervention, is already being realised. Yet the biggest revolution in work is happening at some of the most basic levels, such as reading and dissecting legal documents to extract meaning and useful information. The tedious slog of work can be transformed by computers which are able to read and parse legal phrases, and summarise them or enter relevant details into a database or spreadsheet.

The Bible is an unusual book, as it is not only the most controversial but also the best-selling book ever written. Now, a ground-breaking digital analysis has revealed how many writers have penned it. The research and innovative technology behind it stand to teach us about the origins of the Bible itself. "It's well understood that the Bible was not composed in real time but was probably written and edited later," Arie Shaus, a mathematician at Tel Aviv University told Gizmodo. "The question is, when exactly?"

Here is how I think about these issues. The Artificial in AI can sometimes mislead so let's start by getting rid of the A and asking instead whether more NI, Natural Intelligence, will decimate the middle class. As I said in my TED talk, the brainpower of China and India in the 20th century was essentially "offline". Instead of contributing to the world technological frontier the people of China and India were just barely feeding themselves. China and India are now coming online and I see the increase in natural intelligence as one of the most hopeful facts for the future.

Getting a robot to balance and walk on two feet is a massive challenge, as the DARPA Challenge revealed. But it turns out it's a little less tricky when you focus on just the legs, as the Alphabet-owned SCHAFT's newest bipedal creation demonstrated by confidently walking out on stage at the New Economic Summit going on in Tokyo. Until it's revealed outside of the conference, we'll have to settle with shaky smartphone footage of the demo reel SCHAFT played during its presentation. But the video shows the lab's development of its latest bipedal robot, including the impressive progress it's made when it comes to dealing with uneven terrain, and random obstacles that would easily trip up other walking bots. Details on what the new SCHAFT robot is capable of are slim at the moment, but apparently it's designed to be low-cost and low-power.

Useless robot waiters are being blamed for the closure of several restaurants in China, after an investment by the owners in automated serving staff turned out to be a financial disaster. According to a translated report in the Worker's Daily -- which might have good reason to undermine robot labour, so perhaps be a bit cynical about it -- a restaurant chain has closed two branches staffed in part by 7,000 ( 4,900) robot servants, with a third surviving the cut; but replacing the underperforming automatons with rubbish old last-generation human service staff. Despite what we may have been told by the pro-robot agenda being pushed by the media, staff weren't impressed, telling the paper: "The robots weren't able to carry soup or other food steady and they would frequently break down. The boss has decided never to use them again." Which is odd, as they seem to be able to weld cars together and put windscreens into them by themselves, surely harder tasks than giving a man a cup of tea?

This week, in Geneva, Indian diplomats are closely monitoring an international expert review of the legal implications of the so-called "lethal autonomous weapons". These weapons will have the capability of selecting and engaging targets on their own. Although fully autonomous weapons are yet to register significant presence in the arsenal of any nation, many consider their development and deployment inevitable in the coming years. Rapid advances in robotics, machine-learning and big-data analytics are at once driving the so-called "fourth industrial revolution" and the transformation of modern warfare. How the leading powers mobilise and deploy these technologies will shape the balance of economic and military power among them in the coming decades.