Every time the World Cup rolls around, there is always a random animal that can mysteriously predict the entire tournament. Previously we've seen the likes of Paul the Octopus, the physic turtle and this year we have'Mystic Marcus' the micro pig. Should we really be trusting an animal with our World Cup betting, though? Surely we should instead put all our faith in the things that now control our lives: technology. Technische Universitat Dortmund, Ghent University and the Technical University of Munich have developed an AI system that has analysed 100,000 simulations for this summer's tournament in Russia.

Over the years, TouchPal has remained one of the most popular Android keyboards with its generous bundle of features, including gesture typing, neural network-powered prediction, multilingual support, GIF search, themes and more; though some of these have also become standard on other keyboards, such as Google's very own Gboard. As an attempt to stay on top of the game, the company has finally pushed its new TouchPal Keyboard Pro out of beta to debut "Talia," its AI personal assistant. Talia is designed in such a way that it delivers quick suggestions in a bubble as you type, but also in a way that doesn't overburden you. These include simple offerings like one-tap paste aka "Swift Paste," very basic calculations (with no more than two numbers for convenience's sake) and currency conversion, as well as something a little more advanced like smart replies, GIF predictions, weather forecast and dining recommendations -- part of this relies on Yelp, so availability depends on your region. I've been using TouchPal Keyboard Pro over the last few days, and overall, these features do make my life easier by saving me a few taps.

Those are a few of the ideas pitched tonight at Mercedes-Benz's Innovation Challenge, a startup competition staged this evening at the Vance plant's training center. Mercedes-Benz opened its doors to firms from around the world to dream up solutions to challenges on the factory floor. And engineers and innovators came back this evening with their own ideas. Teams were split into startup companies and student & professional groups. Cash prizes will be awarded to winners of the challenge.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, last week, 125 mostly white, mostly male, business-card-bearing attendees crowded into a brightly lit ballroom to consider "mobility." That's the buzzword for a hazy vision of how tech in all forms--including smartphones, credit cards, and autonomous vehicles-- will combine with the remains of traditional public transit to get urbanites where they need to go. There was a fizz in the air at the Meeting of the Minds session, advertised as a summit to prepare cities for the "autonomous revolution." In the US, most automotive research happens within an hour of that ballroom, and attendees knew that development of "level 4" autonomous vehicles--designed to operate in limited locations, but without a human driver intervening--is accelerating. Susan Crawford (@scrawford) is an Ideas contributor for WIRED, a professor at Harvard Law School, and the author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age.

The two controversial new rules – known as Article 11 and Article 13 – introduce wide-ranging new changes to the way the web works. Article 13 has been criticised by campaigners who claim that it could force internet companies to "ban memes". The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. Japan's On-Art Corp's CEO Kazuya Kanemaru poses with his company's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' and other robots during a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan Singulato Motors co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin poses in his company's concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China A picture shows Singulato Motors' concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.

A robot servant that can be controlled using the power of thought has been developed by MIT engineers. The machine, named Baxter, reads human brainwaves in real-time so that it knows when a human is unhappy with its actions. If a human think a mistake has been made, Baxter takes notice - and corrects himself. Baxter's owner can then make subtle hand gestures to direct the machine into performing a different task. Scientists say the technology is designed to make robots acts like an extension of a person's will, without any training.

The report says that London has an opportunity to build on the current levels of female founders and provide a start-up environment that encourages higher levels of female participation in AI and across the technology sector. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "There are few areas of innovation that have the power to define our future economy and society more than artificial intelligence. "The research describes a city with a rich technology ecosystem, a strong pipeline of AI innovation and an academic and investment base set up for the long term. "London's unique global status as a capital of finance, business, government, and technology is our standout asset. Everything entrepreneurs need is here in one place - not least access to clients."

On the sidelines of Money20/20, held in Amsterdam this week, bobsguide caught up with Nick Cook, head of regtech and advanced analytics at the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). All of the external facing regtech sits under my department. Internally, I'm leading our more advanced analytics, both the technology side - cloud analytics - as well as building out our human side - our data science capability. Over time, through training and development we can start to build it out and expand in an osmotic fashion across the wider organisation - effectively enabling us to leverage machine learning. We're also running sandboxes and hackathons to develop and encourage the regtech contingent of the UK startup market.

AppZen – uses artificial intelligence to automate expense report audit. ArgyleData – is a software maker that uses big data and machine learning to detect and stop fraud for telcom companies. Also see FraudTechWire.com Attrasoft – Provider of a number of neural network based products for image and sound recognition/retrieval, trend prediction and data mining. Acquired Intelligence Inc – Creators of the ACQUIRE line of administration, operations and customer support products in stand-alone or web-based applications. Includes profile, demo downloads, and job openings.

Financial firms have always been early adopters of new technology, including relational databases and the mainframe computer. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is helping the sector by applying methods derived from human intelligence to improve results and engage with customers in new, technical, ways. More and more financial services are using AI to process information on customers; save time and money; monitor behaviour patterns; assist money making decisions; asses credit quality; automate client interaction; analyse the market; and asses data quality as well as fraud detection. "AI will have an impact as big as electricity and will transform every single industry", said Terry Cordeiro, Head of Product Management at Lloyds Banking Group at London Tech Week. "It has completely transformed how the finance industry works, with the vision at Lloyds being to use smart machines for extending human capabilities while using data to respond."