Scientists in Zurich are removing the blinders and letting drones figure things out for themselves. Using "vision algorithms" a group of researchers were able to teach inexpensive off-the-shelf drones to fly autonomously and map surrounding areas. The algorithms used are a "dense surface reconstruction" data-set designed to teach drones to understand their environment. Using a single camera and an inertial sensor the drones are able to take off, navigate, and create accurate 3D images. We start off with zero knowledge about where the drone is.

For many, it's just another Tuesday, but for Amazon, it's another opportunity for the company to sell you loads of stuff you probably don't need. This year, there are plenty of deals to be had, especially if you're in the mood for a new piece of technology.We've put together a list of all-day deals that we think are worth keeping an eye on. For today only, the Echo is 47 percent off and is the cheapest it's ever been. If you're looking for something that can connect to your smart home gadgets, play your favourite music and let you order from Just Eat, this can do that and more. Amazon Echo Dot: £34.99 (normally £49.99) -- Like the Echo but smaller, the Echo Dot is an easy way to buy into Amazon's ecosystem. Instead of serving as the main speaker in a room, the Dot can be connected to your existing audio setup, making it super smart in the process.

Russian visitors to Pornhub now have to sign in with their personal details and their passport. The Russian government has gradually been looking to make it more difficult for people in the country to access pornographic websites. That has followed shutdowns and criticism of the website, which state regulators said was distributing materials that were harming the development of children. The rules followed that complete shutdown of Pornhub, the world's biggest adult website, in September last year. That ban was lifted just months ago, when Pornhub committed to check the age of anyone who visits it. 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.

With cybercrime projected to reap some $6 trillion in damages by 2021, and businesses likely to invest around $1 trillion over the next five years to try to mitigate that, we're seeing a rise of startups that are building innovating ways to combat malicious hackers. In the latest development, Darktrace -- a cybersecurity firm that uses machine learning to detect and stop attacks -- has raised $75 million, giving the startup a post-money valuation of $825 million, on the back of a strong business: the company said it has a total contract value of $200 million, 3,000 global customers and has grown 140 percent in the last year. The funding will be used to expand the company's business operations into more markets. Notably, Darktrace also separately (not in its funding release) announced today that it is now in a strategic partnership with Hong Kong-based CITIC Telecom CPC, a telecoms firm serving China and other parts of Asia, "to bring next-generation cyber defense to businesses across Asia Pacific." We're asking if CITIC, which owns the strategic partner, has also invested in Darktrace as part of this partnership.

China's leading technology companies are on fire, heavily investing in artificial intelligence and building true global presences. McKinsey recently reported that academic and research institutions in the country publish more cited research papers than the US, UK, or any other global leader in AI, producing nearly 10,000 papers in 2015 alone. Backed by strong government mandates and billions of dollars of both private and public investments, China is challenging the US for position of global AI leader. Fearful of competition, the US government is considering placing restrictions on Chinese investments in AI and technology in the United States. In many sectors, such as healthcare, China may already be ahead of America in applying AI to critical public issues.

An employee uses a facial recognition device as she swipes her badge to enter the assembly line area at a Pegatron Corp. factory in Shanghai, China, on Friday, April 15, 2016.(Photo Would you want to have your face tracked by ever present cameras so others can know your identities and whereabouts? While the answer is likely to be no for many in the west, the scenario is becoming a reality in China. Facial-recognition technology, once a staple of Minority Report-style movies, is quickly inserting itself into the daily lives of more and more people in the country. Unfettered by privacy regulations, China's largest internet companies are scooping up hundreds of millions of photos from their online apps to teach computers to analyze facial features.

He's known for causing social media frenzies with his artwork and for one day only The McLoughlin Gallery in San Francisco will be exhibiting, 'Artificial Intelligence: THE END OF ART AS WE KNOW IT' by Matty Mo. Going by the name, The Most Famous Artist he has partnered with a group of anonymous hackers to build a proprietary artificial intelligence powered by big data capable of emulating and breeding art styles to produce high-quality original artworks. The first images released utilizing this technology are a series of portraits of people whose jobs will be eventually eliminated by artificial intelligence. These unique portraits resemble the methodical style of photorealist artist Chuck Close, who forced to adopt because of a health complication rendering him partially paralyzed in 1988. This exhibition serves as starting point for a discussion about the challenges facing humanity in light of big data, AI and robots.

Machine Learning is one of the most exciting fields in the world. Every week we discover something new, something amazing, something revolutionary. That's why we created This Week in Machine Learning! Each week we publish a curated list of Machine Learning stories as a resource to help you keep pace with all these exciting developments. New posts will be published here first, and previous posts are archived on the Udacity blog.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is updating its image with a number of new achievement badges aimed at encouraging young women into science and technology. My memories of the Girl Guides involve marshmallow toasting, tying knots and being assessed on my table-laying skills for a badge no doubt long-consigned to the archives. Fast forward some 25 years and it's clear much as changed. In an international organisation that liaises with Google and Microsoft among others, today's young guides are just as likely to be gathered round an engineering bench as a campfire. Sixteen-year-old Catherine Young is on a mission to boost girls' interest in engineering and has found the Girl Guides a valuable platform for her campaign.

A quantum upgrade could make old-fashioned cheques the most secure way to send money. Researchers have proven that quantum computers could in theory create and cash cheques that are nearly impossible to forge. Quantum computers store information using qubits which, unlike the ones and zeros of classical computing, can exist in two states simultaneously. This is known as quantum superposition. But it's impossible to observe a qubit while it's in a superposition – it collapses into either a one or zero as soon as you measure it.