Video monitoring systems for traffic have been in use since the mid- 1960s, initially pioneered by Israel and the Netherlands in order to capture motorists violating traffic light regulations. But they would have been very differently-designed if computer evaluation, rather than human monitoring, had been anticipated – a problem which researchers from Carnegie Mellon are currently tackling. The sheer scale and maturity of urban traffic-monitoring systems, many of which hail back to the 1980s, are a tantalising prospect for AI in terms of generating usable data about traffic flow, but are predicated on'common sense' – currently an elusive goal for machine learning, even in terms of widely-agreed definition. In the paper Understanding Traffic Density from Large-Scale Web Camera Data four researchers consider what Fully Convolutional Networks (FCNs) might be able to achieve in terms of leveraging all this extant, live data without the need to invest in expensive and experimental new monitoring systems. City-wide traffic camera networks were originally developed as tools for municipal traffic authorities to make rough estimations of congestion, and to be apprised of serious blockages such as road accidents; any traffic flow data emerging from their use would be purely anecdotal – impossibly expensive or complicated to rationalise and analyse scientifically.

Despite being just the size of an insect, tiny military weapons being developed by the military have the incredible power of hundreds of tons of TNT. In a new book, Louis del Monte, a physicist from Minnesora warns that these tiny weapons - dubbed'nanoweapons' - could lead to the most destructive world war yet which could spell the end for humanity. And this isn't just a long-term worry, as Mr del Monte has warned that the tiny weapons could render humans extinct by the end of the century. Nanoweapons have a 1 in 20 chance of causing human extinction by the end of this century. Terrorists could get their hands on nanoweapons through the black market as early as 2020.

Facebook is developing at least four new consumer products that could be revealed at an April event, according to a new report. The social network last year launched a futuristic hardware division called Building 8, which is said to be similar to Google X, the experimental lab behind the search company's self-driving cars. One of the prototypes created by Building 8 is a "brain computer interface" that sounds a lot like a platform once hinted at by Mark Zuckerberg, which would allow users to share information telepathically. 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 prank designed to trick iPhone users into calling emergency services is currently spreading online. Owners of Apple products are being encouraged to say '108' to Siri, unaware of the consequences. As 108 is the equivalent of 999 in India, the digital assistant will recognise it as a command to contact emergency services in the phone user's local area. 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.

YouTube has admitted that it hides some LGBTQ videos on its side. The Google-owned video company offers a "restricted mode" that aims to "screen out potentially objectionable content". But a number of prominent YouTubers noticed that LGBTQ videos appeared to be hidden as part of that rule – provoking huge protests. Now YouTube has admitted that such videos are being hidden, but says that it only does so to ensure that people don't see videos that deal with "more sensitive issues". 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.

It's no wonder, then, why women on average speak less than men in meetings: These risks aren't just perceived, they're proven. The Stockholm-based design firm Doberman believes the first step toward erasing gender bias in the workplace is making it known. For that, it designed an app called GenderEQ that monitors and evaluates meetings based on voice recognition, then analyzes the data to show the percentage of time taken up by male and female speakers. The app works on a phone or tablet, the idea being that the device can be set down on a table in the middle of a meeting and chart, in real time, who is speaking and for how long. The team at Doberman developed an algorithm that extracts data from the sounds picked up by the device's microphone.

Britain risks losing pole position in the race to develop driverless cars if there is a crackdown on immigration after Brexit, say experts. Restricting the flow of skilled workers will damage Government hopes of the UK becoming a world leader in a key industry of the future, according to a report by Oxford University. It claims that firms developing the technology will be forced to move abroad instead. The warning is a blow to Chancellor Philip Hammond, who highlighted driverless vehicles and robotics as a priority in this month's Budget. Oxford University's driverless car project is at risk It is just one of many dire predictions of a'brain drain' as Britain leaves the European Union and the Government tries to cut net annual migration to under 100,000.

The first 24-hour police drone unit is to be launched, amid fears that forces may have to rely on them because of falling officer numbers. The'flying squad' will pursue suspects, find missing people and help solve murders. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry, national spokesman on drones, predicted forces across Britain would soon be using them as they are cheaper than helicopters and can perform some duties of bobbies on the beat. But the move has prompted privacy concerns and warnings that the technology should'never be an excuse to cut officers'. Devon and Cornwall Police has advertised for a drone manager to lead its new dedicated unit, which will be launched in the summer and shared with Dorset. Devon and Cornwall Police will launch a dedicated 24-hour police drone unit to save costs on helicopters.

Hanover German Chancellor Angela Merkel has kicked off the world's biggest digital business fair in Hanover with a speech urging developers not to leave their fellow humans behind. At the opening ceremony for the CeBIT expo, Merkel appealed to tech firms to include the'millions of people who in some ways don't know what awaits them' in the digital revolution, adding that politicians could not achieve such inclusion without help from the industry. Merkel is set to peruse the latest trends at the trade fair in detail on Monday, when it opens to the public, together with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 'We cannot let a situation arise in which only certain people generate wealth,' Abe said on Sunday, reinforcing the theme of shared benefits. Merkel admitted that Europe was all too often lagging behind in digital technology.

Governments across the world may be fretting over the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation on employment, but Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday his government does not fear the technology. Japan is struggling with a declining and aging population, and sluggish growth. Abe said AI could actually help the country to grow. "Machines equipped with AI, or machines that are essentially robots no longer perform only narrow … functions … the machines of tomorrow will be tasked with solving … (a) multitude of challenges," Abe told an audience at the CeBIT technology trade show in Hannover, Germany, on Sunday. "Japan has no fear of AI. Machines will snatch away jobs? Such worries are not known to Japan. Japan aims to be the very first to prove that growth is possible through innovation, even when a population declines," the prime minister said.