Most of the tech hype at the big SXSW conference this week is definitely anything and everything around virtual reality, but Internet of Things has crept into today's chatter among attendees-in-the-know given reports that the Internet of Things (IoT) smart products platform, Evrything, just secured a solid $24.8M in Series B funding. This comes on the heels of IBM's recent announcement about a big IoT move that will explore how cognitive and IoT technologies will entirely transform industries. IoT is heating up, for sure. But this particular equation from IBM Watson, unlike Evrything, warrants an even closer look given the players involved and the massive impact the synergies will create in the IoT space in both the short and long term. If it succeeds, our everyday lifestyle as we know it will dramatically change forever .

Apple is to release a whole host of new products in the coming weeks, according to rumours. The company will hold its fairly regular spring event this year and use it to introduce updates to the iPad Pro as well as new models of the iPhone, according to reports. Apple has held a March event most years, focusing on new products outside of its iPhone line, with a particlar focus on the iPad. The spring event is one of three major keynotes that it hosts, which also include June's WWDC developer event and one in September where Apple introduces major revisions to the iPhones. 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.

Few games do such a representative job in their first thirty minutes as Nier: Automata. This genre-skipping RPG opens its story with a whistle-stop tour through several play styles, from vertical shoot em up, third person action, 2D platformer, horizontal blaster, top-down twin-stick shooter and some others I've probably forgotten, before setting you up to fight a giant mechanised oil rig. Forget the Automata suffix, this game should probably be called Nier: WTF?. Nier: Automata is actually a sequel to last generation's Nier, itself a spin-off from the Drakengard series, but don't worry about any of that. You don't need any prior knowledge of what's gone before, especially when Nier: Automata's story takes place a couple of thousand years after the first game. The plot revolves around an alien invasion that has seen the last of humanity escape to the moon, while earth has been taken over by robots. Rather put out by this, humans have been sending androids back to earth to battle these interlopers, including your character, 2B.

A British entrepreneur claims to have created an app capable of tracking anyone down on Facebook just by analysing a picture of their face. Facezam, which plans to launch on iOS later this month, claims to scan billions of Facebook photos per second, which it accesses through a database for developers. According to its website, Facezam works with 70% accuracy, and can link an image to a Facebook account within seconds. However, that figure is said to drop to 55% when a person's face is positioned at an angle or partly covered by sunglasses, hair or a hat. 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.

Machines, you may have heard, are coming for all the jobs. Artificial intelligence handles insurance claims and basic bookkeeping, manages investment portfolios, does legal research, and performs basic HR tasks. Human labor doesn't stand a chance against them--after the "automation apocalypse," only those with spectacular abilities and the owners of the robots will thrive. But before you start campaigning for a universal basic income and set up a bunker, you might want to also familiarize yourself with the competing theory: In the long run, we're going to be just fine. Our modern fear that robots will steal all the jobs fits a classic script. Nearly 500 years ago, Queen Elizabeth I cited the same fear when she denied an English inventor named William Lee a patent for an automated knitting contraption.

For as long as humans have been making machines, we have been fascinated with the deliciously horrifying idea of them coming alive -- and turning against us. These fears tend to conjure up a picture of dusty, apocalyptic landscapes and malicious beasts made of steel, however, another scenario is on the rise. "Machines taking over," is far more likely to manifest in the workplace than as a conscious rebellion. In fact, it is already happening. Many tasks that used to require manpower are being replaced by bots and A.I., and the list of jobs that no longer need a human is growing fast.

A baby seal robot called PARO has played a prominent role in animal therapy in hospitals and senior citizens homes in Japan and Europe since 2003. PARO has become the darling of many a patient successfully replacing live animals If demand of social robots like PARO was to increase, the robot-human interactions will expand social and cultural communication patterns. With the advances in robotics and affective computing, the relationship between robots and humans in society is changing. The combination of context-awareness, motoric skills and affective behaviour opens a wide field for robotic assistants or even robotic companions. Films like WALL-E (2008) or Her (2013) show that robots or artificial intelligence are no longer just means to an end but start to be seen as cultural entities.

In its drive to become a city of the future, authorities in Dubai have purchased a network of robotic pods to shuttle people to a man-made island. The transport system will see 25 driverless buses connecting Bluewaters island, which is currently under construction, with the mainland. It is hoped that the system will one day ferry up to 10,000 people back and forth every hour. A new network of 25 driverless buses will connect a man-made island, which is currently under construction, with mainland Dubai. Pictured is a pod which operates under Masdar City in neighbouring emirate Abu Dhabi.

A construction firm based in Dubai has announced plans to build the world's first 3D-printed skyscraper. The company, called Cazza, has confirmed that it will be erected in the United Arab Emirates. It says it will use a new technique called "crane printing" to create the building. 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.

Xiaomi says its new Redmi Note 4 has become the fastest selling smartphone in India. The Chinese firm said it had moved more than one million units in just 45 days since its launch, meaning one sold every four seconds. The phone is the successor to the Redmi Note 3, which shifted more than 2.3 million units in the country following its 2016 launch, making it the best-selling smartphone in India in terms of online sales. "Redmi Note 4 has become the fastest smartphone model to sell a million units in India. Redmi Note 4 has sold more than one million units in 45 days from its first sale on 23 January, 2017," Xiaomi said.