March 12, 2017 --In traditional computers, the smallest units of information exists in one of two states: 1 and 0, or on and off. Long strings of 1s and 0s can store increasingly complex information that can be used use to perform useful tasks, but that information storage is limited by the size of those individual bits of information in a computer's hard drive. But now, researchers have figured out a way to magnetically store information on the smallest unit possible: a single atom. There's a long way to go before atom-sized information storage technology can make it to your home computer or smartphone, but now researchers have proven that it is possible to store information on an incredibly small level. Theoretically, this new technology could lead to massive data storage capacities on an impressive scale – even in the smallest of devices.

Chris Schranck, wearing his Futureman outfit, says what draws fans is his personality and the community he built around his Twitch stream. Chris Schranck, wearing his Futureman outfit, says what draws fans is his personality and the community he built around his Twitch stream. For four to eight hours a day, Chris Schranck sits between three computer monitors and a green screen in his one-bedroom apartment in Queens, N.Y. "I think 10-year-old me would be in shock," he says. "I could have never imagined that this is what I would be doing."

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has said the impact of fake news is increasingly concerning and unveiled plans to tackle "unethical" political advertising and the harvesting of data. The British computer scientist said, exactly 28 years after his invention, three new trends have become alarming in the last year. In an open letter, the 61-year-old said misuse of data has created a "chilling effect on free speech" and warned of "internet blind spots" that are corrupting democracy. One problem, he wrote, is that most people find their news and information through a "handful" of social media sites and search engines, which are paid whenever someone clicks a link. "The net result is that these sites show us content they think we'll click on -- meaning that misinformation, or fake news, which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases, can spread like wildfire," he said.

I only got a "smart" television set 18 months ago, so I have already avoided years of covert surveillance by the CIA, the FBI, MI5, CI5 and NWA. No one is safe from Samsung's all-seeing Eye of Sauron. Apparently, a deeply embedded program currently enables the intelligence agencies to note and monitor anyone who is watching ITV's The Nightly Show, in the belief that they must be a weird loner-misfit, inexplicably fascinated by human suffering, a ticking social time bomb just waiting to explode. I am a late adopter of new technology. If I had played the ape at the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I would have thrown the bone up in the air, and then Stanley Kubrick would have cut, not to a similarly shaped satellite swooping through the cosmos in the far future, but to me, some years later, still throwing the bone up in the air, and obstinately refusing banana-based inducements to upgrade to a more aerodynamic bone.

Over the weekend, I put a question to the Google Home speaker I'd brought back from the United States. "Is Obama planning a coup?" I'd asked this after reading an article that suggested a relatively new feature that gives answers - or Snippets as the search company call them - to queries, rather than just links, had been producing some troubling results. The piece said a search asking which US presidents were in the Ku Klux Klan had listed several as members of the KKK, despite there being no evidence for that. It also featured a search for "Proposition 63", a gun control measure, that had produced a Snippet describing it as "a deceptive ballot initiative that will criminalise millions of law abiding Californians". And then there was "Is Obama planning a coup?" which had resulted in a Snippets box describing "Western Center for Journalism's exclusive video".

Until a few years ago, computers couldn't tell the difference between images of dogs and ones of cats. Today, computer programs use machine-learning algorithms to study piles of data and learn about the world and its people. Algorithms can tell a banker whether someone will pay back a loan. They can pick the right applicant out of thousands of resumes. They assist judges to determine a prisoner's risk of returning to a life of crime.

For Silicon Valley, the headline was sweet nectar: Google DeepMind, the world's hottest artificial intelligence lab, embraces the blockchain, the endlessly fascinating idea at the heart of the bitcoin digital currency. The lab's re-imagining of the blockchain has very little to do with AI--or the blockchain, for that matter. If you want AI crossed with the blockchain, try wrapping your head around Numerai, the world's strangest hedge fund. To DeepMind's credit, its new project depends less on trendy ideas than an apparent desire to solve a real problem in the real world--one that involves the most private and personal information. DeepMind is building an auditing system for healthcare data. That may not sound sexy, but it matters.

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One of the best parts of writing the Afternoon Edition each day is that I get to explore all kinds of interesting topics. Two of those recent topics continue to be all over the news, and they are the issues of robots and automation, and artificial intelligence and the "Singularity." These topics do materially affect markets, although their effect may not be as acute as, say, a monthly employment report. And speaking of which, we got a new monthly employment report this morning, as February saw 235,000 new non-farm payroll jobs created. That's good economic news; however, I wonder how many more jobs would have been created if there weren't as many advancements in the field of automation.

More investors are setting their sights on the financial technology (Fintech) arena. According to consulting firm Accenture, investment in Fintech firms rose by 10 percent worldwide to the tune of $23.2 billion in 2016. China is leading the charge after securing $10 billion in investments in 55 deals which account for 90 percent of investments in Asia-Pacific. The US came second taking in $6.2 billion in funding. Europe, also saw an 11 percent increase in deals despite Britain seeing a decrease in funding due to the uncertainty from the Brexit vote.