According to Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) predictions, more than 300m smartphones – or more than one-fifth of phones sold globally in 2017 – will come with machine learning capabilities. But in addition to smartphones, other mobile devices will be able to perform machine learning tasks even without connectivity. Machine learning capabilities are forecast to arrive in tens of millions of drones, tablets, cars, VR or AR devices, medical tools, internet of things (IoT) devices and unforeseen new technologies. "Machine learning is fascinating as it will revolutionise how we conduct simple tasks like translating content, but it also has major security and health consequences that can improve societies around the world," said Richard Howard, TMT partner at Deloitte Ireland. "For example, mobile machine learning is a strong entry point to improve responses to disaster relief, help save lives with autonomous vehicles and even turn the tide against the growing wave of cyberattacks."

A U.S. Air Force pilot grasps a flight control and weapons firing stick while preparing to launch a MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), from a ground control station in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016. At 12:01 p.m. on January 20th, drone geek Maynard Holliday won't be a Pentagon robot expert anymore. One of the roughly 4,000 Obama appointees out of a job on Friday, Holliday is wrapping up two and a half years of work designing and buying drones for the Pentagon. A self-proclaimed Star Trek-loving science nerd who grew up obsessed with the thought of one day traveling into space himself, today Holliday's much more interested in a smaller kind of'space race' happening here on Planet Earth. As he shuffles his way out of Washington, he says he's got one big worry about the future of military drone warfare: What happens when and if killer drones go on autopilot?

A heat-sensing film could let robots detect when humans are around, like pit vipers hunting out warm-blooded prey. The flexible, transparent coating is made of pectin, a low-cost plant material used to set jam. Unlike conventional electronics, it relies on currents of ions rather than electrons to detect temperature variations – just like natural membranes used by the snakes. The film can sense temperature changes as small as 10 millikelvin, which is twice as sensitive as human skin. It can detect a warm body the size of a rabbit from a metre away, something the researchers tested by microwaving a teddy bear and setting it at different distances from the film.

The history of video games has seen many fine upstanding leaders, prime ministers and presidents. Stoic Marion Bosworth from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 who instigates the fight back against cyber terrorist Raul Menendez; The President in Saint's Row IV who must defend their country against an alien invasion; and who can forget President Ronnie in Bad Dudes who remains steadfast in his love of burgers, even after being kidnapped by DragonNinja? But sometimes these digitised demagogues fare less well, and understandably, it's these more troublesome characters that have come to mind this week. So here are what we feel are the six worst US presidents in games history. Add your own candidates in the comments section.

January 20, 2017 --The ants go marching … backward. Desert ants forage alone, each carrying the snacks they find back to their nest. But sometimes the little insects find meals too massive to lift up in their jaws, and they have to drag their prize home, backward. Now researchers have an idea how the ants figure out where to go without looking where they're going. The little insects might combine visual memories with cues from the sky to follow the right path, even if they can't see it every step of the way.

Amazon is virtualising its Dash buttons, allowing shoppers to order items with the click of a mouse rather than the push of a button. Though it's a logical decision, it still seems an unusual one, as much of the intrigue around physical Dash buttons has been generated by the product's sheer weirdness. Physical Dash buttons are arguably more useful too, as they allow you to shop without having to fire up Amazon on your computer or smartphone first. For the uninitiated, the Dash button is a small, Wi-Fi-connected piece of hardware you can stick anywhere in your house, and use to order a specific product from a specific brand with a single push of a button. 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.

Driving a car is an extremely complex activity -- somehow we manage to control all that technology and keep our eyes on many things going on around us. We manage to do it well enough that there are not many accidents. But how much can we rely on software to control a car? It ought to be smarter, but does that make driving safer? A fatal accident in May 2016 involving a Tesla Motors car on autopilot made it clear that we can't fully trust it yet, even if, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk says, one fatality in 130 million miles of autopilot relates well to one fatality in 94 million miles of conventional driving.

As the fourth industrial revolution gathers pace, business leaders need to start addressing how AI and automation will impact their business and workforce. Emerging technologies are fundamentally disrupting how we live and work, and their future impact cannot be ignored. Only half of UK CEOs are currently addressing the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) or automation on their organisation, according to PwC's 20th CEO Survey, published at the World Economic Forum in Davos. This puts the UK behind countries such as Germany, the US and China in responding to how emerging technologies will redefine businesses. Only just over a quarter of UK bosses say they are considering the impact of AI on their future skills needs, compared to almost 40% of CEOs worldwide.

The rise of e-commerce over the last 10 years or so has forced retailers to adapt to the changes demanded by consumers. E-commerce growth continues to accelerate and outpace growth in the brick-and-mortar channel, and online sales accounted for almost 20% of total US sales this holiday season, based on preliminary estimates. In addition, department stores have offered discounts and promotions as a key tool to drive demand and bring consumers into stores. Over time, this strategy can dilute a store's brand and leave stores looking picked through. Also, it trains consumers to wait for discounts instead of buying products at full price. There has been a significant number of store closures in the last few years, and we expect that to accelerate in 2017 and in the following few years. As the department store channel shrinks, and more brands fight for less space, we think brands will need to be more creative, flexible and diversified in their approaches. One way brands can disrupt the more traditional wholesale channel without taking on the significant real estate risk that comes with opening their own stores is to open pop-up stores. With pop-ups, brands have complete creative control of the brand experience and how their messaging is communicated to consumers. They can tell the story they want to tell and explain in their own voice what the brand stands for. In some cases, brands use pop-ups more as an advertising tool than as a place to transact commerce. These kinds of pop-ups usually offer some kind of special experience to draw consumers into the store. Pop-ups can also be set up in locations other than malls, allowing brands to reach their target customers where they are. Retailers and brands can also use pop-ups to test the waters in the most expensive shopping areas, often at discounted rents, while landlords can use the temporary stores to show off the space to prospective long-term tenants. Mall operators are receptive to pop-ups, as they bring something new and unique to consumers. Real estate firm Related Companies has used pop-up shops at the Time Warner Center in New York City to provide a fresh feel and add variety for consumers.

Open markets and global trade have been blamed for job losses over the last decade, but global CEOs say the real culprits are increasingly machines. And while business leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos relish the productivity gains technology can bring, they warned this week that the collateral damage to jobs needs to be addressed more seriously. From taxi drivers to healthcare professionals, technologies such as robotics, driverless cars, artificial intelligence and 3-D printing mean more and more types of jobs are at risk. Adidas, for example, aims to use 3-D printing in the manufacture of some running shoes. "Jobs will be lost, jobs will evolve and this revolution is going to be ageless, it's going to be classless and it's going to affect everyone," said Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett Packard.