Big Data is shorthand for advancing trends in technology that open the door to a new approach to understanding the world and making decisions. There is a lot more data, all the time, growing at 50 percent a year, or more than doubling every two years, estimates IDC, a technology research firm. Data analysts help businesses make sense of an explosion of data - Web traffic and social network comments, as well as software and sensors that monitor shipments, suppliers and customers - to guide decisions, trim costs and lift sales. A report last year by the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consulting firm, projected that the United States needs 140,000 to 190,000 more workers with "deep analytical" expertise and 1.5 million more data-literate managers. In the developed economies of Europe, the report estimates, government administrators could save more than $149 billion in operational efficiency improvements alone by using Big Data.

They sniff, wag their tails, fetch and run in packs. But no one minds if these canines stick their noses into some pretty dirty stuff. That's because they are robotic dogs, modified by engineering students at Yale University to sniff out toxic materials. Equipped with just about everything but a wet nose, the plastic and metallic-skinned robots have spurred toxic search projects in the United States, Europe and Australia. They are the brainchild of Natalie Jeremijenko, a lecturer in engineering at Yale and self-described technoartist.

S. N. Srihari, C. Huang and H. Srinivasan, "Content-Based Retrieval of Handwritten Document Images," Knowledge Based Computer Systems (KBCS 2004), Hyderabad, India, December 2004. S. N. Srihari, C. Huang and H. Srinivasan, "Content-Based Retrieval of Handwritten Document Images," Knowledge Based Computer Systems (KBCS 2004), Hyderabad, India, December 2004.

Francesco Calabrò, Chief Technology Officer/ Capability Manager of Selex ES, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, Italy's second largest conglomorate, will join CCLS beginning in May for an extended 2 year assignment managing our joint Micro and Smart Electric Grid efforts. I am customer service-oriented, and accustomed to dealing with clients' needs."

Evidence of humans fearing technology dates back to the Industrial Revolution, when what came to be known as "technophobia" was first observed. Eighteenth-century factory workers worried that the development of new machines would take away their livelihoods and ability to survive. As it turns out, some of those fears were justified. Violent man-versus-machine conflicts saw members of the British working class destroying the devices that had replaced their jobs well into the 1800s, setting the stage for centuries of anti-robot rhetoric played out in books, movies and ideological movements. Today, serious fears of a "robot revolution" are only just starting to crystallize for the average person – but it's happening quickly, and spreading far beyond the confines of science fiction.

It's predicted that sometime in the next 25 years, artificial intelligence machines will match - and in some ways - surpass human intelligence. The potential ripple effects of that are staggering. Corporations and governments are now spending billions of dollars on developing bigger and smarter A.I. technology. Their goal is to create machines that think for themselves. But some warn it could go terribly wrong, and the warning is being sounded by the likes of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking. Philosopher and technologist Nick Bostrom is one of the world's big thinkers on artificial intelligence or A.I. He's the founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford university and says, A.I. has the potential to shape the fate of humanity.

Four sister robots built by NASA could be pioneers in the colonization of Mars, part of an advance construction team that sets up a habitat for more fragile human explorers. But first they're finding new homes on Earth and engineers to hone their skills. The space agency has kept one Valkyrie robot at its birthplace, the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It has loaned three others to universities in Massachusetts and Scotland so professors and students can tinker with the 1.8-metre tall, 125-kilogram humanoids and make them more autonomous. One of the robots, nicknamed Val, still hasn't quite harmonized its 28 torque-controlled joints and nearly 200 sensors after arriving at a robotics centre at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Northeastern University Ph.D. student Murphy Wonsick adjusts the leg of a six-foot-tall, 125 kg Valkyrie robot at University of Massachusetts-Lowell's robotics centre in Lowell, Mass.

The Calgary Police Service became the first force in Canada to start using facial recognition software to match suspects against a mug shot database this week, but it likely won't be the last. The use of facial recognition technology is growing not just in law enforcement and security fields but also in commerce. "One of the reasons face [recognition] is so popular is that face images exist of almost everybody," said Kevin Bowyer, an expert on biometrics and computer vision and chair of the department of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Some cellphone apps use face recognition instead of passwords to give users access to devices. "You've got your driver's licence photos, you've got your identity badges wherever you work, so you've got this legacy of images that are easily accessible for everyone."

A cooing, gesturing humanoid on wheels that can decipher emotions has been unveiled in Japan by billionaire Masayoshi Son who says robots should be tender and make people smile. Son's mobile phone company Softbank said Thursday that the robot it has dubbed Pepper will go on sale in Japan in February for 198,000 yen ($2,100). Overseas sales plans are under consideration but undecided. The machine, which has no legs, but has gently gesticulating hands appeared on a stage in a Tokyo suburb, cooing and humming. It dramatically touched hands with Son in a Genesis or "E.T." moment.

Federal bureaucrats are raising concerns about distracted driving in semi-autonomous cars that don't require much input from the driver. And at least one expert is anticipating that, as the so-called'smart' cars get smarter, there will eventually be an increase in an unusual form of distracted driving: hanky-panky behind the wheel. "I am predicting that, once computers are doing the driving, there will be a lot more sex in cars," said Barrie Kirk of the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence. "That's one of several things people will do which will inhibit their ability to respond quickly when the computer says to the human, 'Take over."' CBC's Aaron Saltzman took Tesla's new autopilot feature out for a spin.