Over time, we expect the distinction between'AI' companies and other software providers to blur and then disappear, as machine learning is employed to tackle a wide variety of business processes and sectors. Today, however, it is possible to point to a sub-set of early stage software companies defined by their focus on AI. We've researched 226 early stage AI companies in the UK and met with 40 of them. We've developed a map (Figure 1, above) to place the 226 according to their: We'll update our map regularly. We apologise if we've omitted or mis-classified your company; we're aware that many early stage companies may be using, but not presenting, extensive AI.

Take a short walk through Singapore's city center and you'll cross a helical bridge modeled on the structure of DNA, pass a science museum shaped like a lotus flower, and end up in a towering grove of artificial Supertrees that pulse with light and sound. It's no surprise, then, that this is the first city to host a fleet of autonomous taxis. Since last April, robo-taxis have been exploring the 6 kilometers of roads that make up Singapore's One-North technology business district, and people here have become used to hailing them through a ride-sharing app. Maybe that's why I'm the only person who seems curious when one of the vehicles--a slightly modified Renault Zoe electric car--pulls up outside of a Starbucks. Seated inside the car are an engineer, a safety driver, and Doug Parker, chief operating officer of nuTonomy, the MIT spinout that's behind the project.

Apple could soon update the iPhone with a special mode meant for the cinema. Tweets sent by regular Apple leaker Sonny Dickson claim that the first beta of iOS 10.3, the latest update to iPhones, will be sent out on 10 January. It will include a special theatre mode that will be triggered by clicking a popcorn-shaped icon in the phone's control centre. Mr Dickson didn't indicate what that icon would actually do. But several outlets have speculated that it could be linked to a patent that Apple already owns, intended for making the phone easier to check in the cinema.

Chinese firm Lenovo has created its own version of Amazon's Echo home assistant. The company announced its new Smart Assistant today at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas. The gadget, which is a similar shape to the Amazon Echo but comes in a variety of colours, uses Amazon's Alexa Voice Services and works in the same way as Amazon's own smart assistant. Chinese tech firm Lenovo has created its own version of Amazon's Echo home assistant. Lenovo says 65 per cent of people around the world already use voice recognition technology on their phone, PC or tablet.

Given their crucial life in our ecosystem by helping to pollinate flowers, bees are pretty darn important. But with a continuing radical population decline of bees around the world, it may be up to robots to step in and lend a helping hand. That is the mission of an unusual project taking place at Poland's Warsaw University of Technology. For the past four years, researchers there have been working to build robotic bees, called B-Droids, which they hope can carry out some of these tasks. More: Harvard scientists just figured out how to make their robotic bee'perch' on objects to save energy Through various iterations of the project, the robots have grown increasingly sophisticated -- from early wheel-based bots which used computers to find nearby flowers to the latest version, a quadcopter able to move from flower to flower taking pollen samples.

Businesses are often data-rich but information-poor. Machine learning is changing that. The use of artificial intelligence to let computers learn independently through algorithms without being explicitly programmed can help companies process vast quantities of complex data to improve analytics, predictive accuracy and decision-making. Machine learning is already being used in everything from fraud detection to self-driving cars, and in sectors from marketing to government. "We are currently working on machine learning to pick up early signals of ill health. My current role is to ensure that this is implemented in line with national recording guidance which does not cover machine learning. This is currently in pilot phase in the A&E in Salford."

Will technology at last help us to feel richer in 2017? The prevailing concern for several years now has been that despite rising GDP most people are not feeling any richer, and some people attribute the success of populist politicians to this sense of resentment. But we will hear a lot more about the clutch of technologies that potentially can transform our living standards, and accordingly give a practical response to populism by showing that things can and will get better. The core set of these technologies goes under the umbrella term Artificial Intelligence. The New York Times Magazine has just run a piece by Gideon Lewis-Kraus, under the title "The Great A.I. Awakening", which sums up what is happening.

Mosul, Iraq - As fighting raged in eastern Mosul on a recent afternoon, a black Humvee arrived at an Iraqi army command post with a collection of plastics, electronics and rotor blades lashed to its back. Soldiers leaped to unload the cargo, which comprised the remnants of the latest tool in ISIL's armoury: drones. The haul included a number of small devices of the kind favoured by filmmakers and hobbyists, costing a few hundred dollars apiece. But there were also larger, fixed-wing craft fashioned out of corrugated plastic and duct tape, apparently made by the fighters themselves. Since mid-2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has held Mosul, after sweeping through northern Iraq in a shock offensive.

New rumors about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 keep emerging ahead of its expected released later in 2017. The device will is said to have some new cool features designed to lure consumers back to the Note series after the Note 7 scandal of 2016. Samsung seems to have picked up from its vast market experience and might position its smartphone display and camera to woo customers. According to Netherlands-based YouTuber MobySmartCat, who specializes in smartphone leaks and rumors, the Note 8's display might have some interesting features. In a video uploaded Dec. 24, MobySmartCat said the device will come with an edge-to-edge 5.7-inch flexible display which will transform into a 6.2-inch display by pushing a button on the side of the device.

India's patent laws allow for reverse-engineering of certain technologies. A prime example of this reverse-engineering is in the pharmaceutical space, where Indian pharma companies are allowed to reverse-engineer drugs, especially life-saving ones. These drugs may have been developed by pharma majors in other parts of the world--and then introduced into western markets--after India-based outsourcing firms had helped them out with clinical trials, data gathering and reporting to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or its equivalent to get these drugs passed. Indian courts have continued to allow such reverse-engineering of drugs--famously prompting Bayer AG's then CEO Martin Dekkers to say at a conference a few years ago, "We did not develop this medicine for Indians. We developed it for western patients who can afford it."