Zoltan Istvan is many things: a journalist, a futurist and entrepreneur. Mostly, though, he's been a cheerleader for the transhumanist movement, a philosophy focused on merging humans together with technology. To live forever as a new post-human species. Istvan kicked off a presidential campaign as head of the Transhumanist Party in 2014, mostly to spread the word about the movement. We sat down to talk with him about his experience running for president, and why voters should care about the transhumanist movement. Was the process of running this campaign what you expected? My campaign has been pretty much to always spread the message around transhumanism. It was never to win, and I said that from the very beginning. What I didn't expect is that I would very quickly enter into the top 10 candidates for almost the entire two years. Just three years ago, I signed with one of the major websites that puts you together with candidates.

Instagram is completely down, leaving people unable to use either its app or website. Visitors to the website see a message reading "5xx server error" and nothing else. App users will see a message saying that the app "couldn't refresh feed" – though the problem looks temporary, it isn't actually possible to get new pictures at all. It isn't clear what the source of the problem is or if it will be fixed any time soon. Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.

Honda has a new AI research center, which will begin operation early next year and centralize its R&D efforts in the field. The new center will bring together Honda's AI teams distributed across Silicon Valley, Europe and Japan in a single location in downtown Tokyo, according to Bloomberg. The consolidation is part of Honda's plan to begin bridging AI products to market, including cars with emotional perception, as it races to keep pace with competitors including Toyota. The decision to move operations in this field primarily to Tokyo is partly about making sure they're close to Honda's automotive operations as it moves further toward self-driving tech, and also a bet on Japan's own AI expertise, which Honda thinks can compete with the likes of Silicon Valley, according to the Bloomberg report. AI research is being pursued by almost every major technology company operating right now, and that includes carmakers.

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Why was I programmed to feel pain?" The question is played for laughs, but like so many memorable scenes from this most beloved of shows, it also taps into some of the deeper, overarching themes that define our modern civilization. Pain is a fundamental fact of life for many organisms on our planet; a crucial mechanism for identifying what kinds of actions pose serious threats to our physical and mental health. As robots become more sophisticated and interactive, should they also be programmed to experience pain to prevent injuries to themselves or others, and if so, to what extent? "Pain in the Machine," a 12-minute documentary released by the University of Cambridge on Monday, tackles this multifaceted and controversial issue. The film offers insights from artificial intelligence thought leaders, practicing physicians, and other interdisciplinary experts, and contrasts them with iconic popular culture moments that point to the larger philosophical questions inherent to artificially programming pain responses--including a nod to burning robot bit in The Simpsons. Like so many AI research fields, evaluating the utility and benefits of pain in robots inevitably flips the mirror back on our understanding of how those experiences function and protect us in our own lives. "Pain has fascinated philosophers for centuries," Ben Seymour, a Cambridge-based expert on the computational and systems neuroscience of pain, comments in the documentary. "Indeed, some people consider pain to be the pinnacle of consciousness.

A viral Facebook post has been shared by more than a million people – but there's one very important catch. The "Standing Rock check-in post claims that police monitoring protests over the North Dakota Access Pipeline will be obstructed if people check in to the area on Facebook. The local sheriffs have been using Facebook "to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps", the message reads, and so falsely checking in can stop them from doing so. But both local sheriffs and the Sacred Stone Camp that is the centre of the protests have said that the message doesn't actually interrupt any ongoing surveillance or monitoring operations, and isn't likely to make any immediate difference to the protests. Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo. A Toyota Motors employee demonstrates a smartphone app with the company's pocket plug-in hybrid (PHV) ...

On Monday September 19th, Salesforce announced Salesforce Einstein, a full Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platform that includes what appears to be both Machine and Deep Learning Capabilities. They also announced a new Research Unit focused on AI. This blog is about the Salesforce Einstein Announcement and the profound implications for enterprises and vendors alike. The biggest thing about Einstein is that Salesforce is showing working prototypes. Salesforce provided a preview demonstration of Predictive Lead Scoring and it looked solid.

Real-time cell tower inspections by intelligent drone with deep learning capabilities demonstrated at GPU Technology Conference. One of the world's first automated inspections by an intelligent drone with deep learning capabilities was demonstrated at the GPU Technology Conference Europe by Aerialtronics, a Dutch manufacturer of technologically advanced drones, Neurala, a pioneer in deep learning software, and GPU-accelerated computing company NVIDIA. This new "intelligent drone" identifies objects and their condition in flight, which increases the efficiency and accuracy of documenting assets, lowering costs, and making it easier for frequent inspections. It adds to the use of commercial drones to help businesses access difficult and dangerous areas, such as cell towers and turbines. The resulting system can visually inspect a cell tower and recognise the equipment mounted on the mast.

So many works of film and fiction are hooked on the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and what it might mean for humanity. They are often apocalyptic tales – Blade Runner, Alien, Terminator – where mankind comes off badly. But now that AI is being spearheaded by internet giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon, and our daily lives are increasingly affected by AI systems – chat bots, purchase prediction, news generation – what will really happen? In 2015 the UK media widely picked up on American media organisation NPR's calculator that could predict which jobs are susceptible to computerisation. The calculator, using research by the University of Oxford, said accountants have a 95% chance of losing their jobs as machines take over the number crunching and data analysis.

Israel-based equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is launching a sector specific fund fully focused on digital health -- touting it as Israel's first fund with such a focus. The fund, called OurCrowd Qure, will invest in early stage startups at the seed and Series A level. Fundraising is starting now, with a target of $50 million for the first raise. Managing partner Dr Yossi Bahagon tells TechCrunch the team expects to make about 15 investments with the first fund. He says typical investments will start at $500,000 for the earliest stage startups, rising to up to about $3 million at the Series A level.