As the executive chairman of Alphabet, the parent company for Google, he would be expected to be an avid user of his firm's Android mobile phones. But Eric Schmidt has an embarrassing secret - he uses an iPhone 6s, a device made by his company's rival Apple. The technology chief made the admission during an interview at a seminar in Amsterdam, admitting he carries both the iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S7, which runs on his company's Android software. Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt has admitted to using an iPhone 6s alongside the Samsung S7 that runs his own company's Android software. He made the admission after interviewer Julia Chatterley said she had seen him before taking to the stage with two phones in his pocket.

They were once seen as the holiday of choice for the over-60s looking for cabaret and formal dining. Now, cruise companies are pushing the boat - or ship - out in an attempt to attract younger customers through the use of futuristic tech. From bionic bars to high-speed internet and even puzzle rooms, the latest launch of Harmony of the Seas is hoping to introduce these gadgets to a wider audience. The Bionic Bar, pictured, is powered by roboticists at Makr Shakr. Customers order cocktails, from either a set a menu or by designing their own concoction, and the order is sent to a pair of single-armed robots attached to a makeshift'bar' Harmony of the Seas made its inaugural sailing last weekend and started its first trip to Rotterdam on Tuesday.

Adidas (IW 1000/247), the German maker of sportswear and equipment, announced on May 24 that it will start marketing its first series of sportshoes manufactured by robots in Germany from 2017. More than 20 years after Adidas ceased production activities in Germany and moved them to Asia instead, chief executive Herbert Hainer, unveiled to the press the group's new prototype "Speedfactory" in Ansbach in southern Germany. The new state-of-the-art 4,600-square-meter plant is still being built, but Adidas showed off a foretaste of it to the press, promising to automate shoe production, currently done mostly by hand in Asia, and enable the shoes to be made more quickly and closer to its sales outlets. The factory will deliver a first test series of around 500 pairs of shoes to be sold from the third quarter of 2016. How Many Times Has Your Company Started (and Stopped) Implementing Lean?

I really found interesting this bit from a recent Andreessen Horowitz a16z podcast that looked at Google I/O, Google's annual developer conference. Kyle: So Steven, yesterday Google announced quite a few different products and services, several cynical commenters on twitter came out with the idea that, "You know, hey, we've seen a lot of these things before, oh a computer you control with your voice in the home, a bot that you interact with to, you know, interact with different services. We've seen this before why is google showing all of this off now? None of this feels new." But you pushed back against that.

Three weeks ago, New Scientist revealed that Google's artificial intelligence company DeepMind has access to the identifiable personal medical information of millions of UK patients through a data-sharing agreement with the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Now, a New Scientist investigation has found that Google DeepMind deployed a medical app called Streams for monitoring kidney conditions without first contacting the relevant regulatory authority. Our investigation also asks whether an ethical approval process that covers this kind of data transfer should have been obtained, and raises questions about the basis under which Royal Free is sharing data with Google DeepMind. DeepMind's partnership with the Royal Free provides it with fully identifiable information – including names, addresses and details of medical conditions – for the 1.6 million patients treated at Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free each year. It also includes complete data on all patients treated by the trust in the past five years.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

It's graduation season here in the US, and the job market is busier than ever. For Softbank's emotion-reading Pepper robot, however, landing a gig seems to have been easy as pie. MasterCard today announced that Pepper will soon be implemented in Pizza Hut restaurants in Singapore to take orders and process payments. They do so by "greeting" Pepper and pairing a MasterPass account to Pepper's attached tablet. Then, Pepper will take your order and allow you to customize it however you like without any side-eyeing or risk of getting spit in your food.

"Sales and revenue generation are as a result of human interaction; it is that human interaction that is changing" – when asked to keynote speeches on the subject of technology in sales and marketing this is often a quote that gets a lot of heads nodding- it is very pertinent in this discussion too. This is due to the fact that I believe, ultimately, there will be little human interaction in certain real estate transactions in the future; some and future being the key points. Could there really be a possibility that artificial intelligence and real estate could work together? Which elements and when are pivotal to the debate and I hope to cover a few here. Ultimately it is my belief that in the near future the real estate industry could be automated and run algorithmically. However, it is important, from the outset to distinguish between automation and the more challenging theory of machine learning which is a term often used to describe Artificial Intelligence.

Pizza Hut Asia and MasterCard have partnered to bring Pepper, SoftBank Robotic's humanoid robot, to restaurants by the end of this year to enhance in-store customer service. Pizza Hut Asia will be piloting Pepper for order-taking and personalised engagement. This marks the first commercial application for Pepper, according to MasterCard. Pepper, which was unveiled on Tuesday, will be powered by MasterPass, the global digital payment service from MasterCard that connects consumers with merchants, enabling them to make digital payments across channels and devices. MasterPass extends the robot's ability to integrate customer service, access to information and sales into a seamless and consistent user experience.