How do you combine historical Big Data with machine learning for real-time analytics? An approach is outlined with different software vendors, business use cases, and best practices. "Big Data" has gained a lot of momentum recently. Vast amounts of operational data are collected and stored in Hadoop and other platforms on which historical analysis is conducted. Business intelligence tools and distributed statistical computing are used to find new patterns in this data and gain new insights and knowledge for a variety of use cases: promotions, up- and cross-sell campaigns, improved customer experience, or fraud detection.

Scientists have discovered a remarkable property of a certain type of spider silk: It acts like a solid when you stretch it, but liquid when you squish it. And they've proven that they understand how this "liquid wire" works by actually creating synthetic strands that can do the exact same thing -- solving a decades-old mystery in the process. The findings, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal the bizarre phenomenon that may help spider webs remain taut, and could offer fresh insight for a range of technologies, including soft robotics. Spiders spin a range of web shapes, from funnels to nests, but the classic orb-like structures remain something of an archetype. Such webs typically have sticky droplets of glue on the strands of capture thread – the segments of spider silk that connect the radiating branches of these disc-like webs.

Google is holding its biggest event of the year, showing off everything that it's going to release through 2016. The general public and developers will get their first glimpse at the products and technology that's going to rule our lives – via our phone, home, car, computer and everything else. Some of what will be announced has already leaked, and others have been spoiled by Google themselves in advance of the event. Those include rumours about a new device for the home and new technology for your phone, as well as Google's update to Android Pay that now allows it to be used in the UK. But the main event is still set to be packed with surprises, including the first details of Google's own virtual reality headset and new phone technology.

Facebook's Moments app uses facial recognition technology to group photos based on the friends who are in them. Amid privacy concerns in Europe and Canada, the versions launched in those regions excluded the facial recognition feature. Facebook's Moments app uses facial recognition technology to group photos based on the friends who are in them. Amid privacy concerns in Europe and Canada, the versions launched in those regions excluded the facial recognition feature. When someone tags you in a photo on Facebook, it's often a nice reminder of a shared memory.

An app being made by DeepMind, the Google-owned AI company, working in collaboration with the NHS Royal Free Trust in London and being used to help identify hospital patients who might be at risk of acute kidney disease (AKI) is not currently in use, TechCrunch has learned. The collaboration between the tech giant and a portion of the UK's publicly funded health service has drawn criticism for the breadth of patient data being used to power an app which targets a single medical condition. DeepMind and the Royal Free have also been criticized for not approaching the UK's medicines and healthcare devices regulator, the MHRA, prior to using the Streams app in hospitals. The MHRA is responsible for standards of safety, quality and efficacy for healthcare products, which can include software apps. It has emerged that DeepMind and the Royal Free Trust are now in discussions with the MHRA over whether the Streams app needs to be registered as a medical device.

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

They may at first appear to be rather innocuous floating plastic blocks, but these electronic cubes can join together like a swarm of Lego blocks to create robots capable of tackling almost any task. Much like the cooperative machines in science fiction TV series Transformers and the Power Rangers, the robotic cubes assemble to form larger robots according to their task. Engineers who created the aquatic robots said they could be used to perform underwater search and rescue operations. Engineers have developed robots that can swim through water and join together to form different shapes (pictured). Each module has four micropumps that allow it to move around independently in the water.

Queen Elizabeth II donned an ermine-trimmed robe and diamond-studded crown Wednesday to announce government promises to put Britain at the cutting edge of technology and social progress in the 21st century. Plans for prison reform, a sugar tax and commercial spaceports were among 21 bills announced in the Queen's Speech, an annual tradition that mixes lavish pomp and modern politics. Prime Minister David Cameron called it a "progressive, one-nation" program, but some measures are sure to meet resistance -- and next month's referendum on European Union membership is casting a shadow over the government's plans. The annual State Opening of Parliament is steeped in centuries-old symbolism of the power struggle between Parliament and the British monarchy. In a display of regal wealth and finery, the queen traveled from Buckingham Palace in the horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach, and delivered the speech -- written for her by the government -- wearing the Imperial State Crown, studded with 3,000 diamonds.

China's biggest manufacturer of home appliances, Midea Group, announced Wednesday an unsolicited takeover bid for German robot maker Kuka, offering 115 euros ( 130) for each share of the German company, valuing it at over 5 billion. The Chinese company, which has a market cap of about 21 billion based on its listing in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, had, on Feb. 4, announced it raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent and currently owns 13.5 percent of the German company's shares. The offer, made through Midea subsidiary MECCA International, of 115 euros is a 59.6 percent premium to Kuka's closing share price on Feb. 3, which was 72.05 euros per share. The company said in its statement it "is committed to maintaining Kuka's independence as a publicly listed company in Germany and has no intention of entering into a domination agreement regardless of the result of the takeover offer." Midea has previously announced its intent to increase its stake in Kuka, and the current bid is to keep in line with regulatory framework that makes it mandatory for an acquiring company to make an open offer for all issued shares of the company being acquired, if its stake exceeds 30 percent.