THE French Riviera is lovely at this time of year. The steering wheel spins to take the car round a bend – but my hands stay in my lap. And since there's no need to keep my eyes on the road, I'm free to enjoy the beachfront view. An oddly pixelated man with a two-dimensional windsurfer under his arm gives me the eye. Sadly, my Riviera is being projected on a large wrap-around screen in a room-sized simulator in Wokingham, UK.

I'll introduce the Hierarchical Risk Parity (HRP) approach. HRP portfolios address three major concerns of quadratic optimizers in general and Markowitz's CLA in particular: instability, concentration and under-performance. HRP applies modern mathematics (graph theory and machine learning techniques) to build a diversified portfolio based on the information contained in the covariance matrix. However, unlike quadratic optimizers, HRP does not require the invertibility of the covariance matrix. In fact, HRP can compute a portfolio on an ill-degenerated or even a singular covariance matrix, an impossible feat for quadratic optimizers.

As part of this development, OMI is becoming part of the University's Department of Engineering Science from 1 August 2016. The development of the OMI's focus will create a hub for machine learning and data analysis at Eagle House, the current home of the OMI and Man AHL's Oxford research lab. The OMI's researchers will be joined by the Department of Engineering Science's Machine Learning Group, a body of around 20 leading machine learning researchers who will relocate to Eagle House. The aim is to foster a stimulating environment composed of researchers focused on machine learning techniques, whereby machine learning and data analytics expertise can be shared and leveraged. In addition, the intention is for the OMI to appoint two new Senior Research Fellows/Associate Professors in machine learning with a specific focus on quantitative finance.

And pretty soon, they'll come for us. That seems to be the story today, whether from Hollywood or in breathless articles in popular tech magazines about artificial intelligence and nanotechnology. Our biggest ever edition of TNW Conference is fast approaching! In a world where machines can learn, once humans push the "on" button, there's no stopping our robot overlords, right? When machines become more intelligent, humans are freed to become more creative.

Almost a year after it came out in the US, Facebook is releasing its facial recognition-powered photo app Moments in Europe. Except the new version won't actually include any facial recognition technology, thanks to the company's long-running fight with the Irish data protection commissioner over whether the technology is actually legal in the EU. Launched in June, Moments is Facebook's answer to dedicated photo management applications like Google Photos and Apple's Photos. The app bundles pictures together by the event they're taken at, and applies facial recognition technology to identify who's in each picture. Facebook takes the offering a step further than Apple or Google, by leveraging its social network: once you've created your "moments", you can share them with other people at the same event, to ensure that they have the photos of them, and you have the photos of you.

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

What do law enforcement, sports, healthcare, retail and agriculture all have in common? Thanks to big data and advanced analytics, these are just a few industries where predictive modeling is poised to change the playing field. Big data keeps getting bigger. And continual advances in computing, warehousing and associated technologies make it ever more useful. We know more about the behaviors of people and the outcome of events than ever before.

Kudos to the Mr Robot production team, who are finding new ways to make us feel very excited about what's going to happen in season two. But yesterday, a new'command' input appeared on the site: fivenine. It refers to the date (9th May, or 5/9 in US date format). Type in'fivenine', press enter, and see how Mr Robot just raised its marketing game. Yes, that is President Barack Obama talking about an "attack" that will "affect our economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant". You can go to the video directly using this link.

HANNOVER, GERMANY - MARCH 02: Robots play football in a demonstration of artificial intelligence at the stand of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (Deutsches Forschungszentrum fuer Kuenstliche Intelligenz GmbH) at the CeBIT Technology Fair on March 2, 2010 in Hannover, Germany. CeBIT will be open to the public from March 2 through March 6. (Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images) There is no doubt that machines and robots are better than humans when it comes to speed and efficiency because they don't get tired. In fact, many fear that artificial intelligence or AI will take over the workforce. Will there be a job that is impossible for AI to take over? Do you think AI will be a good teacher?

Novel thinkers and pioneers in brain research, technology, healthcare and the economy will gather this month in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the third conference of The Brain Forum. The forum, on May 26 and 27, will also be attended by researchers, engineers, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, industrialists, investors, funding agencies and policy makers to advance the understanding of how the brain works and to accelerate the application and value of this knowledge in society and the economy. The event will be divided into two sections – with Day 1 focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, and Day 2 on new advances in science and technology. During Day 1, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Day, entrepreneurs and investors will share their expertise in translating science into business, and discuss their ideas for the future. The keynote lecture'Practical lessons in machine learning', will be presented by Greg Corrado, a senior research scientist working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computational neuroscience, and scalable machine learning at Google Research, and will explore aspects of machine learning – upon which much of Google's work on language, speech, translation, visual processing, ranking and prediction relies.