A filmmaker has captured heartbreaking images of albatrosses killed by plastic on a remote Pacific island. Decaying birds are shown with their stomachs full of plastic waste while young chicks are pictured surroundeded by debris. One picture shows a young bird with its neck folded into its back while seemingly still living in the nest where it was born. The snaps shine a light on the plastic pollution that has killed tens of thousands of birds on the island, which sits 2,000 miles (3,200km) from the nearest continent. American photographer and filmmaker Chris Jordan said he hopes the shocking pictures force people to emotionally engage with the problems plastic is causing on a global scale.

Marketing has been evolving from a discipline based on gut instincts to one relying on empirical data. In fact, marketing today is almost completely driven by data, and companies are collecting oceans of it, literally. By 2020, the world will have accumulated 44 zettabytes of information, up from 10 zettabytes in 2015, according to market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC). To put those numbers into context, one zettabyte of apples would fill the Pacific Ocean.

Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing 104, 19-35.

You've decided that you want to bike from your house by UC Berkeley to the Golden Gate Bridge. To make matters worse, you are new to the Bay Area, and all you have is a good ol' fashion map to guide you. How do you get started? Let's first figure out how to ride a bike. One strategy would be to do a lot of studying and planning.

My ride from the north into San Francisco follows a stunning route, from the foothills of Mt. Slow and steady, I pay close attention to details--the condition of the roads, as well as the quality of the day's news or music that stream into my headphones. Some of the roads are butter-smooth, while others are pothole-ridden. Some of the sounds are meaningful, and even inspirational; others are just noise--buzzword-filled stories or advertisements for products and services I don't want or need. These lengthy rides provide me with ample thinking time.

Microsoft recently launched its new Artificial Intelligence for Earth program. They're using the speed of computers to tackle some of our most pressing environmental issues. "Artificial intelligence is just the idea of trying to teach computers to be able to do similar tasks that humans can naturally do," said Microsoft Chief Environmental Scientist Lucas Joppa. One of their projects is focused on saving the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) from extinction, using the same premise of facial recognition software. "What we're trying to do is bring that same level of sophistication to animals like orcas. But to be able to track them through photos, we need to be able to teach computers what we see," Joppa said.

But it's not going to happen overnight. While organizations look forward to "big wins" with AI, they also need to start small and look for opportunities to select, apply and monetize AI for practical, everyday use. The following 7 rules are offered as a starting point. That Taxonomy slide was awesome, right? But unless you are selling to data nerds, your customers don't care about your technology.

A Chinese fugitive was arrested after an AI-powered facial recognition system alerted authorities to his presence in a crowd of 60,000 people attending a pop concert. Welcome to the age of robot snitches. Wanted for "economic crimes," the 31 year-old man was reportedly surprised when police apprehended him. He'd traveled nearly 100 km (about 60 miles) with his wife and friends to attend the event, a concert headlined by Cantopop star Jacky Cheung, before authorities nabbed him on a tip from a venue camera. Chinese authorities have entirely embraced facial recognition systems and AI-powered surveillance monitoring.

The rewards of machine learning can be compelling, and it may make you want to get started, now. At the same time, however, you'll want to consider machine learning challenges before you start your own project. This article isn't meant to scare you away; rather, it's meant to ensure you're prepared and that you're carefully thinking about what you'll need to consider before you get started. We spoke with Brian MacDonald, data scientist on Oracle's Information Management Platform team, about the pitfalls he's seen and what companies can do to avoid them. The biggest difficulty, of course, is the skills gap that comes with using machine learning in a big data environment.

The HQ-40 drone, made by Tuscon, Ariz.-based Latitude Engineering, can carry samples for medical testing in a refrigerated container. The HQ-40 drone, made by Tuscon, Ariz.-based Latitude Engineering, can carry samples for medical testing in a refrigerated container. One shred of solace that surfaced as hurricanes and tropical storms pummeled Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico last fall was the opportunity to see drones realize some of their life-saving potential. During those disasters unmanned aircraft surveyed wrecked roads, bridges and rail lines. They spotted oil and gas leaks.