Macy's is testing a mobile tool using artificial intelligence that lets shoppers get answers customized to the store they're in -- like where a particular brand is located or what's in stock -- that they would normally ask a sales associate face-to-face. The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a "mobile companion," can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. It's developed by IBM Watson -- the Jeopardy-winning "cognitive computing" service and is designed to keep learning more about the store's customers. That's a key element as Macy's seeks to spur sluggish sales, make being at the store more enjoyable and distinguish itself from online portals and specialty retailers.

Macy's has revealed it has developed an AI app with IBM's Watson to guide shoppers around its stores. It allows customers to get answers customized to the store they're in like where a particular brand is located or what's in stock - that they would normally ask a sales associate face-to-face. The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a'mobile companion,' can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. Macy's has revealed it has developed an AI app with IBM's Watson to guide shoppers around its stores. It allows customers to get answers customized to the store they're in .

In a galaxy known as New York, in a drab age before Trekkies and light sabers, there lived a curious boy who liked comic books, time travel and Elvis. He read Isaac Asimov and tuned in to John Zacherle, this Phantom of the Opera-type guy with scraggly hair and a creepy laugh who introduced horror movies on Channel 9, which, if you were a kid at the time, was something close to splendid. This boy, let's call him Jeffrey Walker, who incidentally would later watch "2001: A Space Odyssey" 29 times, tended toward the imaginative. His mother was a beauty queen, his father a clothier. Walker grew up to be many things, including an actor who played poker with Jesus Christ, shot a nude scene with Al Pacino and was hugged by Natalie Wood.

Some of society's brightest minds have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) may lead to dangerous unintended consequences, yet leaders of the U.S. intelligence community--with its vast budgets and profound capabilities--have yet to decide who within these organizations is responsible for the ethics of their AI creations. When a new capability is conceived or developed, the intelligence community does not assign anyone responsibility for anticipating how a new AI algorithm may go awry. If scenario-based exercises were conducted, the intelligence community provides no guidelines for deciding when a risk is too great and a system should not be built and assigns no authority to make such decisions. Intelligence agencies use advanced algorithms to interpret the meaning of intercepted communications, identify persons of interest and anticipate major events within troves of data too large for humans to analyze. If artificial intelligence is the ability of computers to create intelligence that humans alone could not have achieved, then the U.S. intelligence community invests in machines with such capabilities.

Macy's is testing a mobile tool using artificial intelligence that lets shoppers get answers customized to the store they're in -- like where a particular brand is located or what's in stock -- that they would normally ask a sales associate face-to-face. The tool, which the nation's largest department store chain calls a "mobile companion," can be accessed for now through a browser and will accept questions in 10 U.S. locations about products, services and facilities. It uses natural language and offers feedback in seconds. It's developed by IBM Watson -- the Jeopardy-winning "cognitive computing" service and is designed to keep learning more about the store's customers. That's a key element as Macy's seeks to spur sluggish sales, make being at the store more enjoyable and distinguish itself from online portals and specialty retailers.

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

The International Space Station got a special two-ton delivery earlier today, as SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft capsule arrived at the station as it hung in orbit some 250 miles above the Great Lakes. The cargo included a space station docking port, needed for future rocket ships coming to the station. The port's arrival at the ISS has been a long time coming – a year ago similar docking rings were destroyed in a SpaceX launch accident. Scientists aboard the station eagerly received the latest shipment, using a robot arm. "We've captured us a Dragon," said astronaut Jeffrey Williams, the Associated Press reported.

When you're buzzing through the air at 60 kilometres per hour, it can be hard to take in the view. But now drones can create highly detailed 3D maps as they fly, using just an ordinary video camera. The system, called Hydra Fusion and developed by researchers at Lockheed Martin in Canada, will make drones better at aerial surveillance. Hydra Fusion is based on a form of image-based mapping, or photogrammetry, known as "structure from motion". The procedure involves stitching together multiple images – in this case, consecutive frames of video footage – to form a detailed 3D map.

Google's acquisition of artificial intelligence startup DeepMind in 2014 has resulted in the search giant making a 15 percent improvement in power usage efficiency, DeepMind's co-founder reportedly said. Google reportedly paid 650 million for the London-based artificial intelligence firm founded by neuroscientist Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman. The AI built by the company mastered playing the Atari video games but most of its projects are yet to translate into revenue. However, it is helping the tech giant tackle the massive energy bills it deals with because of its data centers. Google said it used 4,402,836 MWh of electricity in 2014, equivalent to the average yearly consumption of about 366,903 U.S. family homes, according to Bloomberg.