As technology advances, we will begin to see huge changes in how our world operates. While all the technologies on this list are already being applied all over the world, many of them are still in their infancy. We stand on the precipice of a new technological age in human history, and while it may not yet be The Jetsons, many of these technologies are even more fantastic than anything we could have predicted. By chemically treating ordinary balsa wood and strengthening it with epoxy, scientists have created a clear, biodegradable material that is 4–6 times stronger than its counterpart that is not chemically treated. Scientists even think that it could be used to make renewable solar cells because the material partially traps light, allowing only about 85–90 percent of light to pass through it.

Web browsers might soon use fuzzy logic to spot redirection spam and save users from being scammed, phished or opening malicious sites unwittingly, according to researchers in India writing in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. Redirection spam occurs when a user opens a link in an email that leads to an unexpected and often malicious page, or when they open a page that has been hacked or injected with malware, which then redirects to a malicious page. Often the redirection occurs instantaneously and transparently without the user being aware until it is too late and login details or credit card number have been divulged to the criminal third party. Frequently, there will be a malware payload that infects the user's computer at the same time. According to Kanchan Hans of Amity University, in Noida, India, and colleagues, legitimate web page redirections are a ubiquitous part of the web used for server load balancing, link logging and URL rewriting and shortening.

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 08: Google Vice President of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer speaks during an announcement September 8, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Google announced the launch of Google Instant, a faster version of Google search that streams results live as you type your query. Google is consistently exploring all facets of virtual learning with the success of online applications, with a new artificial intelligence lab. Focusing on machines learning for the advancement of its products, Google Research Europe would be based in Switzerland. Following Google's recently launched Assistant, the company's European research team on artificial intelligence would be under the expertise of Emmanuel Mogenet plus up to a few hundred colleagues.

We have been hearing predictions for decades of a takeover of the world by artificial intelligence. In 1957, Herbert A. Simon predicted that within 10 years a digital computer would be the world's chess champion. That didn't happen until 1996. And despite Marvin Minsky's 1970 prediction that "in from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being," we still consider that a feat of science fiction. The pioneers of artificial intelligence were surely off on the timing, but they weren't wrong; AI is coming.

New Delhi: With its new research lab,based outside United States (US), Google is all set to focus on machine learning as a part of its artificial intelligence. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that provides computer with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, the new unit called Google Research, Europe is one of largest Google's engineering office outside US. It will be a part of the wider Google Research operation, which includes thousands of people worldwide. The search engine giant made this announcement in its official blogpost where it mentioned that the new group, led by Emmanuel Mogenet will mainly focus on three areas- machine intelligence, natural language processing (NPL) and machine perception.

The new machine-learning research center will focus on turning Google's ambitions in this space to reality, the company says.

Honda Motor Co. will open a new artificial intelligence (AI) research center in Tokyo to commercialize self-driving cars in the future. Honda R&D Co., Honda's research and development subsidiary, announced on June 2 that it will establish Honda R&D Innovation Lab Tokyo by around September in Tokyo's Akasaka district. The move came as Japanese auto companies are desperately seeking personnel who specialize in the cutting-edge area. AI is viewed as the core technology to develop futuristic driverless vehicles. Honda already has a research center in the northern Kanto region, but it will set up a new facility in the capital to hire more skilled information technology engineers.

Just as ATMs changed banking and computers took over the home and workplace, robots and artificial intelligence are going to transform a bunch of industries over the next decade. By 2025, a machine may be putting together your driverless car in a factory with no human oversight. A robot maid could be cleaning up after you at home, and your financial advisor might be a computer investing for you automatically. And with at least 90 countries operating unmanned aerial vehicles, the wars of the future may increasingly be fought with "drone" aircraft. These are just some of the interesting -- and sometimes scary -- predictions to come from a 300-page report released by Merrill Lynch in November, which estimates the global market for robots and AI will grow from 28 billion to more than 150 billion just five years from now.

Artificial intelligence is a common topic explored within the science-fiction genre. Sunspring, a new sci-fi short, instead of using the theme of artificial intelligence in its narrative, used AI to actually produce the narrative in the first place. The film, which had its online debut on Ars, had its screenplay written by an AI which goes by the name of'Benjamin'. The film was submitted as part of the 48-Hour Film Challenge at the Sci-Fi London film festival by Oscar Sharp, a BAFTA-nominated filmmaker and Ross Goodwin, a creative technologist and former Obama administration ghostwriter. Sunspring comes to life through the acting and production. The screenplay is sufficiently vague and nonsensical to leave a lot of room for interpretation.

SugarCRM held its annual user conference, SugarCon, earlier this week in San Francisco. Over 1,200 people were on hand to see what direction the company was taking its platform in. And while many of its competitors are expanding their offerings to include ecommerce, configure-price-quoting (CPQ), marketing automation and other related areas, SugarCRM CEO Larry Augustin emphatically stated that Sugar is staying true to its CRM roots and explore the many ways CRM can be even more important to business success in the near future. I had a chance to speak with Augustin and hear how the company is looking to bring the latest and greatest technology developments to the platform to make CRM a system more relevant, and attractive, for sales professionals to turn to in order to build successful relationships with modern consumers. Below is an edited transcript of that conversation, as well as the video of our full conversation.