I wasn't planning to chip in this time, but I stumbled upon an article so compelling I felt I ought to. Uncanny Valley, published by Anna Weiner on N 1 Magazine, is a short literary piece which lives up to its title. Weiner's nameless narrator is going through most commonplaces of the Valley, both physically and mentally, without really being a part of it. "I learn the bare minimum, code-wise, to be able to do my job well -- to ask questions only when I'm truly in over my head," she confesses. She is going from being the start-up's inaugural customer support rep to become a "success manger", a title so corny for her she can't stand having it on her email signature.

In a blitzkrieg attack that took place over 12 hours in late 2012 and early 2013, criminals stole 45-million (U.S.) from two banks by hacking into credit card processing firms in India and the United States, then withdrawing money from ATMs in 27 countries. "In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and the Internet," New York attorney Loretta Lynch said at a news conference. "Moving as swiftly as data over the Internet … they became a virtual criminal flash mob, going from machine to machine, drawing as much money as they could, before these accounts were shut down." The mob infiltrated credit card processing firms, stole prepaid Visa and MasterCard debit card account numbers issued by the banks in the Middle-East and programmed them with extreme balances. The account numbers were emailed or texted to cohorts on the ground, who used a device to encode the account numbers onto the magnetic stripes of dummy cards.

No longer the stuff of Hollywood fantasy, sexually "functioning" robots are now available to buy and try. And according to some commentators, they are the future of sex. Newspapers speak of an upcoming trend in robotic sexual activity, and Vanity Fair referred to the "the Rolls-Royce of sex dolls" in a recent profile of an American manufacturer. So the future of sex robots is coming fast, it seems. The much publicized "Roxxxy" ("always turned on and ready to talk or play"), marketed as "the world's first sex robot", was available to pre-order last year and is supposed to be ready now to buy online (for just 6,995 plus shipping).

If your mind instantly went to Skynet, I can put your mind at ease; it's not Skynet. That's not, however, to say that this problem isn't just as scary, only without the cool special effects. While Sci-Fi has made the risks of robot takeover well-known, the more immediate concerns are the subtle decisions being made by (sometimes) poorly coded, or designed, algorithms that can drastically alter each of our lives. Some of the biggest names in tech are coming to TNW Conference in Amsterdam this May. The Obama administration published a report this week that examines problems associated with the shift to an increasingly automated world.

We are a company of individuals with hopes, plans and passions, all using and developing our talents for good, at work and in life. Employees can be a force for good only when they are working at the top of their ability, learning new skills and challenging themselves with new responsibilities. Allstate's Enterprise Talent Market was developed with that in mind, to help you reach your full potential. Allstate is looking to hire researchers to join our Innovation team at our downtown Chicago and Menlo Park(SF Bay area) locations. Our team works on a diverse set of data and systems including GPS probe, Accident data, LiDAR and high-resolution imagery to create driver safety solutions and helps build next-generation road risk assessing platforms for ADAS, and self- driving vehicles.

The engineers erupted in cheers as the pizzas arrived. They had ordered pizza, from start to finish, without placing a single phone call and without doing a Google search -- without any typing at all, actually. Moreover, they did it without downloading an app from Domino's or Grubhub. Of course, a pizza is just a pizza. But for Silicon Valley, a seemingly small change in consumer behaviour or design can mean a tectonic shift in the commercial order, with ripple effects across an entire economy.

Humanyze has rolled out Wyze, its flagship product that is designed to measure social interactions and improve teamwork and processes in companies. BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Humanyze, the global leader in people analytics technology, announced 4M in Series A financing today from Romulus Capital. The announcement comes as Humanyze rolls out the first of its kind Wyze people analytics platform to its strong Fortune 500 customer base in the US and industry leaders in Japan with the goal of making large corporations more agile and accurate about their most valuable resource (people), and to make these same people more in control of their performance and improvement. "Our customers – which include the largest multinationals and consulting firms – are investing heavily in technology and personnel to make full use of our data-driven people analytics platform. Employees are almost universally opting in as they see the individual benefits. These additional resources from Romulus provide us strong footing to support new customers and grow with them over the long term," Humanyze CEO Ben Waber said.

When will the technology arrive that makes you obsolete in your current job? It's no idle question, and one that none other than Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took up this week in remarks to hundreds of Seattle technology and business leaders. We'll explore his comments, a new offering from Textio, the media's failures in covering the presidential primaries; have some fun with drones, Star Wars, Disney's Frozen, and STEM education; and wash it down with a cold home brew in this edition of Xconomy Seattle's Week in Review: He shared his view of Microsoft's unique culture, and how that gives the company an advantage. One aspect is Microsoft's global mindset, which Nadella, born in Hyderabad, India, talked about in a personal way. "I wouldn't be CEO of Microsoft if it was not for Microsoft's technology being a global force," Nadella said.

Still in the depths of sleep, I reach out and grab it, knocking a cold cup of coffee over the unread mountain of books on my bedside. I swear loudly, mop up the mess with one hand and look blearily at the message on my screen. It's from Otis, 27, who I have apparently just matched with on Tinder: "Hey sexy like ur curls. Wanna come over n get naked and I'll show you my curls." There is no denying that the pursuit of love in the 21st century has become littered with digital landmines. There are now more than 91 million people around the world on dating apps – and most of that is thanks to Tinder.

The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot, or STAR, combines off-the-shelf robotic hardware, time-tested sensor technology and improvised software -- and none of the attributes that make surgeons the hard-charging stars of their profession. But a new study suggests it could become an operating room workhorse anyway, nudging aside some doctors well before the patient's incision is closed. In a series of trial runs, STAR sutured incisions with deft, even strokes that surpassed those of experienced surgeons and an existing robotic system. Without any human oversight, STAR manipulated tissue that can stretch, twist and retract unpredictably, and sewed it up well enough to withstand a surge of hydraulic pressure from within. And by all accounts, it never complained about its hours or pay. The STAR system has the potential to speed some of surgery's most time-consuming work, doing it with fewer mistakes and potentially reducing costly and dangerous surgical complications, according to the authors of a new study that put the robot through its paces.