Tech companies are betting big on conversational bots as the next big thing. But you might want to be nice to those bots. CBC Radio technology columnist Dan Misener says the way we treat them reveals a lot about who we are as humans. Because the chatbots are coming, and we're just starting to see the first wave. Facebook recently unveiled its plans for chatbots that live inside its Messenger app.

As the series of payCLT events in Charlotte continue to roll out, another one was held on April 15 with Todd Clark, General Manager of First Data's STAR Network, as the guest speaker at this event. Todd Clark leads First Data's STAR Network, the world's largest independent debit network, which was acquired by First Data in 2003. Mr. Clark has shared valuable insights on the debit cards industry and fraud in emerging payments. One of the insights shared by Mr. Clark was regarding the prioritization of payments methods: EMV and contactless payments at POS. According to Mr. Clark, the merchants following customer preferences have encountered a low adoption of contactless payments among the customer base.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Integrated Medical Professional Association (Mimpa) president Dr Dhesi Baha Raja has won the Pistoia Alliance Life Science Award for developing a mobile app that predicts dengue outbreaks. Dr Dhesi developed an AIME (Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemiology), which is a disease-prediction mobile platform that employs technology and data to give people prior warning of when disease outbreaks might occur. Dr Dhesi, who led the team of six people, which developed the app, said that winning the award, organised by the Pistoia Alliance of King's College London, proves and validates the technology used as a tool for dengue prevention. He told The Star Online on Wednesday that he is looking to bring the app to Malaysia within the next three months and believes that the technology would be useful to combat Malaysia's dengue problem. Dr Dhesi said that he would be working with mobile digital service provider Webe and the Health Ministry soon.

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

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

A snake is the shortest animal between two points. At least, that seems to be the thinking behind this aquatic snakebot. Built as a collaboration between Norwegian maritime and defense technology giant Kongsberg, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Norway's Statoil energy company, the Eelume robot is a tethered undersea snake with jets, made to go where humans simply can't. Here's what the untethered concept looked like: At its head, there's a light and a grasper, which would allow the robot to turn dials, pull levers, or otherwise manipulate objects under the sea like a disembodied diver's arm. That makes it especially useful for inspecting and repairing oil rigs, or other underwater structures (like lost Loch Ness Monster props).

We have no flight-tracking system for the lower sky. There are rules and charts for keeping track of larger aircraft that carry human passengers and are piloted by humans onboard, but drones are small and fly low, which means we have to trust in drone pilot good behavior to keep drones away from risky places, like airports. Small drones, unlike other aircraft, don't broadcast their location, so tracking them in the sky is tricky. That's why the FAA is working with NASA to come up with an Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management system. Earlier today, NASA tested the system at six different FAA test sites.

Parents, listen up: Put your kids in engineering and computer science classes. A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report says "software development skills continue to be the most in-demand" STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) related jobs in the United States, and the White House projects that there will be over one million unfilled jobs in STEM related fields by 2020. And perhaps one of the easiest ways to encourage this interest is with toys. Toys and kits that are designed to teach kids hacking and basic programming skills abound, and they cater to a range of ages and skill levels. "It's important that we create learning experiences for kids that help to see what's possible for them, what they can do, who they can be, and the changes that they can make to what's around them," said Eric Rosenbaum, who is an electronics kit designer and has a PhD from MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group.

I was jolted awake by the sound of airplanes from the Fort Lauderdale Airport. The musty South Florida air hung thick; the sketchy airport Sheraton air conditioning system offered no relief. It was March 24, and I prepared to make a visit to Magic Leap. By that time, I'd signed an NDA so onerous that I can't tell you much about the mixed-reality technology, how it works, or when it might be available. This is the part I can tell you.

As an investor of China's car-hailing app Yidao Yongche, LeEco envisions its future LeSEE cars to form a fleet of autonomous taxis, with their front lights indicating their availability using various colors. In the official video, the car has conventional front doors and rear suicide doors, and somehow, the back seats can apparently adapt to the shape of the passengers' bodies -- yep, smells like a concept. There are, however, touchscreens behind the front seats which can obviously take advantage of LeEco's rich video entertainment. Jia added that the car will also do face recognition and self-learning, but we'll have to wait for a future demo on those. The first LeSEE electric car will make its proper debut at the Beijing Auto Show on April 24th, and there's any new info to share then, we'll keep y'all posted.