Toyota is forming a new data science company in partnership with Microsoft that's designed to free customers "from the tyranny of technology." The company called Toyota Connected has a goal of simplifying technology so it's easier to use, perhaps even getting rid of distracting and complicated touch screens that now are in most cars and replacing them with heads-up or voice-activated technology, said Zack Hicks, the company's CEO who also is Toyota Motor America's chief information officer. "I think people are really tired of fumbling with multiple devices and having this disjointed experience," Hicks said as Toyota announced the venture Monday. Like other automakers, Toyota Connected will research connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn and anticipate a driver's habits. The company, like other automakers, will explore transmitting a driver's health data to a doctor or driving patterns to an insurance company so people are insured based on where they travel, Toyota said.

A California startup called Zipline International has announced a partnership with the government of Rwanda to use its fixed-wing cargo drones to deliver medical supplies to remote health clinics in the East African nation. The Zip aircraft is made by Bay Area startup Zipline, which will begin drone delivery of blood and medicine to remote Rwandan clinics later this year. SAN FRANCISCO-- How's this for a flight plan to get a drone delivery service financially aloft? Carry cargo that's of live-saving importance, fly long-range fixed-wing aircraft in uncongested skies, and score a government as your first client. That's the atypical approach being taken by Zipline, a Bay Area startup that has raised 18 million in funding from Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and others.

Last week, the robots finally came for that which we humans hold most dear: Our ability to write the Great [insert country or region here] Novel. The Japan News reported, and various American outlets picked up, the news that a short novel co-written by a computer program and homo sapiens had almost won a literary prize. The prize, the Nikkei Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award, accepts entries written by robots, though this was reportedly the first year that any such entries had been submitted. Of several submissions written with AI programs, one entry scored a remarkable victory: It made it through a single round of screening. Okay, so "nearly won," as Bustle put it, might be a slight exaggeration of how well this artificial novelist performed.

Below is a Google job ad that I've found today in the Seattle Times, for machine learning positions in their Kirkland office in Washington state. What is weird about this ad is that it was posted in the jobs section in the print copy of a newspaper, and it asks you to snail mail your application to a PO box in San Francisco. My first reaction was - wow, this must be a fake, someone posting a job ad to collect a certain type of resumes, maybe for ID theft, just like many do on Craigslist. Who would read the newspaper job ad section (and I am talking about the print copy, not the Internet version), and then snail mail his resume to a PO box? So I did some search about the PO box in question, and it looks like it is really used by Google.

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

Drones may known for their prowess in the skies, but thanks to some new developments at the U.S. Navy, they'll soon be turning the open seas into their turf as well. A new video shows off an autonomous watercraft dreamed into reality from the men and women at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA), all with the hopes of tracking submarines that that haunt the depths of the ocean. The very first prototype hopes to demonstrate the potential of what will ultimately become a fleet of unmanned ships, known as Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessels (to be pronounced "active" for short). The 132 foot long vessel managed to log a top speed of 27 knots during its test in Portland, Oregon, and it'll be ready for open seas this summer when it launches from the California coast. The drone ship's official christening is fast approaching on April 7, and the Navy seems pretty excited by the prospects of "an unmanned vessel optimized to robustly track quiet diesel electric submarines."

Business leaders all over the world are waking up to the fact that artificial intelligence is no longer confined to science fiction movies but could in fact disrupt their industry. A recent survey of the world's top CEOs indicated that 50% believe AI will revolutionise their business in the next 3-5 years, making now a crucial time to plan and implement a roadmap to integrate AI solutions into many businesses. The AI Summit 2016 is the world's only event dedicated to the practical implications of Artificial Intelligence for enterprises and is aimed at providing business leaders with a forum to learn about the latest developments in intelligent solutions that threaten to disrupt their industry. The event brings together senior business leaders from 35 countries and offers a comprehensive overview of all the technologies under the AI umbrella including Machine Learning, Deep Learning, NLP, Voice/Image/Video Recognition and Cognitive Computing; focusing on how these are implemented across industries to help increase productivity while reducing costs. Speakers from around the world include CIOs/CTOs, Chief/Head Data & Analytics Officers, Innovation Heads from BT, Harvard, AIA, AIG, American Airlines, Tesco, VISA, BDP, TVH, Deutsche Bank, MetLife, UK Government, Petrobras, Engie, Toyota, UBER and Goldman Sachs.

If you like to spend time perfecting your animal impressions or if you simply forget what some animals sound like, then Google's newest feature is for you. The latest addition from the search engine giant is a library of live-recorded animals sounds that will play when you search for them. It is likely to be used mostly for parents teaching their children the sounds animals make. Google has added a library of live-recorded animals sounds that will play when you search for them. The feature can be accessed by searching'animal sounds' in Google, on a computer or the Google app on a phone.

The program name is Planet and uses earning neural network program. Thanks to Google, a new artificial intelligence system is outperforming humans in spotting the origins of images. Google has unveiled a new system to identify where photos are taken. The task, simple when images contain famous landmarks or unique architecture, goes beyond the overt to examine small clues hidden in the pixels. The program, named PlaNet, uses a deep-learning neural network, which means the more images PlaNet sees, the smarter it gets.

Hidden in the dashboard of most modern cars, on-board computers are quietly gathering a goldmine of data. Now Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has announced it is teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to mine some of this information. The new venture, called Toyota Connected, was announced by the car firm and will look to collect and analyse data from its cars and push towards'connected vehicles'. Toyota has announced it is teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to collect and analyse some of the valuable data being collected by its vehicles' on-board computers (stock image). Toyota Connected will focus on connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn a driver's habits According to the car firm, the goal is a move towards simplified technology, such as voice activated in-car computers.