Apple's brand may be one of the most recognisable and coveted in the world, but co-founder Steve Wozniak has hinted the firm is largely unrecognisable to the'world changing' one he helped build. Wozniak puts this down to the advent of the Apple Watch, which he claims is too complex and has taken the firm into the jewellery market. During an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, the 65-year-old said the'only difference is the band in all those watches.' Steve Wozniak (pictured) criticised the complexity and non world changing nature of the Apple Watch line, but lavished praise on the firm's CEO, Steve Cook and its rumoured plans to make a self-driving car But the computer scientist did lavish praise on Apple's boss, Tim Cook in the same interview and has high hopes for its rumoured self-driving car. Answering questions on Reddit, Wozniak wrote: 'I love my Apple Watch, but it's taken us [Apple] into a jewellery market where you're going to buy a watch between 500 or 1100 based on how important you think you are as a person.

Instead, the Japanese gaming giant is looking to its legions of cutesy avatars. Nintendo has launched the'Miitomo' app in Japan featuring customisable characters called Miis. The avatars can be created with the app using a smartphone camera and then fitted with virtual clothes and quizzed by other Miis. The avatars can be created with the app using a smartphone camera and then fitted with virtual clothes and quizzed by other Miis. 'Miitomo' - 'tomo' meaning'friend' in Japanese - is scheduled to come to the US and other markets later this year, but Nintendo has yet to announce a release date'Miitomo' - 'tomo' meaning'friend' in Japanese - is scheduled to come to the US and other markets later this year, but Nintendo has yet to announce a release date.

Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself - or so the saying goes. But, while most will have heard the old adage, some people appear more inclined to live their life according to the sentiment. Now, scientists believe they have uncovered the reason why some are more selfless than others. Two new studies reveal kind people experience more activity in areas of the brain that fuel empathetic impulses. Dr Leonardo Christov-Moore, of University of California, Los Angeles, said: 'Our altruism may be more hard-wired than previously thought.'

Ride-hailing service Uber has sounded out car companies about placing a large order for self-driving cars and may have placed a giant order with Mercedes for 100,000 limousines, it has been claimed. 'They wanted autonomous cars,' a source, who declined to be named, told Reuters. Uber has sounded out car companies about placing a large order for self-driving cars and may have placed a giant order with Mercedes for 100,000 S-Class limousines, it has been claimed. Uber is already testing an early version of its system, which is being developed with Carnegie Mellon University. The firm hopes to develop a self driving taxi to take on autonomous car projects from Google, Apple and others. Loss-making Uber would make drastic savings on its biggest cost -- drivers -- if it were able to incorporate self-driving cars into its fleet.

A firm has just unveiled a new family of futuristic suits that give wearers the ability to lift with near superhuman strength and walk great distances without stopping to rest. Panasonic's line of'Iron Man' exoskeletons are designed to assist industrial workers and sportsmen. The Assist Suit AWN-03 gives you the power to repeatedly pick up hefty items without straining your back and the PLN-01 'NINJA' helps you get over the roughest terrain and not break a sweat. Last year, the firm showed a mega exoskeleton resembles the Power Loader exoskeleton suit from the Alien movies (pictured). It had four embedded sensors that would trigger 20 engines, which would reduce human energy.

For some people, they believe their IQ is something they are stuck with for life after it was set in stone at birth, while others are convinced their intelligence can be constantly improved. Now it seems how you view your own intelligence may have a direct impact on your ability to fulfill your potential. A new study has found that people who believe their IQ is fixed at birth tend to overestimate how bright they really are. Believing your IQ is fixed may actually hold you back as it can lead you to overestimate your intelligence and causes you to focus on easier tasks to reinforce this view. Intriguingly this may actually hold them back as they are then less likely to develop their own intellectual capacity.

A fast-food chain with restaurants in 28 states is getting ready to start serving burgers and fries in Champaign-Urbana. Bruce Kim, director of franchise development for Checkers and Rally's Restaurants, said the company is in the process of awarding a franchise for up to three new Checkers restaurants in the area. "We are a quick-service restaurant," he said. "We are known for our seasoned, seared and grilled burgers; fries; grilled, all-meat hot dogs; crazy good chicken wings; golden fish sandwiches; and ice cream. "Our seasoned fries were named the best fries for 2015 by Yahoo." Kim said Checkers restaurants typically stay open late, with most of them serving customers in their double drive-thru until 2 or 3 a.m. The Tampa, Fla.-based chain has 828 locations nationwide, and the website Thrillist recently named Checkers the fastest-growing fast-food chain in Illinois. Kim said the chain is up to 20 Checkers restaurants and seven Rally's restaurants in the state, and the next step is to start building stores in Champaign County. "There is plenty of room to grow, and we are trying to build several locations in Champaign-Urbana," Kim said. "Our studies show we have room for three stores, with our growth franchise-driven." "The community has a good, solid income base, good ethnic diversity and lots of university students.

Digital expertise will become increasingly critical in the insurance sector as digitization and machine learning leads to more highly'automatable' insurance according to management consultants McKinsey & Company. Meanwhile a separate piece of research by Accenture found that insurance companies are accelerating the shift to a radically different distribution model, where they say digital will play an increasingly important role in most interactions, and were agents' efforts are being refocused to add more value. And analysis by research outfit Ovum suggests strong investment in digital channels also. According to Ovum, " When it comes to investment, digital channels remains the top area for insurers. However, the significant majority of insurers will be increasing budgets across a broad range of functional areas with no single activity completely dominating spend. This reflects the complex set of priorities that IT groups are being asked to meet by the wider business, simultaneously addressing revenue growth, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance."

We at Venture Scanner are tracking 957 Artificial Intelligence companies across 13 categories, with a combined funding amount of 4.8 Billion. The 15 visuals below summarize the current state of Artificial Intelligence. Deep Learning/Machine Learning (General): Companies that build computer algorithms that operate based on their learnings from existing data. Examples include predictive data models and software platforms that analyze behavioral data. Deep Learning/Machine Learning (Applications): Companies that utilize computer algorithms that operate based on existing data in vertically specific use cases.

Humans have been taking a beating from computers lately. The 4-1 defeat of Go grandmaster Lee Se-Dol by Google's AlphaGo artificial intelligence (AI) is only the latest in a string of pursuits in which technology has triumphed over humanity. Self-driving cars are already less accident-prone than human drivers, the TV quiz show Jeopardy! is a lost cause, and in chess humans have fallen so woefully behind computers that a recent international tournament was won by a mobile phone. There is a real sense that this month's human vs AI Go match marks a turning point. Go has long been held up as requiring levels of human intuition and pattern recognition that should be beyond the powers of number-crunching computers.