I've always wanted to like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim more than I ever have in practice---a problem I had with Oblivion as well, and one that I have with lots of RPGs (as well as MMOs like The Elder Scrolls Online.) Skyrim is riddled with problems, of course, from bugs and glitches to uneven acting and quest design. But it's always been the lackluster combat that left me cold. And I hate that, because this is exactly the kind of game I dreamed about as a kid: Sprawling, epic, filled with secrets and quests and magical items, dark secrets and shadowy organizations. And yet every time I play the game I quickly get bored, or find myself switching to something else with more engaging mechanics like Dark Souls.

December 27, 2016 --With excitement swirling around the possibility of a ninth planet, a rebound in the global tiger population for the first time in a century, and the DNA sequenced in space for the first time, 2016 has been a year full of scientific wonder. But as the year comes to a close, there are some breakthroughs particularly worth highlighting. In February, a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, an international team of researchers confirmed that they had actually detected a ripple in the fabric of spacetime for the first time. The detection of gravitational waves came across as a "chirp" across the detectors that make up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), but the researchers say it was the result of two large celestial bodies, possibly black holes, colliding some 1.3 billion years ago. Then, in June, the scientists announced that the cosmos had chirped again.

December 27, 2016 --With excitement swirling around the possibility of a ninth planet, a rebound in the global tiger population for the first time in a century, and the DNA sequenced in space for the first time, 2016 has been a year full of scientific wonder. But as the year comes to a close, there are some breakthroughs particularly worth highlighting. In February, a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence, an international team of researchers confirmed that they had actually detected a ripple in the fabric of spacetime for the first time. The detection of gravitational waves came across as a "chirp" across the detectors that make up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), but the researchers say it was the result of two large celestial bodies, possibly black holes, colliding some 1.3 billion years ago. Then, in June, the scientists announced that the cosmos had chirped again.

GE was still essentially a startup when its managers hired young MIT chemistry professor Willis Whitney to open the company's first laboratory in 1900. Unlike Thomas Edison's Menlo Park "invention factory" in New Jersey, the place was a modest affair. It was located in a wooden barn behind the house of GE's resident polymath and engineering wizard Charles Steinmetz in Schenectady, New York, where GE co-founder Edison moved in the 1880s. The lab -- dedicated to "fundamental research" -- went up in flames the next spring, but Whitney's career and momentum continued. He rebuilt the lab and brought in researchers such as Nobel Prize-winning chemist Irving Langmuir.

How can we encourage more young women to become involved in computer science? I think that there have been great strides in encouraging women and minorities to consider studying computer science. I see increased interest and participation among women and minorities in my community and it is encouraging, however, I also recognize that I live in a pretty unique place. My sister often tells me that her town just doesn't offer the same programs. To combat this type of challenge, I think we need to continue to normalize the idea of females in Computer Science and also expand the programs outside of big cities and academic towns.

Owing to the data deluge and the Cambrian explosion of machine learning techniques over the past decade, one might have expected the transformation of marketing strategy into a predominantly quantitative discipline by now. The fact that it hasn't happened yet, and the observation that marketing is still influenced by a lot of qualitative inputs can be ascribed to two reasons, in my opinion. The first and principal reason continues to be institutional inertia. Second, there is a significant communication and knowledge gap between data scientists and marketers, owing to their relative lack of familiarity with the other side's perspectives and paradigms. The successful marketer of the next decade is someone who is conversant with management theories of Kotler[1] as well as machine learning advances by Hinton[2]/LeCun[3]/ Ng[4].

Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman has provided the voice for an AI assistant created by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Mr Zuckerberg said he asked the actor, who was chosen by the public, after an awards ceremony earlier this month. The Facebook co-founder coded the AI assistant - called Jarvis, after the butler in Iron Man - for his home. If he decides to release it to the public, people would relate differently to a famous voice than more robotic sounding assistants, tech experts said. Mr Zuckerberg asked his Facebook followers to pick the voice after building artificial intelligence to help him around the house.

Hearing that Bob Dylan just won the Nobel Prize for Literature, how could I not begin this talk with his famous line, "Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" The future is full of amazing things. On my way here, I spoke out loud to a $200 device in my kitchen, and asked it to call a Lyft to take me to the airport. And in a few years, that car might well be driving itself. Someone seeing this for the first time would have every excuse to say "WTF?"

REVOLVING DOOR -- "Trump appoints his business attorney to manage international negotiations," by CNN's Elise Labott and Teddy Schleifer: "Jason Greenblatt, the executive vice president and chief legal officer for Trump's business empire, will take on the title of special representative for international negotiations. A source familiar with the appointment told CNN that Greenblatt will primarily will be working on Israel-Palestinian peace process, the American relationship with Cuba and trade agreements."

French woman Lilly wants to marry her robot. Only her partner is 3D printed robot named Inmmovator who she designed herself, after realising she was attracted to "humanoid robots generally" rather than other people. "I'm really and totally happy," she told news.com.au "Our relationship will get better and better as technology evolves." The "proud robosexual" said she always loved the voices of robots as a child but realised at 19 she was sexually attracted to them as well.