A group of self driving Uber vehicles position themselves to take journalists on rides during a media preview at Uber's Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh (Photo: Gene J. Puskar, AP) Ride-hailing service Uber and Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, announced a partnership Thursday to work together on future self-driving cars. The goal would be to produce cars that can run on Uber's ride-hailing network. In a statement announcing the partnership, Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick didn't give a timeframe, only saying the program would be operational "in the coming years." Uber has been one of the most aggressive companies in trying to develop self-driving cars, envisioning the time when driverless cars prowl the streets of major cities picking up and dropping off passengers. "By opening up the Uber platform to Daimler, we can get to the future faster than going it alone," stated Kalanick.

PRESS RELEASE: Executive Perspectives Live, one of the top online business shows on C-Suite TV, has announced its seventh season premiere episode featuring a one-on-one interview with Tom Edwards, Chief Digital Officer, Agency, Epsilon. Edwards has been with Epsilon, a global leader in creating connections between people and brands, since 2015. Recognized by Ad Age as the #1 World's Largest U.S. Agency from All Discplines and #1 Largest U.S. Mobile Marketing Agency, Epsilon employs over 7,000 associates in 70 offices worldwide. The company is an all-encompassing global marketing company harnessing the power of rich data, groundbreaking technologies, engaging creative and transformative ideas for business results. The Executive Perspectives Live episode was filmed when Edwards sat down with series host Jeffrey Hayzlett at the C-Suite Conference in San Francisco to talk about the future of marketing, the infusion of voice-based technology into consumer products and how brands should shift from social media to social messaging strategies.

A major challenge for using data to make predictions is distinguishing what is meaningful from noise. The image represents one approach that visually indicates the complexity of the problem by highlighting some links in a network and deleting other possible links, with the hole indicating the more meaningful information. We have tried to predict the future since ancient times when shamans looked for patterns in smoking entrails. As this special section explores, prediction is now a developing science. Essays probe such questions as how to allocate limited resources, whether a country will descend into conflict, and who will likely win an election or publish a high-impact paper, as well as looking at how standards should develop in this emerging field.

Exciting changes are underway for technology in health care. In our post about what to expect in 2017 we touched on many key trends, but one particular emerging technology deserves a closer look: artificial intelligence (AI). "While the U.S. health industry lags behind other industries … in deploying emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, drones, and virtual reality, 2017 is the year to prepare for the eventual arrival of these technologies and their impacts on business models, operations, workforce needs, and cybersecurity risks," stated consulting firm PWC's annual trend report. Here are three ways that artificial intelligence is being used to predict patient outcomes, potentially transforming the way doctors treat patients. In December 2016, Microsoft India, in collaboration with the country's L V Prasad Eye Institute, launched Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE), a research group that will leverage artificial intelligence to deliver large-scale eye care.

This resource is part of a series on specific topics related to data science: regression, clustering, neural networks, deep learning, decision trees, ensembles, correlation, ouliers, regression Python, R, Tensorflow, SVM, data reduction, feature selection, experimental design, cross-validation, model fitting, and many more. To keep receiving these articles, sign up on DSC.

The technological framework for healthcare information systems has a new paradigm to handle fast and accelerated medical data coming from disparate sources of data from the holistic healthcare framework of diagnostics tools, DNA mapping, precision medicine, bioinformatics, medical devices, Internet of Medical Things, biopharma, neurology, cardiovascular, drug discovery, and drug development. To surpass the healthcare challenges, increased costs for the individuals, clinical trials, and radiology providers. The majority of the problems stem from the lack of data liquidity and real-time data analytics in healthcare information systems. Healthcare providers adopting big data technologies such as Apache Hadoop can resolve major conundrums with data liquidity (Sears, 2013). Recently McKinsey and Company has released a research report describing the new value pathways for the healthcare system that enables the creation of the data and to make data flows more agiler (Sears, 2013).

Nothing reveals as much about a society, and its future, as its high schools. Yet amid accelerating change -- widening inequality, unprecedented globalization and technological advances -- they've woefully lagged behind. There are, of course, exceptions. Follow OZY's special series High School, Disrupted to find out about the global leaders, cutting-edge trends and big ideas reimagining secondary education -- for the better. From Siri handling our schedules to smart cars driving themselves, artificial intelligence (AI) has turned our world upside down -- except in education.

Pity the 34 staff of Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance in Japan, diligently calculating insurance payouts and brutally replaced by an AI system. If you believe the reports from January, the AI revolution is here. In my opinion, the goings-on in Japan cannot possibly qualify as AI, but, in order to explain why, I have to explain what I think AI means. In one way, this attempt will be doomed to failure because there is no unified definition of AI. But I can, hopefully, provide a framework of understanding about the topic that may help.

On a recent Saturday morning, my wife, Susan, and I slipped into the city to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a place we hadn't gone together since before our sons were born. The crowds hadn't yet descended and for an hour or so we wandered around and absorbed the cavernous hush of art. We separated for a bit, together but apart; while Susan roamed among the Manets and Van Goghs I slipped into a small side gallery, not much larger than a subway car, that held a series of glass cases with small bronze sculptures by Degas. There were a few busts and several horses in stride and the figure of a woman stretching, a small bronze rising to her feet and curling her left arm upward as if waking from a long nap. At the end of the gallery, in one long case, were two dozen ballerinas in various states of motion or repose.

Mechanical masterminds have spawned the Bat Bot, a soaring, sweeping and diving robot that may eventually fly circles around other drones. Because it mimics the unique and more flexible way bats fly, this 3-ounce prototype could do a better and safer job getting into disaster sites and scoping out construction zones than bulky drones with spinning rotors, said the three authors of a study released yesterday in the journal Science Robotics. For example, it would have been ideal for going inside the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, said study co-author Seth Hutchinson, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois. The bat robot flaps its wings for better aerial maneuvers, glides to save energy and dive bombs when needed. Eventually, the researchers hope to have it perch upside down like the real thing, but that will have to wait for the robot's sequel. Like the fictional crime fighter Batman, the researchers turned to the flying mammal for inspiration.