More than six years after the core meltdowns triggered by March 2011 mega-quake and tsunami, Tokyo Electric said Saturday that the robot probing reactor 3 at the defunct Fukushima No. 1 power plant had likely spotted fuel debris for the first time at the bottom of its primary containment vessel. Some of the debris looks like rocks and sand, and was accompanied by scaffolding and other objects from the reactor that had formed a pile about a meter high. On Friday, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. announced that the same robot had found what appeared to be melted fuel at the bottom of the pressure vessel, which holds the core. On Saturday, images released by the utility showed black, lava-like objects discovered by the so-called mini sunfish robot. "It's natural to assume that the debris melted and dropped," said a Tepco official who briefed reporters.

Artificial intelligence is not just a casual interest of the tech industry. "In ten years, every company will have to be an artificial intelligence company or they won't be competitive," Loup Ventures Managing Partner Doug Clinton wrote in a Thursday note. "Every company," he emphasized, noting disruptions span energy and transportation, food and finance, retail and health. Some firms are already anticipating AI standards of their industries and investing in relevant technologies and strategies. Their efforts, Clinton said, position them to profit.

A robot sent to explore the submerged ruins of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant is offering a new look at the damage from one of history's worst nuclear disasters. The device nicknamed "Little Sunfish" found melted clumps of material that could be the fuel debris it was sent to locate, according to updates Friday. After an earthquake struck near Japan on March 11, 2011, a tsunami spurred by the quake hit the nuclear plant, damaging generators and causing three nuclear meltdowns and the subsequent release of radioactive material. No radiation-related deaths have been reported, but nearly 100,000 homes had to be evacuated in the aftermath of the disaster. Six years later, the homes remain deserted.

On Saturday February 11, 2017, my daughter and her friend were driving from a basketball game in Chico back to our home in Palo Alto. Unfortunately, due to several days of heavier than normal rains, the Oroville Dam spillway broke and flooded many of the roads between Chico and Palo Alto. My daughter's smartphone mapping application wasn't aware of the sudden danger, and proceeded to send her into the heart of the flooding (see Figure 1). Fortunately, courtesy of some heads up "smart" driving, she was able to navigate the shallow flooding and avoid the more dangerous, deeper flooding (always helps to see cars stalled in the water before deciding to plow in). This incident highlights two significant challenges with respect to the application of artificial intelligence in the world of the Internet of Things (IoT), edge analytics and creating "smart" devices: The challenge for any autonomous device (car, truck, drone, washer, wind turbine, pace maker) is how to manage challenge #1 within the computational and storage limitations of #2.

Apple is working with a Chinese firm on research and development of car batteries, despite claiming it was only developing the software for vehicles. China's Yicai Global claims the Cupertino tech giant has been working with Contemporary Amperex Technology to develop car batteries. CATL was previously a part of Amperex Technology Ltd, which supplies batteries for other Apple products, but has since been spun off into a separate entity. Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has confirmed that the company are working on self-driving car technology for the first time. Apple officially secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California on April 14.

A robot sent into Fukushima's defunct nuclear power plant found what could potentially be melted nuclear fuel debris -- hanging in the form of "icicles." The machine was deployed to locate the source of the melted debris and potentially clean it up. Officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the company tasked with decommissioning the power plant, said the objects the robot spotted were inside the interior of reactor three. The icicle-like objects were hanging onto a control rod drive attached to the bottom of a pressure vessel which holds the core, the Japan Times reported Friday. Read: Fukushima's'Unimaginable' Nuclear Radiation So Destructive, Not Even Robots Can Survive The robot, nicknamed "the Little Sunfish," was sent into the plant Wednesday.

Evolution has been occurring for billions of years, producing organisms that are perfectly adapted to their environments. And this includes abilities that we would normally consider superpowers if humans were to have them. But these powers really do exist in the animal kingdom. In the superhero world, Matt Murdock, who was blinded by radioactive waste as a child, developed a superhuman ability to sense using sound waves and became the superhero Daredevil. In the superhero world, Matt Murdock, who was blinded by radioactive waste as a child, developed a superhuman ability to sense using sound waves and became the superhero Daredevil.

An underwater robot captured images of solidified lava-like rocks Thursday inside a damaged reactor at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, spotting for the first time what is believed to be nuclear fuel that melted six years ago. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the robot found large amounts of lava-like debris apparently containing fuel that had flowed out of the core into the primary containment vessel of the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima. The plant was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. This image captured by an underwater robot shows lava-like lumps believed to contain melted fuel inside the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima. Experts believe the fuel melted and much of it fell to the chamber's bottom and is now submerged by radioactive water.

McKinsey & Company to Lead Artificial Intelligence Workshop at Mobile Payments Conference 2017 Conference attendees to gain insight on evolution of artificial intelligence and impact on banking and payments CHICAGO, IL–(Marketwired – Jul 20, 2017) – Mobile Marketing & Technology Magazine today announced that McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm that serves leading businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profits, will host an artificial intelligence (AI) workshop at the 2017 Mobile Payments Conference (MPC), being held August 28 – 30, 2017, at the Swissotel in Chicago, Illinois. The half-day session will provide an end-to-end examination of AI's impact on mobile payments and banking. Presenters will first break down AI as a capability and discipline, and what sets it apart from similar functionality, then explore the potential for AI in both customer experience and business operations. Attendees will learn how AI can drive growth and create tangible value in payments and banking. Program topics will include: AI 101: What it is and what it's not Conversational commerce: Full steam ahead or just hot air From smart to smarter ops: Automation and optimization in banking and payments.

Tokyo Electric said Friday that a remotely controlled robot investigating the interior of reactor 3 at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant has finally spotted objects that could potentially be fuel debris. The objects look like icicles hanging around a control rod drive attached to the bottom of the pressure vessel, which holds the core, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said at an evening news conference. Enclosed by the huge primary containment vessel, the pressure vessel originally contained the fuel rod assemblies. But the rods melted into a puddle and pierced the bottom of the pressure vessel once the plant lost power after being swamped by the monstrous tsunami of March 11, 2011. The robot also captured images of lumps of material that appears to have melted and resolidified near the wall of the pedestal, a concrete structure that supports the pressure vessel.