Master everything you need to transform data into action with our Learning Path: Machine Learning, a curated collection of lessons to take you from the basics to coding your own machine learning algorithms. Subscribe to the O'Reilly Data Show Podcast to explore the opportunities and techniques driving big data, data science, and AI. Find us on Stitcher, TuneIn, iTunes, SoundCloud, RSS. In this special two-segment episode of the Data Show, I spoke with Dafna Shahaf, assistant professor at the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her area of research is focused on tools and techniques for overcoming information overload, an area of increasing importance in an attention economy.

The Japanese government plans to grant highly skilled foreign people permanent residency after they live in Japan for at least one year, informed sources said Saturday. Currently, people such as researchers and corporate managers can become permanent residents if they stay in the country for at least five years. The government is now working to shorten the required period to basically three years, the sources said. But specialists in artificial intelligence, researchers in regenerative medicine, big investors and other people who satisfy special conditions will only need to reside in Japan for one year to gain permanent residency, they added. Calling it important to take in highly developed human resources for Japan's survival amid intensifying global competition, the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe clarified in its growth strategy adopted in June a policy to make the immigration system attractive to highly skilled foreign professionals. As of the end of 2015, 3,840 such foreigners worked in Japan.

A robot testing facility, a robotics research center, a base for renewable energy and a memorial park -- these are some of the plans the irradiated town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, has in mind for rebuilding after the triple reactor meltdown at the nearby Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011. But to pursue those plans, the town needs funds -- a gigantic amount. Namie is hoping to cover its funding needs with central government grants. But the two sides are still negotiating whether the municipality must shoulder a certain amount. Also, there is no guarantee that the grants will continue beyond fiscal 2020, when the central government-designated reconstruction and revitalization period ends.

Japan's solid-fuel rocket Epsilon blasted off on September 14, 2013 on its maiden voyage carrying a telescope for remote observation of planets in a launch coordinated from a laptop computer-based command centre. Epsilon is scheduled for a follow up launch at the end of 2016. Uncertainties about U.S. policy in Asia will affect the security postures of allies in the region. Japan, for one, is going to tilt even more toward its own national security space ventures. As the country's defense minister Tomomi Inada urged recently, the time is ripe for Japan to reevaluate how best to protect itself.

NASA has announced that a team of researchers from its Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and other institutions recently visited Monterey Bay, California as part of ongoing research into developing artificial intelligence for submersible drones. In addition to benefitting our understanding of Earth's marine environments, the team hopes this artificial intelligence will someday be used to explore the oceans believed to exist on moons like Europa. If confirmed, these oceans are thought to be some of the most likely places to host life in the outer solar system. A fleet of six coordinated drones was used to study Monterey Bay. To plot their routes, forecasts of these ocean features were sent to the drones from shore. The drones also sensed how the ocean actively changed around them.

As we innovate ourselves away from conventional work and labor, an unlikely question begins to form: How do we feel about free money? First floated by 16th-century philosopher Thomas More as a "cure for theft," basic income is finding new life 500 years later amid concerns over technology edging humans out of the workforce. If advanced machines are taking all the jobs, goes the thinking, then how will people earn money to support themselves? A "universal basic income" in which all citizens receive free money from their government -- a figurative tax break just for being alive -- is a possible solution. With all members of a society guaranteed some degree of income regardless of employment status, the ideology aims to provide people with some kind of economic anchor if they are unable to earn on their own.

This article was written by Stephanie Kim. Stephanie has a professional experience with data mining and processing including natural language processing along with a small amount of machine learning and script automation. Do Twitter users who mention Donald Trump swear more than those who mention Hillary Clinton? Let's find out by taking a natural language processing approach (or, NLP for short) to analyzing tweets. This walkthrough will provide a basic introduction to help developers of all background and abilities get started with the NLP microservices available on Algorithmia.

China agreed Saturday to return an American sea drone it had captured after the Pentagon demanded it back, defusing tensions at the end of a week of confrontations over Beijing's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. China's Defense Ministry said it would return "in an appropriate manner" the U.S. sea vessel seized this week by the Chinese navy. But the ministry also accused the U.S. of "public hyping" that was "not conducive to solving the problem smoothly." Chinese officials did not specify what happened or when Beijing would hand back the device. The ministry, in a statement, said that the device was unidentified when found and that officials later concluded it was an American drone.

China agreed Saturday to return an American sea drone it had captured after the Pentagon demanded it back, defusing tensions at the end a week of confrontations over Beijing's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. China's Defense Ministry said it would return "in an appropriate manner" the U.S. sea vessel seized this week by the Chinese navy. But the ministry also accused the U.S. of "public hyping" that was "not conducive to solving the problem smoothly." Chinese officials did not specify what happened or when Beijing would hand back the device. The ministry, in a statement, said the device was unidentified when found and that officials later concluded it was an American drone.

Within the last week, the CIA, Obama administration and FBI have all agreed that Russian intervened in the presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. The White House went so far as to say that the cyberattacks were directed by president Vladimir Putin himself. The New York Times offers a detailed look at the Russian hack of the DNC which led to emails and other documents making it into the hands of WikiLeaks and other websites. Google wants to use AI to fight abusive behavior online. It may not work for bigger sites and services, but there's still potential to do some good.