Since it was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft has been a key player in just about every major advance in the use of computers, at home and in business. Just as it anticipated the rise of the personal computer, the graphical operating system and the internet, it wasn't taken by surprise by the dawn of the big data era. It might not always be the principle source of innovation, but it has always excelled at bringing innovation to the masses, and packaging it into a user-friendly product (even though many would argue against this). It has caused controversy along the way, though, and at one time was called an "abusive monopoly" by the US Department of Justice, over its packaging of Internet Explorer with Windows operating systems. And in 2004 it was fined over 600m by the European Union following anti-trust action.

On Leap Day this year, Dr Sue Black was sitting on the sofa when her partner presented her with a puzzle. It was his laptop screen, which showed an Enigma machine simulator containing an encrypted message asking her to marry him. On Leap Day this year, Dr Sue Black was sitting on the sofa when her partner presented her with a puzzle. Dr Black, author and computer scientist, is well known for founding the high profile campaign to save Bletchley Park, the central site for Britain's codebreakers during World War Two. She is a senior research associate at University College London.

Russian combat engineers arrived Thursday in Syria on a mission to clear mines in the ancient town of Palmyra, the military said. The Defense Ministry said the sapper units were airlifted to Syria with an array of equipment, including state-of-the art robotic devices, to defuse mines at the 2,000-year-old archaeological site. Russian television stations showed Il-76 transport planes carrying the engineers landing before dawn at the Russian air base in Syria. Sunday's recapture of Palmyra by Syrian troops under the cover of Russian airstrikes was an important victory over Islamic State extremists who operated a 10-month reign of terror there. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff said that Russian military advisers had helped plan and direct the Syrian army's operation to recapture Palmyra.

When UNIVAC--the Universal Automatic Computer--was dedicated a few months later, the New York Times called the machine "an eight-foot-tall mathematical genius" that could in one-sixth of a second "classify an average citizen as to sex marital status, education, residence, age group, birthplace, employment, income and a dozen other classifications." Until then the Bureau's data had been handled with help from an electric counting machine first developed for the 1890 census. Advances in computer technology during the Second World War made for faster processing speeds--a development of particular interest to the Census Bureau, given the volume of data associated with regularly counting the U.S. population. During the war they had designed ENIAC, a large-scale general purpose computer, at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1946 the pair left the university to start a commercial venture and secured a contract with the National Bureau of Standards to study what would be required for a computer for the Bureau of the Census.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) today announced it will receive a first-of-a-kind brain-inspired supercomputing platform for deep learning developed by IBM Research. Based on a breakthrough neurosynaptic computer chip called IBM TrueNorth, the scalable platform will process the equivalent of 16 million neurons and 4 billion synapses and consume the energy equivalent of a hearing aid battery – a mere 2.5 watts of power. The brain-like, neural network design of the IBM Neuromorphic System is able to infer complex cognitive tasks such as pattern recognition and integrated sensory processing far more efficiently than conventional chips. The new system will be used to explore new computing capabilities important to the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) missions in cybersecurity, stewardship of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and nonproliferation. NNSA's Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program will evaluate machine-learning applications, deep-learning algorithms and architectures and conduct general computing feasibility studies.

WASHINGTON – Robotic systems and unmanned vehicles are playing an ever-growing role in the U.S. military -- but don't expect to see Terminator-style droids striding across the battlefield just yet. A top Pentagon official has given a tantalizing peek into several projects that not long ago were the stuff of science fiction, including missile-dodging satellites, self-flying F-16 fighters and robot naval fleets. Though the Pentagon is not planning to build devices that can kill without human input, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work hinted that could change if enemies with fewer qualms create such machines. "We might be going up against a competitor that is more willing to delegate authority to machines than we are, and as that competition unfolds we will have to make decisions on how we best can compete," he said. Work, who helps lead Pentagon efforts to ensure the U.S. military keeps its technological edge, described several initiatives, including one dubbed "Loyal Wingman" that would see the Air Force convert an F-16 warplane into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a manned F-35 jet.

Robotic systems and unmanned vehicles are playing an ever-growing role in the US military--but don't expect to see Terminator-style droids striding across the battlefield just yet. A top Pentagon official on Wednesday gave a tantalizing peek into several projects that not long ago were the stuff of science fiction, including missile-dodging satellites, self-flying F-16 fighters and robot naval fleets. Though the Pentagon is not planning to build devices that can kill without human input, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work hinted that could change if enemies with fewer qualms create such machines. "We might be going up against a competitor that is more willing to delegate authority to machines than we are, and as that competition unfolds we will have to make decisions on how we best can compete," he said. Work, who helps lead Pentagon efforts to ensure the US military keeps its technological edge, described several initiatives, including one dubbed "Loyal Wingman" that would see the Air Force convert an F-16 warplane into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a manned F-35 jet.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Anyone interested in the future of design should have a look at the new Batmobile. I was lucky enough to be photographed alongside it at the London Film and Comic Convention earlier this year, and my inner geek was impressed. Built like a tank and armour-plated, with twin machine guns mounted on a bat-black body, it's a seriously cool-looking piece of kit. But looks can be deceptive. The Batmobile certainly looked rough and tough, but it was roped off from the crowds so no one could get too close.