Good scientists are not only able to uncover patterns in the things they study, but to use this information to predict the future. Meteorologists study atmospheric pressure and wind speed to predict the trajectories of future storms. A biologist may predict the growth of a tumor based on its current size and development. A financial analyst may try to predict the ups and downs of a stock based on things like market capitalization or cash flow. Perhaps even more interesting than the above phenomena is that of predicting the behavior of human beings.

Walmart has submitted a patent application for a drone delivery system that focuses on how packages will be received. Instead of just delivering goods to your doorstep, drones would drop packages into secure boxes (lockers) that communicate with the drone. The application describes a smorgasbord of technology that could be used to ensure secure drop-off, including geofencing and a blockchain for package tracking and identification. Just like most patent applications, Walmart's "Unmanned Aerial Delivery to Secure Location" is jam-packed with redundant language, ambiguous line drawings, buzz words, and ample legal jargon. Still, the basic premise is clear: a delivery system that includes a robotic vehicle that communicates with a secure locker.

Growing investments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology have transformed many areas in the business world, especially among high-tech and financial organisations. External spending on AI-related projects went up to $12 billion in 2016. Companies looking into AI may focus on the potential for automating low-skill tasks, but they are overlooking a major opportunity. Artificial Intelligence can also play a significant role in corporate governance. AI can help streamline decision-making processes, transform big decisions from gut feelings to data-driven knowledge, and better predict the future outcome of such decisions.

Waymo's lawsuit against Uber for allegedly stealing technology for self-driving cars hasn't gone to trial yet, because the judge received a letter from the Department of Justice suggesting Uber withheld crucial evidence. That letter, with some redactions, is now available for all to read and it's not good news for Uber. It was written by the attorney of a former employee, Richard Jacobs, and it contains claims that the company routinely tried to hack its competitors to gain an edge, used a team of spies to steal secrets or surveil political figures and even bugged meetings between transport regulators -- with some of this information delivered directly to former CEO Travis Kalanick. Alphabet's self-driving arm Waymo is making the case that Anthony Levandowski created the autonomous trucking company Otto as a scheme to steal its trade secrets and sell them to Uber. In the letter, it says that members of the Uber SSG team Jacobs worked on traveled to Pittsburgh after it acquired the company to instruct Otto employees on how to use burner phones and ephemeral communications apps to avoid discovery in an expected lawsuit. Jacobs has since testified that his attorney was mistaken about the allegations pertaining to Waymo, but now the case has been delayed until next year as a result of these claims unearthed during the ongoing criminal investigation.

Today, after three weeks of legal hemming and hawing, the Northern District of California finally made public a potentially key piece of evidence in the rollicking, roiling, rolling trade secrets lawsuit between self-driving Alphabet spinoff Waymo and ridehailing company Uber. That evidence is the Jacobs Letter, a 37-page rundown of truly outrageous allegations about Uber's business practices, put to paper by the lawyer for former Uber employee Ric Jacobs. Originally sent to Uber's lawyers as part of a dispute between the company and Jacobs, it's now at the center of Uber's legal fight with Waymo. And while the letter's contents most definitely have not been proven true, they include some tremendous new assertions: that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick himself directed trade theft; that the company employed spies to trail competitors' executives; that it illegally recorded a call with employees about sexual assault allegations; and that it used a meme-filled slideshow to teach employees how to hide implicating documents from nosy lawyers. So we--like you, presumably--have a few questions.

Uber allegedly engaged in a range of "unethical and unlawful intelligence collections", including the theft of competitive trade secrets, bribery of foreign officials and spying on competitors and politicians, according to an explosive legal document published on Friday. It's the latest chapter in the discovery process for the company's messy legal squabble with Waymo, Google's driverless car spin-off, which has accused Uber of stealing trade secrets. The details were outlined in a 37-page demand letter filed by the ex-Uber security manager Richard Jacobs, who left the company earlier this year. The document paints a picture of a team of employees dedicated to spying on rivals and "impeding" legal investigations into the company. Jacobs alleges that when he raised concerns over the techniques being used, he was given a poor performance review and demoted as "pure retaliation" for refusing to buy into the culture of "achieving business goals through illegal conduct even though equally aggressive legal means were available".

U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of rules the administration announced in October that allowed businesses or non-profits to obtain exemptions on moral or religious grounds.

One of the most commercially realistic technologies these days is conversation technology, the chatbots. The idea of helping people through the complexity of their interactions, their business interactions through chat is a powerful idea. Some recent experience with chatbots that have gone feral, chatbots that have gone wild, and adopted racist guises. Calling a bot racist is a problematic idea, but let's just call it what it is. The Microsoft Tay bot [was] released into Twitter to learn the mores and foibles of human language and to adopt those lessons of conversation and then start automating conversation.

It was a memorable year, to be sure, with plenty of drama and unexpected happenings in terms of the technology, the players, and the application of big data and data science. As we gear up for 2018, we think it's worth taking some time to ponder about what happened in 2017 and put things in some kind of order. Here are 10 of the biggest takeaways for the big data year that was 2017. Teradata, for instance, found that 80% of enterprises are already investing in AI, which backed similar findings from IDC. Nevertheless, the same old challenges that kept big data off Easy Street also emerged to cool some of the heat emanating from AI. Over the summer, Databricks' CEO, Ali Ghodsi, warned about "AI's 1% problem."

You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a new report claims. Patent applications from Amazon and Google revealed how their Alexa and Voice Assistant powered smart speakers are'spying' on you. The study warns of an Orwellian future in which the gadgets eavesdrop on everything from confidential conversations to your toilet flushing habits. Future versions of gadgets like the Echo and Home will use this data to try and sell you products, it says. You would be forgiven for thinking that your private conversations were just that, but two leading voice assistants are listening to everything you say, a new report claims. Patent applications from Amazon and Google revealed their smart speakers are'spying' on you Google and Amazon appear most interested in using the data they get by snooping on your daily life to target advertising, Consumer Watchdog said.