In the future, they will determine the precise date when the traditional notion of privacy expired -- probably some moment in 1999. It will take a couple of decades at least for humanity to comprehend the abilities and reach of modern surveillance, and the unfathomable amount of data being generated and collected. For example, satellites can now identify objects as small as 50 centimeters across, according to X Prize Foundation founder Nick Diamandis. Diamandis is quoted by IDG News Service's James Niccolai in a September 24, 2015 article. The researcher states that data analysis systems such as IBM's Watson are the only way to extract useful information from the enormous stores of data we now collect.

Newcomers dominated the box office this weekend as Lionsgate's comedy "Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween" and Warner Bros.' sci-fi spectacle "Geostorm" debuted in the top two spots. Perry's sequel debuted in first place, raking in an estimated $21.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore. The PG-13 film, which reviewer Kimber Myers calls "the cinematic equivalent of getting Necco Wafers in your trick-or-treating bucket," follows the antics of Perry's popular character Madea who is tasked with protecting her grand-niece at a haunted campground. "Boo 2!" garnered mixed reviews from audiences and critics, earning an A- rating on CinemaScore and a dismal 8% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Warner Bros.' environmental disaster thriller "Geostorm" came in at No. 2, raining in $13.3 million in its first week.

Google Assistant keeps on growing. New features and functionality are constantly appearing and that's made keeping track of all the service's little quirks and features tougher than ever. You can do much more than just searches these days. What is Google Assistant, and what devices use it? You don't need a Google Home to be the ear in your living room, Google Assistant on your smartphone can also control the various smart doodads dotted around your home.

Grammy-nominee producer, Alex Da Kid, collaborated with IBM's Watson cognitive computing platform on his newest release. Da Kid used Watson to analyse the composition of five years' worth of Billboard songs along with cultural artefacts such as newspaper articles, film scripts and social media commentary. The aim was to capture the "emotional temperature" of the time period to inform the producer's creative process. "Watson scraped millions of conversations, newspaper headlines and speeches – all of which showed me how emotionally volatile we as humans are and have been, particularly over the last five years." Alex told Forbes, explaining how insights from the data contributed to his finished work.

The software industry lobby Nasscom is setting up centres of excellence on artificial intelligence (AI) and data sciences for a better understanding on the emerging technologies, a top official has said. With the tech world getting divided between whether or not to regulate AI, the body feels that technologies should be freely allowed to mature first before any regulation comes in, its president R Chandrasekhar has said. "We are setting up a centre of excellence on AI and data sciences in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. They will look at mapping the resources available in the country, promoting startups in that area and also best practices globally, including regulatory aspects," he told PTI recently. He, however, did not offer the investment that will go into these proposed centres nor a timeline as to when the first centre of excellence will be functional.

This demo is geared toward illustrators and designers who want to fit a lot of objects into a specific shape. It's a narrow use case, but the animation that happens roughly two-minutes into the video of cats forming the letter A is mesmerizing and worth watching even if you can't draw more than a stick figure. One thing that's very clear from these demos is that Adobe is prioritizing machine learning in its Sensei platform. Artificial intelligence touches every part of these demos and is already baked into just about every piece of photo, video, and illustration editing software in use. That's good news for bad artists--or good artists who just want to save time spent staring at selection tools or rendering progress bars.

I am currently taking a course in the verification of cyber-physical systems. When I say that, think formal and probabilistic verification of state machines for safety. It's a graduate course and the professor wants us all to do a large project. Anything that somewhat relates to the course material is fair game. I thought about mixing it together with machine learning.

The first time a stranger on the train told me I had a nice smile, I didn't believe her. Back then, I hadn't yet had my crooked teeth fixed, and my self-esteem wasn't anywhere as high as it is today. I was an ugly kid, and it took a shocking number of selfies to convince myself that I'm not an ugly adult. It may seem like a superficial pastime, but selfie-taking has real benefits. I'm not alone in believing there are psychological advantages here.

The BBC wants to leverage machine learning to improve its online services and the programmes it commissions every year. Today, the broadcaster announced a five-year research partnership with eight universities from across the UK. Data scientists will help the best and brightest at the BBC set up the "Data Science Research Partnership," tasked with being "at the forefront of the machine learning in the media industry." It will tackle a range of projects not just with the BBC, but media and technology organisations from across Europe. The larger aim is to take the results, or learnings, and apply them directly to the BBC's operations in Britain.

Energy, insurance, telecommunications, and many other industries could also have drones in their future.