In recent years, computers have gotten remarkably good at recognizing speech and images: Think of the dictation software on most cellphones, or the algorithms that automatically identify people in photos posted to Facebook. But recognition of natural sounds--such as crowds cheering or waves crashing--has lagged behind. That's because most automated recognition systems, whether they process audio or visual information, are the result of machine learning, in which computers search for patterns in huge compendia of training data. Usually, the training data has to be first annotated by hand, which is prohibitively expensive for all but the highest-demand applications. Sound recognition may be catching up, however, thanks to researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

In examining the history of famous robots, you'd be forgiven for overlooking a 1950s children's toy named Robert. Robert the Robot, who was a product of the once-mighty Ideal Toy Company, didn't do much, at least compared to the standards set by science fiction at the time. Unlike the helpful humanoids of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, Robert was just a 14-inch-tall hunk of plastic that could utter a few phrases, wheel around with a tethered remote control, and grip objects in his mechanical arms. Still, Robert deserves credit for being the first plastic toy robot made in the United States, and the first toy robot to become an American sensation. He was the subject of children's songs, enjoyed a Hollywood film cameo, and was quickly imitated by rival toy makers.

For the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's death, Gregory Doran, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, wanted to dazzle. He turned to "The Tempest," the late romance that includes flying spirits, a shipwreck, a vanishing banquet, and a masque-like pageant that the magician Prospero stages to celebrate his daughter's marriage. "The Tempest" was performed at the court of King James I, and it may have been intended in part to showcase the multimedia marvels of Jacobean court masques. "Shakespeare was touching on that new form of theatre," Doran told me recently, over the phone. "So we wanted to think about what the cutting-edge technology is today that Shakespeare, if he were alive now, would be saying, 'Let's use some of that.' " The politics behind Shakespeare and stage illusion are more fraught than usual these days.

My academic background is in computer science and philosophy. My work has been about the relationship between those two fields. What do we learn about being human by thinking about the quest to create artificial intelligence? What do we learn about human decision making by thinking of human problems in computational terms? The questions that have interested me over the years have been, on the one hand, what defines human intelligence at a species level? And secondly, at an individual level, how do we approach decision making in our own lives, and what are the problems that the world throws at us? I find myself interested at the group level, the society level, and the civic level in a couple of different ways. I've been encouraged by what I've seen over the last few years in terms of the norms of the sciences changing. It used to be that people were scared to publish their models because that was the secret sauce; that was their advantage over other research groups.

The'Netflix AI' set to hunt for aliens: Machine learning algorithm developed for online recommendations will scour the skies for systems that could sustain life Researchers are using machine learning to find stable planetary systems It uses techniques developed for Google's and Netflix recommendations The tool will also reveal the mass and how elliptical an exoplanet's orbit is Will be used to analyse data from NASA planet hunting mission It uses techniques developed for Google's and Netflix recommendations The tool will also reveal the mass and how elliptical an exoplanet's orbit is Machine learning software (pictured) that pull inspiration from Google and Netflix's algorithms could soon discover alien life in outer space. Did HALLUCINOGENS spark the Salem witch trials? Experts say... Iron Man suits, X ray detectors and a fake Facebook and... Hello there! Chimps can recognise friends with a single... How Donald Trump's administration could change the internet:... Did HALLUCINOGENS spark the Salem witch trials? Experts say... Iron Man suits, X ray detectors and a fake Facebook and... Hello there!

There aren't many saloons where you can get into a decent pistol duel nowadays. But at the Mariposa in Sweetwater, you can walk in, order a shot of bourbon, and straight-up Aaron Burr a robot--all to the strains of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, courtesy of a player piano that happens to be ever so slightly out of tune. "In the show, everything is so real, until you look closely. The music is a subtle layer of that." Djawadi is no stranger to scoring an epic HBO drama; he also composes for Game of Thrones.

Sign up for our newsletter to not miss out on tomorrow's game-changers for your industry. Could Westworld happen for real? I just got the question of whether I think Westworld could happen for real. My answer is "Yes it can, but not in the way you may think." For those of you not yet in trapped in the maze-of-the-moment, Westworld is the hit new TV show, based on the 1973 Yul Brynner sci-fi-Western fusion movie.

The new British sci-fi film "Ex Machina," rolling into U.S. theaters over the next few weeks, is the kind of movie that discerning science fiction fans will want to seek out. Directed by Alex Garland (screenwriter of Sunshine and 28 Days Later), "Ex Machina" is a modern-day riff on the Frankenstein story, with high-tech labs, mad scientists and troublesome artificial intelligence (A.I.). It's got some thrilling twists, but "Ex Machina" is more about ideas than action, and it takes its science seriously. The setup: Computer coder Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is summoned to the remote research lab of his boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac), the reclusive genius founder of a ginormous tech company that doesn't rhyme with Google, but may as well. There, Caleb meets Ava -- a super-advanced A.I. housed in a super-advanced robotic body, played by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander.

As in the global survey, we are concerned with platform business models and the design choices that allow these business models to grow. We find the term platform, which is well-established in economic and management literature, offers a more useful and accurate term than some of the terms that have been used such as "share economy companies," "internet companies" or, even more broadly, "tech companies." Network effects are a key characteristic that distinguish platforms from other business models. As more users engage with a platform, the more attractive the platform becomes to potential new users. When more users attract more users, a dynamic is created that in turn triggers a self-reinforcing cycle of growth.

Actually, the robot in this video is gender neutral, which is how I like it, except on "Westworld," where I'm O.K. with robots being entertaining, homicidal sex machines. Now, you'll find my robot to be entertaining if you, like me, like Ping-Pong--it's a Ping-Pong robot. And, if you think Ping-Pong isn't a sport, just watch this. But, as with any sport, getting good at Ping-Pong requires practice. It's best to do that with a human partner, but, if all of the other three hundred million Ping-Pong participants are otherwise engaged, this episode of The Cartoon Lounge will show you how to get your game on.