David Eden from Tata Communications asks what technologies will shape the way people live, work and experience the world around us in 2017 and beyond. The article will also examine what barriers are standing in the way of some of most exciting and talked-about innovations today. While the hype might suggest otherwise, virtual reality (VR) won't become mainstream in 2017. However, its industrialisation will start to gather momentum. VR has already been used as a training tool in medicine, and next year there will be more innovative VR-enabled medical applications.

A lot of DJs and music producers are starting to wonder how these technologies could be implemented in their fields. In this article, DJTT's Steven Maude takes deep dive into current AI music projects, and how they could change the process of music creation in the very near future. From language translation, self-driving cars, to beating humans at traditional games or learning to play classic games from the modern era, artificial intelligence (AI) is a big deal in computer science right now. Thanks to the large data stores that, for better or worse, technology giants are collecting, and powerful graphics cards accelerating the math required, we're in a time of rapid progress in diverse fields. The natural question for DJs and producers: what are the possible implications for AI in music? But big technology names have looked at applying artificial intelligence techniques to music creation.

Virtually everywhere you look, Bay Area tech businesses are running into walls. Smartphones were revolutionary and lucrative, but the U.S. market is saturated, and Apple's iPhone sales have fallen for three quarters. The "app economy" has matured, with more people using existing apps than downloading new ones. And Facebook, which has filled users' news feeds with so many ads it can barely add more, is predicting its revenue growth will slump next year. Silicon Valley needs its next big thing, a focus for the concentrated brain power and innovation infrastructure that have made this region the world leader in transformative technology.

That "galaxy, far, far away" in the famed opening lines of "Star Wars" flicks actually is part of "our reality," according to a commentary released on a key site, KurzweilAI, that deals with artificial intelligence and the like. It's because the newest chapter of the long-running series, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," has a robot as a key character. The robot previously was part of the "Imperial Empire" but was captured and reprogrammed to become part of the rebel group that sets out to steal plans for the "Death Star" and uncover a fatal flaw. Jonathan Roberts, a professor of robotics at Queensland University of Technology, warns that robotic technology used in military conflicts could be turned back against those who created and released it. "Without giving away too many spoilers, K-2SO is part of the Rebellion freedom fighter group that are tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star, the infamous moon-sized battle station from the original Star Wars movie," he said. "Some robotics engineers and researchers are working on exactly this and have started to develop the algorithms that will enable autonomous military robots to be ethical.

"Rogue One"" quashed most movie rebellions Friday, while Universal was whistling a happy tune with "Sing," as the two films are dominating all wide releases this holiday weekend. In its second weekend of release, "Rogue One" took in about $20 million Friday, putting it in line for as much as $110 million for the four-day period that includes the official Christmas holiday on Monday. The Gareth Edwards "Star Wars" spinoff has been a powerhouse for Disney, now taking in $245 million in the U.S. and an additional $197 million around the world. "Sing," an animated musical voiced by the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, is proving to be the only new, wide release that can hold its ground against the Rebel forces. After a $13-million Friday, the movie is on track for a four-day total of $55 million, adding to its combined $20 million from Wednesday and Thursday. The number puts Universal and production company Illumination Entertainment in a good place with the family film, which is estimated to have cost $75 million to produce.

At least, that seems to be the industry perspective. Humans are rash, impulsive and tainted by personal bias. So why not just replace them with machines? Apparently, that's what Facebook thought when they fired their entire team of news editors for political bias, replacing them instead with a new algorithm. That did not go well.

Well, I'd already seen Assassin's Creed, so I figured I might as well see the other sci-fi movie released this Christmas, Passengers, starring the they're-so-hot-right-now duo of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Reviews were tepid, and I wasn't expecting much, but the film did manage to surprise me in one significant way. The marketing for Passengers has been all over the place. The film is either pitched as an action blockbuster, as Jim (Pratt) and Aurora (Lawrence) try to save a malfunctioning ship Sunshine-style, or a romance, where Pratt and Lawrence find love as the only two people accidentally awakened with 90 years left to go on an interstellar cruise. I imagined there would be some twist embedded in the film, but what I found when I watched it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

For decades, we have seen people talk to computers in science fiction movies. Michael Knight was assisted by KITT. The computers were smart and personable, and they (usually) did what they were told. When Amazon's Echo hit the market two years ago, this dream came true -- sort of. The Echo was an affordable futuristic device that responded to voice commands.

So you just got an Amazon Echo or an Echo Dot -- fantastic, because they're sold out almost everywhere! Welcome to the future, where ordering a pizza or controlling your lights is just a voice command away. SEE ALSO: 11 useful things you didn't know your Amazon Echo could do What's an excited futuristic, cutting-edge person like yourself supposed to do first with your new vocal powers? Since the Echo is a speaker, the very first thing you'll want to do is connect your music to it. The Echo supports five major music streaming services: Amazon Music, Spotify (premium account required), Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.

REVOLVING DOOR -- "Trump appoints his business attorney to manage international negotiations," by CNN's Elise Labott and Teddy Schleifer: "Jason Greenblatt, the executive vice president and chief legal officer for Trump's business empire, will take on the title of special representative for international negotiations. A source familiar with the appointment told CNN that Greenblatt will primarily will be working on Israel-Palestinian peace process, the American relationship with Cuba and trade agreements."