Intelligent machines powered by AI computers that can learn, reason and interact with people are no longer science fiction. Today, a self-driving car powered by AI can meander through a country road at night and find its way. An AI-powered robot can learn motor skills through trial and error. This is truly an extraordinary time. In my three decades in the computer industry, none has held more potential, or been more fun. The era of AI has begun.

Databricks Inc., the primary commercial steward behind the popular open source Apache Spark data processing framework for Big Data analytics, published a new report indicating the technology is still red-hot, driven by more use of SQL, streaming analytics and machine learning. The company this summer polled more than 900 organizations and solicited data from 1,615 respondents -- mostly Spark users -- coming from the ranks of data scientists, data engineers, architects and others, and last week published the results in the Apache Spark Survey 2016 Report (free download upon providing registration info). The report follows up on a similar survey last year, confirming the technology's widespread popularity as the most active open source project in the Big Data space. "As in 2015, which was a tremendous year in growth for Apache Spark, this year, too, its growth remains unabated -- not only in areas like the public cloud, but also with the increased use of Spark Streaming and the use of machine learning," the report states. "2016 also shows Spark's robust adoption across a variety of organizations and users from many functional roles to build complex solutions, using multiple Spark components."

I hope you enjoy them, and it would be great if you would leave brief reviews of these books in the comments below – I'm sure all the authors would appreciate your comments and shares. About the Author Lee Baker is an award-winning software creator with a passion for turning data into a story. A proud Yorkshireman, he now lives by the sparkling shores of the East Coast of Scotland. Physicist, statistician and programmer, child of the flower-power psychedelic '60s, it's amazing he turned out so normal! Turning his back on a promising academic career to do something more satisfying, as the CEO and co-founder of Chi-Squared Innovations he now works double the hours for half the pay and 10 times the stress - but 100 times the fun! He also wanted to be rich, famous and good looking.

Which of the following are substantially the same things? For as precise a profession as we data scientists purport to be we are sometimes way too casual with our language. Read several articles about AI, Deep Learning, and Machine learning and you will come away confused whether these are all the same or all different. Imagine how confused non-data scientists must be. The truth is that each of these terms has some overlap in a Venn diagram but none of these is a perfect subset of the other and none completely explains the others.

Apple revealed its fourth quarter financial results during a conference call with investors on Tuesday, but perhaps the most interesting narrative -- aside from the company's first annual revenue decline since 2001 -- was the tech giants avowed focus on machine learning. "Today, machine learning drives improvement in countless features across our products," Apple CEO Tim Cook boasted during his initial remarks. Cook then offered a state of machine learning at Apple, by running down areas where machine learning is already helping to improve the iPhone user experience, noting that machine learning "enables the proactive features in iOS 10, and that cameras employ it in face recognizing software. Machine learning is also a key aspect of Apple's fitness offerings. "Machine learning continually helps Siri get smarter in areas including understanding natural language," Cook added.

We are building an AI assistant that helps you stay on top of all your conversations and reconnect with the right people at the right time. As you interact across different communication channels (Facebook, Slack, Texting, Email), Fireflies.ai My experiences at Penn created a unique opportunity for me to pursue this idea, and the lessons I learned there are imbued into the culture of our startup and our core product. During my time here, I was fortunate enough to meet very talented and hardworking peers from diverse backgrounds. Learning from others and sharing unique experiences is what makes Penn special.

While the number of headlines about machine learning might lead one to think that we just discovered something profoundly new, the reality is that the technology is nearly as old as computing. It's no coincidence that Alan Turing, one of the most influential computer scientists of all time, started his 1950 treatise on computing with the question "Can machines think?" From our science fiction to our research labs, we have long questioned whether the creation of artificial versions of ourselves will somehow help us uncover the origin of our own consciousness, and more broadly, our role on earth. Unfortunately, the learning curve on AI is really damn steep. By tracing a bit of history, we should hopefully be able to get to the bottom of wtf machine learning really is.

In the age of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack and AI assistant (Cortana, Siri, Ok Google) we can finally communicate intelligently with our software. With growing Artificial Intelligence, Chatbots are helping us to find products, places, food and even solving customer service issues. Chatbots can convince you of remarkable things like the necessity of clicking a link or they are humans, not robots. Automation using bots allows companies to minimize their costs while still maintaining a high price point, thanks to the ease of use and quality of service. Brands capitalizing on digital experience are using chatbots to gain competitive advantage.

IBM says new Watson Data Platform will'bring machine learning to the masses' Don't be afraid of artificial intelligence, says VC Ben Horowitz IBM says new Watson Data Platform will'bring machine learning to the masses' IBM expands Watson's reach with data platform, iOS integration, bots, education efforts Stay up-to-date on the topics you care about. We'll send you an email alert whenever a news article matches your alert term. It's free, and you can add new alerts at any time. We won't share your personal information with anyone.

I hate my alarm clock, and I bet you hate yours. They're machines that drag you from your comfortable slumber into the cold drudgery of everyday life. I don't think I could ever like an alarm clock. But could I be impressed by one? And Bonjour, by French design house Holi, is a deeply impressive alarm clock in the making.