It appears Samsung is working on a competitor to Amazon Alexa and Google Home, with its own take on a voice assistant speaker, according to a filing with the US Federal Communications Commission spotted by Ausdroid. However, the FCC leak has images of a small, white speaker allegedly called the "Samsung Scoop". Documentation points to an internal microphone and Bluetooth within the speaker -- likely to take voice commands like the Amazon Alexa and connect to smartphones. Functionality isn't discussed in the filing, so it's not clear what type of commands or information the Scoop is able to serve up. Exact dimensions of the Scoop aren't known.

Few companies enjoy the kind of dominance Intel Corp. INTC 0.11 % does in chips for the computers found in data centers. But competitors keep trying to pry open its server stronghold, with International Business Machines Corp. IBM, at a Silicon Valley technical conference on Tuesday, plans to reveal new details of Power9, the next addition to the line of microprocessors the technology giant uses in its own servers and--in a recent strategy shift--offers to other hardware companies. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., AMD 1.19 % meanwhile, is using the same event to discuss the inner workings of processor technology called Zen that it plans to use in chips targeting servers and other hardware. AMD, which uses the same x86 design as Intel, last week at a company event demonstrated a chip using Zen processor cores outpacing its larger rival's chips in one speed test. "We had let our performance slip versus the competition," said Mark Papermaster, AMD's senior vice president and chief technology officer.

Smart dust, 4D printing and brain-computer interfaces are some of the most attention-grabbing technologies featuring in Gartner's latest Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. The forecast reveals three major technology trends set to be the highest priority for organizations looking to compete in the digital world. Emerging technologies are revolutionizing the concepts of how platforms are defined and used, Gartner says. The report notes, "The shift from technical infrastructure to ecosystem-enabling platforms is laying the foundations for entirely new business models that are forming the bridge between humans and technology. Within these dynamic ecosystems, organizations must proactively understand and redefine their strategy to create platform-based business models, and to exploit internal and external algorithms in order to generate value."

Data and analytics are key tools being used to disrupt a variety of industries, from retail to healthcare. Organizations log and store vast amounts of machine data -- structured and easily manipulated -- as well as human data (audio, video, speech, text) -- beautifully nuanced but complicatedly unstructured. Forward thinking organizations are logging and analyzing everything, and with HPE Haven OnDemand what was once unimaginable is now possible – the harnessing of unstructured data with infinite sample sizes while segmenting to a uniquely personal degree. The HPE Haven OnDemand platform provides advanced machine learning APIs and services, enabling developers, startups and enterprises to build data-rich mobile and enterprise applications. All offered as a service in the Cloud.

Google is using AI to compress photos, just like on HBO's Silicon Valley Ai Weiwei Thinks'Sluggish' German Mentality Is to Blame for the Chris Dercon Controversy in Berlin South Africa's CLEVVA is making AI-powered virtual advisors a thing

According to a MarketsandMarkets report published last year, the global healthcare analytics market is projected to grow 26.5% annually over the five-year period to be worth 18.7 billion by 2020. The industry was estimated to be worth 5.8 billion in 2015. North America has the largest market in the Big Data healthcare market due to the Big Data initiatives launched by the federal government to reduce healthcare expenses. China's recent Billion-Dollar Unicorn Club member iCarbonX (Private:CRBNX) also is making big waves in the industry. The company is leveraging biotechnology and artificial intelligence with the long-term vision of creating a digital avatar that will be able to guide the user toward healthy life options.

Asking about the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning reminds me a little of the transition to suitcases with wheels. Do you remember lugging around those old suitcases? If not, good for you - this original advertisement from US Luggage will take you back! Thank Bernard Sadow for persistence with his idea to add wheels, because when he pitched his idea people thought he was crazy. Surely no one would want to pull their own suitcase?

Instances of reported cybercrime are growing astronomically – and yet many successful attacks are still not reported, or even detected. In response to the escalating threat, detection capabilities are constantly being refined, improved and almost fully re-imagined. As new threats arise, so do technologies that offer a control against these threats. Automating the process without compromising the accuracy or effectiveness of the measures helps to augment the role of a human in security operations. The automation wave is the progression of technology and machine learning into intelligent software that can act to both identify and remediate incidents, leaving security professionals to tackle more complex and relevant issues.

This A.I. from Boomerang Predicts What Emails Will Get a Response Most doctors don't believe artificial intelligence can replace human doctors Google is using AI to compress photos, just like on HBO's Silicon Valley

Originally published by Sramana Mitra on LinkedIn: Future Of Artificial Intelligence - Triumph Of Communism? I have written several pieces already on my deep concerns about the kind of society we're moving towards in the next 30-50 years as technology-induced changes sweep through society, rendering hundreds of millions of people unemployable. It seems to me that the end game in this thought experiment is the triumph of communism. A Universal Basic Income provides for the basic needs of human beings - food, shelter, clothing - and keeps society from imploding through crime and revolution. I am sure there will be interesting mechanisms to facilitate this process of vegetating - immersive computer games, ever-addictive social media, etc. Note, however, no one can afford anything beyond the basics, so don't think the entertainment industry will be thriving either.