Intel is buying the Israeli autonomous-driving company Mobileye for $63.54 per share in cash, or about $15.3 billion. Mobileye soared about 30% in pre-market trading on Monday after the Israeli newspaper Haaretz broke the news. The Jerusalem-based company develops vision-based driver-assistance tools to provide warnings before collisions. "Mobileye brings the industry's best automotive-grade computer vision and strong momentum with automakers and suppliers," Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said in a statement. "Together, we can accelerate the future of autonomous driving with improved performance in a cloud-to-car solution at a lower cost for automakers."

In terms of revolutionary potential, the latest'big tech' wave is getting many in the healthcare industry excited about things to come. With resurgent technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality being joined by new platforms like instant messaging chatbots and voice-activated assistants, healthcare seems on the brink of a new, digital dawn. Ben Greenberg, vice president of mobile products and user experience at Medscape and WebMD, is one who believes that the new era of technology will change the face of healthcare forever. "We are clearly in the midst of a technological revolution," says Greenberg, "but what can we do about it?" Having spent the past nine-and-a-half years building software that promotes patient wellness and provides decision support to physicians at the point of care, Greenberg has witnessed the growing role of technology in health.

The "Rise of the Healthy Machines" sounded more like a screening of a sci-fi movie than a Medstartr Health 2.0 NYC event. But to this group of over 180 attendees, this title conjures images of "machines" that help us stay healthy, help doctors give better care and help researchers give us better answers. Moderator Fard Johnmar, President of Enspektos fielded questions from the audience to the expert panelists on the newest analytics and algorithms now embedded in health technology. Dialogues highlighted, on a personal level, the struggle healthcare is having with the hype of machine learning and artificial intelligence and the whether it is a "one-size fits all" solution. A 30-second definition of machine learning and what may be its biggest benefit for healthcare was the first request of the panel.

As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, people need to make sure it's not used by authoritarian regimes to centralize power and target certain populations, Microsoft Research's Kate Crawford warned on Sunday. In her SXSW session, titled Dark Days: AI and the Rise of Fascism, Crawford, who studies the social impact of machine learning and large-scale data systems, explained ways that automated systems and their encoded biases can be misused, particularly when they fall into the wrong hands. "Just as we are seeing a step function increase in the spread of AI, something else is happening: the rise of ultra-nationalism, rightwing authoritarianism and fascism," she said. All of these movements have shared characteristics, including the desire to centralize power, track populations, demonize outsiders and claim authority and neutrality without being accountable. Machine intelligence can be a powerful part of the power playbook, she said.

It's quite easy to do a Google search on Android. The deep tie-in is an important feature, and one of the reasons Android is the superior choice for those who rely so much on Google services. Yet, sometimes picking out just how to do a Google search is like choosing from among 12 shades of blue shirts you have hanging in the closet. We get that Google wants to be helpful and all, but sometimes it feels like that overeager know-it-all you remember from fourth grade. Each of these different search methods have their own particular strenth. If you learn the nuances, your Android use will be even more powerful.

Over 30 different Android smartphones and tablets have been found to have had malware preinstalled on them before users even switched them on, according to a cyber security firm. Check Point detected a "severe infection" on 38 handsets being used by two of its corporate clients, a telecommunications firm and a multinational technology company that have not been named. The issue affects smartphones from a number of big-name brands, including Samsung, LG and Google. It must be made clear, however, that not all models of the devices named above are affected. "According to the findings, the malware were already present on the devices even before the users received them," reads the Check Point blog post announcing the discovery.

The brains of almost all animals contain a network of crisscrossing nerve cells, also known as neurons. Each nerve cell consist of three main parts -- the soma (cell body), an elongated axon, and several branching dendrites. For the longest time, scientists believe that the somas were the only regions in neurons that generated electrical spikes in order to connect and communicate with other neurons, and that the dendrites were just passive conduits of these pulses. However, according to a study published in the latest edition of the journal Science, this model of how neurons function may not be entirely accurate. The study on lab rats, carried out by a team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), reveals that dendrites are electrically active in animals that are moving around freely and that these structures generate nearly 10 times more spikes than somas.

We often say that customer success should be part of an organization's DNA. But, what if it was also in the instruments of our daily lives--our phones, computers, and devices? Machine learning--applications that not only respond to inputs without the help of human intervention, but learn, or adapt, from each interaction--is transforming the ways that we communicate with customers, thus allowing us to know customers better and anticipate their needs before even they are aware of those needs. A Gartner report found that 89% of organizations expect that customer experience will be a top priority for maintaining a competitive advantage from 2016 into the foreseeable future. A key aspect of machine learning is already changing the way we do business.

Thank you for subscribing to the monthly THINK Marketing newsletter. Next-generation cognitive computing is redefining how we live and work as more businesses are using all the data available to them to improve performance and customer service, and drive innovation and revenue. Today's business challenges have never been more complex, and the critical insights that can help address these challenges are often buried in an avalanche of data. Previously, these insights were beyond the capabilities of conventional computing solutions – programmable systems based on mathematical principles that harken back to the 1940s. But IBM Watson has changed the game.

Most training and learning systems today follow the same basic model developed a century and a half ago when the British pioneered industrial-scale education to produce a literate working class. With one teacher and a large group of students, instructors must focus on the ones in the middle. While the weakest in the class may drop out, the most talented are slowed down and forced to be average. Machine learning could change all that. Training systems today can capture individual performance characteristics and, with the help of data analytics, identify strengths and weaknesses so training can be tailored on the fly to match the specific needs and requirements of each individual student.