Retail Real Estate is experiencing greater change than ever before. The impact of changes in real estate and the consumer retail world is comparable to tectonic plates shifting across the surface of the earth, producing an energy force that few know how to harness or predict the outcome. The way we conduct retail and real estate are rubbing, creating friction & forces, sometimes against, and sometimes in harmony with each other. Year-end 2016 came and went with little time to pause and reflect as Amazon Go made the headlines in the final few weeks and continues to do so. We asked some of the Movvo team to share their predictions for 2017, the trends & innovations that will have an impact on retail real estate as we know it. "2016 is going to be remembered as the year a retail platform came from nowhere to hit Apple & Google where it hurts. Alexa from Amazon is an intuitive AI interface already flexing its muscle and proving incredible popular. Alexa is already present in 4% of US households and dozens of Alexa-enabled devices launched at CES Las Vegas from fridges to cars. It's an early vision of the death of the keyboard as an interface & will have an impact on the way consumers shop".

When Intel unveiled its BigDL machine learning framework, it emphasized CPU rather than GPU power. With this move, Intel hopes to keep its present and future hardware competitive in the expanding world of machine learning. IBM also is interested in boosting the use of its CPUs for machine learning in PowerAI, though with a different strategy. It pairs IBM's Power8 processors with Nvidia GPUs, and IBM says it's a prime method for running common machine learning applications like Caffe, Torch, and Theano. Now IBM has added TensorFlow to the mix. Google's deep-leaning framework spans both CPUs and GPUs, and IBM is pushing PowerAI as the perfect hardware blend to make the most of TensorFlow.

Machine Learning techniques can help modern businesses run much more efficiently and in a more predictable way. In this article, I am going to scratch the surface of machine learning basics and explain what the key takeaways are for business owners. Before we get started, let's try to define what machine learning means. In general, machine learning is a technique, where behavior of an application or algorithm changes based on past iteration. So in other words, it's a way of machine self-education that mimics humans by learning from the past.

Scala is a highly scalable general purpose programming language that combines aspects of both object-oriented and functional programming. It's become increasingly important in the world of data science, rivaling more established languages like Java and Python. One of the main drivers of Scala's rise to prominence has been the explosive growth of Apache Spark (which is written in Scala), giving Scala a well-earned reputation as a powerful language for data processing, machine learning, and streaming analytics. What is Scala, and what makes it so well suited to handling big data? In this article we're going to look at what sets Scala apart as a programming language, why it's becoming increasingly important to data scientists, and what skills you should look for in a Scala developer.

Artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a University of Cincinnati doctoral graduate was recently assessed by subject-matter expert and retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee - who holds extensive aerial combat experience as an instructor and Air Battle Manager with considerable fighter aircraft expertise - in a high-fidelity air combat simulator. The artificial intelligence, dubbed ALPHA, was the victor in that simulated scenario, and according to Lee, is "the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI I've seen to date." Details on ALPHA - a significant breakthrough in the application of what's called genetic-fuzzy systems are published in the most-recent issue of the Journal of Defense Management, as this application is specifically designed for use with Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) in simulated air-combat missions for research purposes. The tools used to create ALPHA as well as the ALPHA project have been developed by Psibernetix, Inc., recently founded by UC College of Engineering and Applied Science 2015 doctoral graduate Nick Ernest, now president and CEO of the firm; as well as David Carroll, programming lead, Psibernetix, Inc.; with supporting technologies and research from Gene Lee; Kelly Cohen, UC aerospace professor; Tim Arnett, UC aerospace doctoral student; and Air Force Research Laboratory sponsors. ALPHA is currently viewed as a research tool for manned and unmanned teaming in a simulation environment.

No one doubts that artificial intelligence has unimaginable potential. Within the next couple of years, it will revolutionize every area of our life, including medicine. Although many have their fears and doubts about AI taking over the world, Stephen Hawking even said that the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. However, I am fully convinced if humanity prepares appropriately for the AI-age, artificial intelligence will prove to be the next successful area of cooperation between humans and machines. Concerning healthcare, artificial intelligence will redesign it completely – and for the better.

Five years ago, accounting professional Ryan Tietjens found himself in conversation with a handful of strangers who were also going through the motions in their respective corporate jobs. Tietjens and his new-found business partners realised they shared a common desire -- they wanted to build a business out of a new cloud platform that they knew would disrupt the accounting world. That business became Interactive Accounting, an Australia-based company that helps startups transition into scalable and connected beasts. Back when artificial intelligence (AI) was still thought of as a gimmick straight out of Hollywood, accounting was somewhat monotonous and unnecessarily time consuming, Tietjens said. "Accounting was really taking data from one source and putting it into a software platform, completing your financial accounts, exporting the data out, putting it in to another platform, and then moving on to the next job."

An independent report by a group of scientists commissioned by the US Defense Department argues that the increasingly impressive developments in the field of artificial intelligence are in no way a threat to humanity, as some prominent figures have recently suggested. The report's authors say that concern about the development of artificial intelligence comes from excessive media attention by journalists and science fiction writers about the progress of so-called Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), or Strong Artificial Intelligence, relating to attempts to create intelligence in machines that can successfully perform any intellectual task carried out by humans. This generalist approach to artificial intelligence, while obviously provocative and highly (if not excessively) visible, is presently restricted, limited in its progress, and the results of which are far from disturbing. The fears it generates in some quarters do not correspond to the facts: at present, the attention devoted to the development of machines capable of making long-term decisions or thinking and acting like human beings is scarce. On the other hand, the development of artificial intelligence, whether relevant to the DoD or in other areas, focuses more on enhancing the abilities of humans and freeing us from certain tasks, rather that substituting us as such.

One in three NHS trusts are using AI for patient services. Business and government are on a mission to deploy and succeed with AI in healthcare – IBM Watson has been drafted in the fight against cancer, while the NHS is trialling an AI app and working with the likes of Google's Deepmind to improve patient care. It is easy to see why the UK's NHS would be rushing to adopt AI, with the over-burdened, costly and complex infrastructure of the NHS a perfect candidate in which to reap the efficiency and productivity benefits of AI. Although archaic processes still reign supreme in the NHS, new data does suggest that AI is starting to infiltrate and make an impact in trusts around the UK. According to a Freedom of Information request filed by Nuance, one in three NHS trusts are using AI for patient services.