Drones can do some incredible acrobatics. If you were somehow a passenger on that drone and weren't a trained fighter pilot (and maybe even if you were), you'd pass out and very likely die. Drones don't do a lot of passenger carrying at the moment, which is probably for the best, but we've seen enough crazy ideas to suggest that using autonomous drones instead of autonomous cars to transport humans is probably going to be a reality within a handful of decades.* At the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, a group of researchers led by Dario Floreano is already worrying about how we're going to handle personal drone flights, especially in situations where a lot of drones are trying to go in a lot of different directions at the same time. They've come up with an algorithm that allows drones to avoid collisions with each other while also not turning humans into mounds of quivering goo.

Microsoft's Cortana virtual assistant is getting a lot smarter. On Tuesday, the company announced a set of developer tools aimed at bringing it into the internet of things, and adding support for developers to build new functionality for it. The makers of IoT devices like speakers and cars will be able to use a Microsoft software development kit to integrate Cortana into their products. In addition, developers will be able to build custom integrations that add capabilities to Microsoft's virtual assistant. Microsoft is also launching a new service designed to help users simplify the process of scheduling meetings.

This is a great interview with Abhik Banerjee. Abhik is a Staff Data Scientist at Kohl's Technology (at the Kohl's departmental stores) where he leads a team on machine learning and data mining projects. He also provides strategic direction around these areas to senior executives at Kohl's. Abhik has an interesting role because he has to marry online and physical store analytics to provide insights to Kohl's. Abhik received his MS in computer science from the University of Cincinnati in 2012. Welcome to another episode of Flyover Labs. Today we are lucky enough to have Abhik Banerjee with us. And Abhik is a Staff Data Scientist at Kohl's Department Stores where he works on machine learning and data mining projects.

If you're a fan of the X-Men comics series, you're familiar with Cerebro, a fictional device that taps into the brain waves of humans and has the ability to identify mutants by an individual's thoughts and experiences. Wouldn't it be terrifying if Cerebro were real? If we could indulge in mind reading at a global scale? While we haven't discovered that capability -- neural quantum entanglement anyone? The deepest insights of a quarter of humanity are available for analysis.

RETAIL FORECAST: U.S. consumers will spend $632 billion online by 2020 Nordstrom launched its first chatbot on the Facebook Messenger and Kik messaging services to help holiday shoppers find gift items, Geek Wire reports. The chatbot helps users select gift items by asking them a series of questions about who they are shopping for. It then chooses gifts from Nordstrom's online store that match their answers. Users can also type in a request for gift ideas that are forwarded to Nordstrom customer service representatives who respond with customized gift ideas based on the request. The chatbot will available to consumers up until December 24, and was developed in partnership with Snaps, a New York-based startup that helps brands develop their own chatbots.

Microsoft is surging forward with its commitment to artificial intelligence (AI), formally announcing its latest chatbot, Zo. In a post outlining its commitment to AI, Microsoft introduced Zo as the next chapter in the evolution of its attempts to create a social chatbot. Zo is built on the back of the same technology that powers Microsoft's other chatbots in China and Japan, Xiaoice and Rinna. Zo is meant to learn from her interactions with humans, and is able to respond to conversations with her own personality. In a nod to an awkward turn of events involving Microsoft's last attempt at a social chatbot, Tay, the company notes that Zo has guards in place to prevent exploitation.

'Tis the season for the public relations exercise known as "here's what we think (or hope) will happen in the tech sector next year," flooding my inbox with predictions for 2017. No one knows what will happen tomorrow, let alone over the next 12 months, but the exercise yields interesting insights into what's hot (and what's not) in technology today. Artificial intelligence (and machine/deep learning) is the hottest trend, eclipsing, but building on, the accumulated hype for the previous "new big thing," big data. The new catalyst for the data explosion is the Internet of Things, bringing with it new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The rapid fluctuations in the relative temperature of these trends also create new dislocations and opportunities in the tech job market.

If you have been as glued as we are in the Mysoft office to the new series of Channel 4's'Humans' then you will be fascinated by the idea of this'Artificial Intelligence' future that it presents. The concept of code going to this next level, where it is able to write and develop itself into thoughts, feelings and actions, feels like science fiction but has some eerie roots in reality. Will a similar plethora of new AI technology soon become main stream? And what could it mean for the advancement of ERP and Sage X3 solutions? We are already seeing a wave of products that use AI technology to enhance the user experience.

Our Chief Scientist Louis Monier gives you the straight dope on AI. Artificial Intelligence, always a very polarizing subject, is back on top of the news. Unless you have been on a deep space mission for the past year, you have been exposed to opinions ranging from "this will change everything for the better" to "this will spell our doom". But what are the facts? Why is it seeing a resurgence now?

What if I told you to tie your shoes, but you had no laces? Or to cook dinner, but you had no pots or pans. There are certain tools we need to succeed, which we often don't have access to or are held back by a gatekeeper. Dozens of AI / Machine Learning startups experience this same problem because they don't have enough data to properly train their AI algorithm. Startups that aim to eliminate the error involved in judging cancerous tumors.