Every year there is a new hot topic in tech. The difference between now and the past is that everything is becoming interconnected at a faster rate. We are entering an extremely critical time in history where society will change dramatically – how we work, live and play. Science fiction is morphing into reality. Flying cars exist, cars that drive themselves are on the road, and artificial intelligence that automates our lives is here.

It was just over a year and a half ago that the consumer technology and auto aficionado communities became jointly engulfed in a tizzy over a single rumor: Apple was going into the car manufacturing business. If you've read this far, you probably already know the punchline: Apple is getting out of the car manufacturing business. More precisely, according to Bloomberg, it appears it was never actually in the car manufacturing business. Hundreds of members of Apple's once 1,000-strong car team, dubbed Project Titan, are gone. The program has been redirected at building self-driving programs that can be sold to existing carmakers as an Apple add-on, the way Pullman sleeper cars were sold to railroads more than 100 years ago as a branded luxury enhancement to transcontinental train travel.

Ben Dickson is a software engineer and the founder of TechTalks. Computers and mobile devices running rich operating systems have a plethora of security solutions and encryption protocols that can protect them against the multitude of threats they face as soon as they become connected to the Internet. Such is not the case with IoT. Of the billions of IoT devices presently in use, a considerable percentage are sporting low-end processing power and storage capacity and don't have the capability to become extended with security solutions. Yet they are connected to the Internet, nonetheless, which is an extremely hostile environment.

Vehicles and transportation systems must undergo major security overhaul before connected cars can enter our daily lives. Interest in the concept of connected cars is spreading fast, as recent estimates show by 2020 we will witness 150 million connected cars roaming our streets. Considering the potential impact this development will most definitely have at consumer and corporate levels, many people across the globe are paying close attention to this new state-of-the-art technology. Governments are also demonstrating their commitment to enhancing the development of the autonomous car industry, understanding the positive impact on their economy's future. However, their lies the risk of our governments, and the profit-seeking auto industry to push the limits and in the process neglect the essential security 1-2-3s in their drive for further innovation.

Google achieves that by pulling together the best features from Apple, Samsung and other phones and offering them at prices comparable to iPhones -- starting at about 650 for the regular, 5-inch model and 770 for the 5.5-inch "XL" edition. Both versions go on sale Thursday through Verizon, Best Buy and Google's online store. We tested the Pixel XL model; the regular version has identical features except for its smaller display and battery -- still enough for 13 hours of Internet use, according to Google. With either, you get an excellent camera and a strong voice assistant that promises to get smarter. The Pixel isn't quite an iPhone replacement, as Google wants you to believe; hardware is just part of what makes an iPhone an iPhone.

This blog post covers 50% of what I'm going to be talking about at this year's Museums Computer Group conference at the Wellcome Trust in London, held on the 19th of October. The follow-up post will go live on the 20th - you can sign up here to be notified. I'll examine each one - it'll be interesting to see what you think. Artificial intelligence, as a concept, has been around for a long time. From Hephaestus building the "fighting machines of the gods" to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, humans have thought about and created stories around our desire to replace the mighty gods with ourselves for several thousand years.

Last week, a group of aviation leaders met in Silicon Valley in a forum orchestrated by AAAE to chart a course for the innovation and improvement of airports. I had the honor of joining leaders from Google X, Lyft, and Google Tango on a panel discussion in front of an audience of innovative Airport Directors, CIOs, and government leaders. We talked about strategies for harnessing artificial intelligence to improve the airport today. If you want more background on what modern artificial intelligence means, read this piece by The Economist. When your plane lands, a human alone does not decide which gate it should go to, just like it's not a human that sets the price of your ticket. AI is already in the airport -- but why does it matter to you as a professional?

Last month, nuTonomy began allowing the Singapore public to take trips in its self-driving vehicles for free. The company's previously invitation-only trial was launched in August, beating ride-hailing service Uber, which began offering autonomous car rides in Pittsburgh weeks later.

Ask not what the government can do for Silicon Valley; ask what Silicon Valley can do for the government. He presented WIRED with six challenges he feels the tech industry needs to address--just a few earthshaking problems the country could use some help with, that's all. We reached out to six of the biggest names in the WIRED world, and we gave each of them a challenge from the president's list. Then we asked: To get this done, what's the industry's best play? Silicon Valley runs on stories. So does the economy in general. We create what we believe in. If we believe we can use technology to identify and solve big problems, then that's what we'll do.

The vision of the so-called internet of things -- giving all sorts of physical things a digital makeover -- has been years ahead of reality. But that gap is closing fast. Today, the range of things being computerized and connected to networks is stunning, from watches, appliances and clothing to cars, jet engines and factory equipment. Even roadways and farm fields are being upgraded with digital sensors. In the last two years, the number of internet-of-things devices in the world has surged nearly 70 percent to 6.4 billion, according to Gartner, a research firm.