If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads.

IBM is currently attempting to merge artificial intelligence and the blockchain into a single, powerful prototype. With blockchain tech's promise of near-frictionless value exchange and artificial intelligence's ability to accelerate the analysis of massive amounts of data, the joining of the two could mark the beginning of an entirely new paradigm. Over the past three months, IBM's chief architect in charge of Internet of Things security Tim Hahn has focused specifically on introducing the blockchain to his company's artificially intelligent computer named Watson. "What we're doing with blockchain and devices is enabling the information those devices supply to effect the blockchain…You begin to approach the kind of things we see in movies." Potential applications include using distributed ledgers to let devices perform tasks like running self-diagnoses at set times and more advanced services that may someday let regulators virtually go back in time to the point where a device failed and "to identify exactly what went wrong," Hahn said.

IBM is currently attempting to merge artificial intelligence and the blockchain into a single, powerful prototype. With blockchain tech's promise of near-frictionless value exchange and artificial intelligence's ability to accelerate the analysis of massive amounts of data, the joining of the two could mark the beginning of an entirely new paradigm. Over the past three months, IBM's chief architect in charge of Internet of Things security Tim Hahn has focused specifically on introducing the blockchain to his company's artificially intelligent computer named Watson. "What we're doing with blockchain and devices is enabling the information those devices supply to effect the blockchain…You begin to approach the kind of things we see in movies." Potential applications include using distributed ledgers to perform tasks like running self-diagnoses at set times to more advanced services that may someday let regulators virtually go back in time to the point where a device failed and "to identify exactly what went wrong," Hahn said.

We opened Watson to the world a few years ago so we could put our cognitive technology directly in the hands of developers across every industry and geography. We did this by creating an AI platform that's based on advanced science yet simple for developers to adopt, and is designed to scale. In just a short time, more than 80,000 developers are already innovating on the Watson platform, building with our APIs and creating novel solutions for healthcare, finance, legal, sports and more. In some cases, developers are solving some of society's greatest challenges, in others they're tackling smaller initiatives to gain better insights from data. We're constantly motivated and inspired by what they're creating.

This also marks the first year the Masters app is available on wearables like the Apple Watch. As the sport of golf has struggled in recent years to keep growing the game's popularity among young people, many have seen new technology (such as GoPro cameras on the course) as one potential salve. At the same time, some of the most prominent figures in golf have implied they don't want to see the game change to expand to new audiences. Presidential candidate Donald Trump, who owns 18 courses, is of that camp; Tom Watson is not.

We curated some use cases of companies that have integrated cognitive into their solutions. If you want to know more about any these use cases and receive tips from these companies, check out their webinars. VineSleuth's Wine4.Me In-Store Wine Advisor takes the guesswork out of buying wine by empowering shoppers and increasing sales. Shoppers tell the application what they want in a wine (flavor profile, food pairing, price requirements and more) and Watson returns a custom curated, unbiased wine list and suggests food pairings for each shopper. How it works: VineSleuth uses Natural Language Classifier and Speech to text APIs to allow consumers to easily ask a question into the application, either through voice or text.

Advances in cognitive computing herald a disruptive new era in business intelligence and customer engagement, opening the door to a more intuitive computing experience. A recent survey of top CEOs showed that half of those questioned believe it will revolutionise their business. But what does it all mean and how can today's businesses stay ahead of the curve? IBM Watson is at the forefront of the cognitive revolution and is already in use today. We spoke to Duncan Anderson, European CTO for Watson at IBM to find out more about the machine learning revolution and how businesses of all sizes can harness it's power.

Lucasfilm screencapWho knew Han was so self-conscious? One of IBM Watson's many talents is analyzing personality traits by looking at written text. The supercomputer assesses traits based on the popular Big Five test, which rates subjects for extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. It can also identify different tones such as fear, joy, confidence, and openness. These skills have been used to do everything from assist customer service agents in analyzing how their phone calls went to providing dating tips.

Shares of International Business Machines (IBM) are up 3.50, or 2.4%, at 151.91, after Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty this morning reiterated an Overweight rating on the shares, and jacked her price target to 168 from 140, while she now thinks the most bullish scenario for the company could see the stock soar to 195. A lot of that depends on sentiment turning among skeptical investors, she notes: That upside scenario to 195 is predicated on the prospect that "investors begin to recognize IBM's competitive lead in Strategic Imperatives, particularly Watson." The main contention Huberty makes is that Watson, the company's artificial intelligence service, is going to double the number of customers it has this year, and that "after aggressive hiring and an estimated 5B in data acquisitions over just the past two quarters, IBM is beginning to show a path toward revenue monetization in Watson." Huberty doesn't project any financials for Watson, but she has been keeping a list of the customers that have signed up for the service, names such as Japan's SoftBank (9984JP) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which give her confidence the company can make real money off of many sectors of the economy such as healthcare: From a top-down perspective, we see Watson as similar (though even more disruptive) to ERP which initially helped address human inefficiencies in business much like Watson. ERP has grown into a 150B market including software, hardware, and services and we see that as a conservative estimate for cognitive computing with IBM Watson the likely share leader.

Solutions architects are the experts on our team at understanding and implementing Watson technology. They have developed this expertise by providing technical support to our partners through multiple mediums. Through their work, they have a deep understanding and point of view about the Watson APIs, but also the cognitive landscape at large. I interviewed solutions architect, Chris Ackerson on his thoughts on Watson and cognitive computing, as well as his specific tips and resources. Where do you see the Watson APIs growing in 2016 and beyond?