IBM captured our imaginations when it unveiled Watson, the artificial intelligence computer capable of playing--and winning--the "Jeopardy" game show. Since then, Big Blue has been introducing Watson's analytics and learning capabilities across various industries, including health care and information security. Cognitive security technology such as Watson for Cybersecurity can change how information security professionals defend against attacks by helping them digest vast amounts of data. IBM Security is currently in the middle of a year-long research project working with eight universities to help train Watson to tackle cybercrime. Watson has to learn the "language of cybersecurity" to understand what a threat is, what it does, and what indicators are related.

IBM's Watson IoT is aimed at bringing together artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as machine learning, deep learning, machine reasoning, natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision and applying them to industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The platform collects data, analyzes it, and puts the data into a business context to solve specific problems that include asset performance, facility management, operations, product development, health and safety, and predictive maintenance, among others. One of the big differentiators for Watson IoT is the use of IBM's Blockchain platform for specific IoT applications, where IoT devices can send data to private blockchain ledgers that can be used for shared transactions with tamper-proof security. Rather than collecting, storing, and managing all of your IoT data centrally, the blockchain's distributed replication allows businesses to access and supply IoT data in a decentralized fashion. Centralized silos can be expensive and difficult to manage, especially when applied to a data-hungry and data-sensitive area like IoT. Therefore, a decentralized, blockchain-based approach is beneficial for IoT.

Official IBM Watson Analytics Twitter account managed by @HollyNielsen, @CatNickery & @ForsythMAlexand.

Mark 2016 as the year that researchers applied artificial intelligence (AI) to the challenges of cybersecurity. If machines can steer our cars and predict our shopping habits, then why not watch over our networks and servers too? IBM in May 2016 announced Watson for Cyber Security, in which the IT behemoth began teaching its pattern-recognition supercomputer to learn the difference between safe and risky data. That could ease the burden on overworked cybersecurity professionals, IBM hopes. Several universities involved with that project began having students train the system within the past several weeks, explained IBM Watson's Jeb Linton, chief security architect.

Last week I attended IBM (IBM) World of Watson as both a speaker and an attendee, and today as I sit in my neighborhood Starbucks (SBUX) thinking about everything, all I can say is WOW! This was one of the most interesting, inspiring and amazing events I have ever attended. And we are still in the very early stages of Watson, Cognitive and AI. I invite you to follow me as I learn more and write more about the wonderful world of Watson, all the companies that work with it and how it will change our industries, our businesses and our lives. As a wireless analyst and columnist, I come at this world of Watson from the wireless, telecom, internet and television angle.

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Summary: Next time you bring up Artificial Intelligence and your non-data scientist friends all say "Watson" here's some perspective you can offer. Their understanding of AI and Watson is very likely to be inaccurate. Here's what you need to know to set them straight. When conversation with my non-data scientist friends turns to AI it's almost inevitable that at least one will remark on the wonders of Watson. To many of the uninformed, Watson is synonymous with AI and clearly it's already here.

When conversation with my non-data scientist friends turns to AI it's almost inevitable that at least one will remark on the wonders of Watson. To many of the uninformed, Watson is synonymous with AI and clearly it's already here. So without getting so technical that their eyes glaze over, and that can happen pretty fast, here's a little bit of explanation you can use if you're caught in the same circumstance. The Watson that lives in the imagination of so many folks is the Watson that won the widely televised contest on Jeopardy in 2011. Fewer people are aware that the month following its televised debut, Watson went to Washington and played an untelevised set of matches against members of the House of Representatives where it also won.

Using that information, water authorities or companies can target areas or homes where people are wasting water, and send specialized educational materials to let people know how they can cut down on water waste. Some of OmniEarth's customers have already started seeing results, with some reporting a 15 percent reduction in water use, just by using the conservation messages. Many people, Fentzke said, may not even realize that they're wasting water. There could be bad meters, leaks, or bad settings on automatic sprinkling systems that are contributing to the problem. "We've found it to be very effective in targeting people who may not even know that they're inefficient," Fentzke said.