HONG KONG: McDonald's Corp has agreed to sell the bulk of its China and Hong Kong business to state-backed conglomerate CITIC Ltd and Carlyle Group LP for up to $2.1 billion (Dh7.71 billion), seeking to expand rapidly without using much of its own capital. Zurich The Swiss National Bank expects a 2016 full-year profit of 24 billion francs (Dh86.68 billion; $23.6 billion), enabling it to shell out money to the federal government and municipalities. Foreign-currency holdings contributed more than 19 billion francs, and valuation gains on its gold holdings added 3.9 billion francs, the central bank said on Monday, citing an initial estimate. Last year's result is set to be the second-best in the Read More ... Tags: Corporate Enterprises Finance Sectors Banks Profits Financial institutions German automaker Volkswagen saw sales jump 16 percent in December for its namesake brand, propelled by a big increase in China, Volkswagen's biggest market. Global sales reported Monday rose to 567,900 from 487,700 despite the damage to the company's reputation from its scandal over cars rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests.

A mattress might be the last thing you'd dream of applying machine learning to, but your bed is where you spend a third of your life. And if it can help you sleep better, that could improve the hours of the day when you're not sleeping, as well. Now, there's a bed that promises to do some of the thinking for us to streamline our sleep time. At CES 2017, as I plopped myself down on the Sleep Number 360 smart bed, I wanted to find out: Can AI really us sleep better? Sure, it was conformable, and, yes, I looked ridiculous, but it's all for science.

Indian startup Boltt is claiming to have a fitness tracking system so complete that it'll force you to ditch your Fitbit, Jawbone or Moov system - all through the power of artificial intelligence (AI). The new company is offering a smart show, stride sensor and fitness band that it says will give 24-hour insights into your health and activity - and doing so all for $150 (around £120 / AU$200). Yes, you read that right: a pair of'high performance functional sports shoes', and embedded stride sensor packed with the latest accelerometers and a fitness band that can monitor sleep, automatically detect activity and monitor your heart rate. It's a lofty goal, but the brand has worked with Garmin to improve the stride-tracking accuracy and even offers payment systems through embedded payment technology (essentially, NFC in the band). We've seen all that before, but the really exciting prospect here is'B', Boltt's AI chat-bot system that will interact with you daily as a 24-7 coach to give insights into nutrition, sleep and training.

Perhaps the coolest thing about IBM's 9th "Five Innovations that will Help Change our Lives within Five Years" predictions is that none of them sound like science fiction. "With advances in artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, we aim to invent a new generation of scientific instruments that will make the complex invisible systems in our world today visible over the next five years," said Dario Gil, vice president of science & solutions at IBM Research in a statement. More on Network World: IBM says soon you won't need passwords; mind reading will be routine; the so-called digital divide will cease to exist and junk mail will become important Among the five areas IBM sees as being key in the next five years include artificial intelligence, hyperimaging and small sensors. In five years, what we say and write will be used as indicators of our mental health and physical wellbeing. Patterns in our speech and writing analyzed by new cognitive systems will provide tell-tale signs of early-stage mental and neurological diseases that can help doctors and patients better predict, monitor and track these diseases.

Social robots are making their entrance at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. AvatarMind today unveiled its iPal Companion Robot, which is designed as an educational and entertaining friend for children and elderly people. AvatarMind is showing off the robot in a booth at the Family and Technology Marketplace at the Sands Expo during CES 2017. The robot can sing, dance, navigate a maze, and interact with people. The iPal is intended to serve as a learning and safety companion for children.

Yesterday, Big Blue released its "IBM 5 in 5," an annual list of innovations that the company predicted will have major impacts on the way we live over the next five years. "With advances in artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, we aim to invent a new generation of scientific instruments that will make the complex invisible systems in our world today visible over the next five years," said Dario Gil, vice president of science and solutions at IBM Research, in a statement. One of the developments identified in the list is the use of deep learning machine intelligence to help clinicians predict and monitor brain and mental health disorders such as psychosis, schizophrenia, mania and depression. The company said its scientists are currently using transcripts and audio recordings of psychiatric interviews to find speech patterns that can indicate such disorders. In addition to giving health professionals unprecedented access to the human mind, artificial intelligence will also play a role in providing a larger window into the world around us.

Artificial intelligence has been making its way into sports wearables thanks to PIQ Sport Intelligence. Now it has teamed with Everlast, the world leader in boxing gear, to bring its technology to boxing. Together, the two companies will launch an app and the world's first artificial intelligence wearable device designed for boxers. Just like other PIQ devices, it will allow athletes to analyze and implement the optimal form in real time. More: Track your ski runs easily with PIQ's new app and multisport sensor Using the PIQ ROBOT device, boxers can tap into the hive mind of thousands of boxers and millions of motions.

New KDnuggets Cartoon examines what can happen when you combine a Self-Driving Car and Machine Learning technology such as Recommendations ... Car: "No, I will not take you to A-1 Steakhouse. I recommend you go to the gym first, and then to V8 vegetarian restaurant" This cartoon was ably drawn by Jon Carter. Here is KDnuggets Big Data, Data Mining, and Data Science Cartoon page Recent KDnuggets Cartoons: Cartoon: Thanksgiving, Big Data, and Turkey Data Science. Cartoon: Data Scientist - the sexiest job of the 21st century until ... Cartoon: Facebook data science experiments and Cats Cartoon: It all started with the iPhone answering my email Cartoon: Where humans are still ahead of Deep Learning Cartoon: A solution for Data Scientists allergies caused by Big Data Cartoon: Data Scientist - the sexiest job of the 21st century until ... Cartoon: Facebook data science experiments and Cats Cartoon: It all started with the iPhone answering my email Cartoon: Where humans are still ahead of Deep Learning Cartoon: A solution for Data Scientists allergies caused by Big Data

More than six billion dollars: That's how much health care providers and consumers will be spending every year on artificial intelligence tools by 2021--a tenfold increase from today--according to a new report from research firm Frost & Sullivan. AI will be everywhere--from diagnosing cancer to providing weight-loss coaching, says Venkat Rajan, who has the great title of global director for the company's Visionary Healthcare Program. "Prior to 2015, most of what was happening was sort of academic: pilot programs, exploratory, proof of concept-type stuff," he says. AI's ability to sort through scads of information, and remember everything it has ever seen, could enable a digital (and congenial) version of Dr. House, the brilliant diagnostician from the eponymous TV show, says Rajan. "At first, it's a complete mystery, it could be one of ten different things," he says, about the process in the show, and real life, called differential diagnosis. "And then he's able to sort through various issues, you know, illuminate certain factors on why it's not one of these other conditions, and he's able to pull something from memory that figures out ultimately what it is, and they can provide the appropriate treatment." Robots won't steal doctors' jobs, says Rajan, but they will spare overworked docs some of the dangerous fatigue that can lead to mistakes.

Lynx, a small white humanoid, gave yoga instructions as it slid its chunky leg back for the pose. A bright blue light flashed across the side of its round head to indicate activity. After a few more leg movements, it came back into standing position when Alexa's voice boomed: "Your next exercise is waist stretching." Ubtech Robotics, the Chinese company that launched the Alpha robot series and JIMU coding bots for kids, has partnered with Amazon to bring Alexa's voice-recognition capabilities to their latest robot called Lynx. Starting in Spring this year, you will be able to interact with the robot as if it were your personal assistant.