The new, hippest technology product comes in innovative packaging, is very expensive and comes with an advertising campaign that boasts of how its obsessive engineering makes it the best in the world. Casper is the company at the forefront of a technology (and marketing) revolution that's seeing perhaps one of the most domestic and boring of products – bedding – become this year's must-have tech product. And that's entirely on purpose: the company is being advertised on tech podcasts, and promotes its mattresses with the kind of fun marketing that would usually be reserved for a phone or a computer. It hasn't come easily, and it hasn't been as much of a trick as it might seem. Instead, the company says that it really is a tech company – and that it has the product to prove it.

AI for short -- has already changed the way businesses operate. Its role in streamlining manufacturing and production is well-known. But AI is also transforming the way companies interact with customers. That's good news since the ability to consistently deliver an excellent customer experience is critical for companies in today's hyper-competitive economy. There are some incredibly exciting developments on the horizon as the IoT expands and AI tools become more advanced.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is typically diagnosed in early childhood, but genetic detection of this brain disorder could mean more timely interventions that improve life for the patient and their carers. A new study suggests that machine learning algorithms might be used to analyze genetic data that points to an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis before symptoms become obvious. Fuad Alkoot of PAAET in Kuwait, and Abdullah Alqallaf of Kuwait University, Kuwait, explain that unlike other conditions, such as cancer, little heed has been taken to the possibility of early genetic detection of autism. This is despite the fact that an early diagnosis could be very useful to parents and carers. The team has now developed a four-stage computerized neural network system for testing simplified genetic data.

It's been more than a decade now since I wrote the first edition of "David's guide to surviving Thanksgiving" as an article for my web site. It deals with the mix of dark meat turkey, Jedi family management skills, and a little tech. It was one of my most popular articles ever. A few years later, I updated it and ran a version of it on CNN.com, and it was again quite popular. Since then, I've evolved and refined the techniques each year and published it here on ZDNet. We normally don't run previously-published content (even in earlier, beta form), but this is an evolving work of such societal importance that it can transform lives and transcend barriers amongst eaters and cooks, mothers and sons, and those who love dark meat and those other people. This year, I talk about the power of giving thanks and why avoiding politics at the turkey table can keep food off the walls.

You won't be surprised to learn that blockchain, still five to ten years from mainstream adoption, nears the peak of the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2016. With its ability to store multiple bank transactions in one centralized ledger, accessible by all parties and regulated by a decentralized network, blockchain will have a transformational impact on business. While bitcoin steals the show as the only proven blockchain, the term blockchain has grown to encapsulate nearly two dozen distributed-ledger products with more than two dozen offerings in the market, thus the hype. Right now, blockchain is gaining traction because it holds the promise to transform industry operating models. It is also one example of an enabling technology of the platform revolution trend, one of the three trends along with transparently immersive experiences and perceptual smart machine age highlighted in the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2016.

Techies are tackling food waste with artificial intelligence through an app that learns the fruit and veg storage habits of it users. The EatBy kitchen management and grocery list app automatically suggests how long fruit, veg and frozen items will stay fresh for and then reminds you to use them up before they go off. The clever bit, according to the developers, is that the app learns the storage habits of individual users. "Not everyone's kitchen is the same, and different food storage environments effect shelf life," said EatBy App's co-founder Steffan Lewis. "EatBy App addresses this problem by learning as it's used over time." He added: "Artificial Intelligence does not need to be scary.

Robots are taking over your job…and there's nothing you can do. By Amro Zakaria Abdu Human advancement throughout history can largely be credited to our ability to invent machines that increase our productivity and efficiency. Those tools allowed us to overcome the physical limitations of the human body and that of the animals we used, and as a result, territories were conquered, societies reshaped, and the dream of economic prosperity became a reality for millions. At the turn of the 19th century, the U.S. was a nation of farmers--39 percent of the population earned their livelihood through farming. The tractor was then introduced, resulting in profound changes such as the total replacement of work animals, consolidation of farms as seen in the increase in the average farm size from 60 to 200 hectares by the 1940's. Furthermore, the percentage of the population working in farming dropped to under 2 percent by the end of the century.

Computer algorithms can interpret echocardiographic images and distinguish between two similar heart conditions affecting young athletes, according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai tested three different machine-learning algorithms for their effectiveness in the discrimination of physiological versus pathological hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Pathological hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), in which a portion of the myocardium enlarges, leading to impaired heart function, is the leading cause of sudden death in young athletes. Distinguishing between it and physiological hypertrophy (heart enlargement often due to exercise) generally requires testing for the two conditions with interpretation by a highly trained cardiologist, according to an announcement. "This demonstrates how machine-learning models and other smart interpretation systems could help to efficiently analyze and process large volumes of cardiac ultrasound data, and with the growth of telemedicine, it could enable cardiac diagnoses even in the most resource-burdened areas," said study author Joel Dudley, Ph.D.

Spotify is looking to make people better, as well as more entertained. The company has launched a new partnership with Headspace, an app meant to help people live "healthier and happier lives". In the new deal, people will be able to suscribe to both of the services for a reduced price. Together, the two apps will sell for £14.99 -- or roughly the same price in other currencies -- rather than the £10 or so that each of them costs. A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar.

The modest eyeless roundworm appears to have the remarkable superhero-like ability to taste light. A new type of cell has been discovered in the taste receptors of these creatures which is about 50 times more efficient at capturing light than the human eye. Scientists say that the unusual characteristics of the receptor could be used in a range of applications, including creating more effective sunscreens. It might sound like a power only superheroes could have, but the modest eyeless roundworm has the ability to taste light. Animal photoreceptors usually have two components – a base protein, and a light-absorbing chromophore.