Slate has relationships with various online retailers. If you buy something through our links, Slate may earn an affiliate commission. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. "Clap on, clap off, it's The Clapper!" Rarely has an advertising catchphrase been more inane or yet more precise about an object's function. The Clapper, marketed from the mid-1980s by the American businessman Joe Pedott, is a sound-activated switch that turns appliances on and off with a clap of the hands.

Maybe you would like to turn on the radio with a shimmy. Or shut off your desk lamp when you close your book at night. Neither of these is a particularly complicated interaction, yet each would involve developing all sorts of special hardware and software to make happen. Unless you have an Objectifier. Developed by Bjørn Karmann as a graduate project at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, the Objectifier is a camera that plugs into any electronic device.

"Open the pod bay doors please, Hal." "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." So said the sentient computer HAL at the controls of the Discovery One spacecraft to astronaut Dave Bowman in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick classic, "2001: A Space Oddyssey." While computer-versus-human conflict has been foreseen in many films since then, a leading artificial intelligence researcher is now making the case that we need to start planning for the day that artificial intelligence combined with lethal capabilities will pose a real challenge to humanity. Roman V. Yampolskiy, a respected artificial intelligence researcher and the director of the Cybersecurity Laboratory at the University of Louisville, is the author of a new study, "Taxonomy of Pathways to Dangerous AI," due to be presented for the first time Saturday at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference in Phoenix, Arizona. His paper is an attempt to spark a serious, intellectual discussion what controls humans can put on machines that don't exist yet.

I've been writing a tech predictions column for nearly 30 years now. I study our research and look for trends and information that give me hints of what I believe might be the hot topics, trends or issues that will impact the tech industry in the coming year. It's well known that Silicon Valley was generally not a big supporter of President-elect Donald Trump. However, technology executives are pragmatic, and they know they need to deal with his administration if they want to see their tech agenda advanced over the next four (or eight) years. Trump's recent meeting with leaders like Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and others allowed these leaders to share with Trump their concerns.

Artificial intelligence could cause the biggest affliction to the entire human civilization, with the potential to outstrip all the advantages it comes with if left unmanaged. This was the powerful statement made by renowned scientist Stephen Hawking on Wednesday at a new AI research center at Cambridge University in London, as reported by US News & World Report. Companies are now purely focused on developing artificial-based intelligence systems that can imitate human behavior. The potential benefits of AI are huge, and no one can predict what humans might achieve when their minds get amplified by AI, said Hawking. The tools can definitely help to undo some of the damages that have already occurred besides eradicating poverty and disease, he added.

Imagine receiving a phone call from your aging mother seeking your help because she has forgotten her banking password. The voice on the other end of the phone call just sounds deceptively like her. It is actually a computer-synthesized voice, a tour-de-force of artificial intelligence technology that has been crafted to make it possible for someone to masquerade via the telephone. Such a situation is still science fiction -- but just barely. It is also the future of crime.

Imagine receiving a phone call from your aging mother seeking your help because she has forgotten her banking password. The voice on the other end of the phone call just sounds deceptively like her. It is actually a computer-synthesized voice, a tour-de-force of artificial intelligence technology that has been crafted to make it possible for someone to masquerade via the telephone. Such a situation is still science fiction -- but just barely. It is also the future of crime.

Imagine receiving a phone call from your aging mother seeking your help because she has forgotten her banking password. The voice on the other end of the phone call just sounds deceptively like her. It is actually a computer-synthesized voice, a tour-de-force of artificial intelligence technology that has been crafted to make it possible for someone to masquerade via the telephone. Such a situation is still science fiction -- but just barely. It is also the future of crime.

WASHINGTON – The United States on Friday lifted the lid on one of the most controversial tactics of President Barack Obama's secretive counterterrorism campaign, detailing for the first time the number killed in airstrikes in countries like Pakistan and Libya. The White House also released an executive order outlining the steps that should be taken to reduce civilian casualties in America's battle against violent extremism. In a much-anticipated report, National Intelligence Director James Clapper provided fatality estimates for the 473 strikes between 2009 and 2015 that were conducted outside America's principal war zones in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. He said between 64 and 116 civilians were killed, and up to 2,581 combatants. Such attacks are typically conducted via drones, though manned warplanes and missiles have also been used.