Essential, the consumer electronics startup from Google Android creator Andy Rubin, is undergoing some executive turnover. This seems to be even more confirmation that the Essential Phone release date is still murky. Brian Wallace, vice president of marketing at Essential, left the company last week, according to Business Insider. Wallace has taken on a role at i.am. Andy Fouché, an advisor who also worked as Essential's head of communications, left the company last month, according to Business Insider.

USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham thinks the new gesture controlled DJI Spark drone is the wave of the future in computing. Today, we move to the hands. In one of the most jaw-dropping tech demos of the year, drone manufacturer DJI this week showed off a new quadcopter that can be flown with hand gestures. Move your palm left to fly that way, extend your hand to land it. As someone who spends a lot of time flying drones and juggling with video-game like controllers to operate them, this is the holy grail. No more worries about connections and keeping my head down to operate--just wave my hands in the air and let the drone soar.

Elon Musk sleeps only 6 hours a day. He runs Tesla, which builds automobiles and makes batteries. He also runs SpaceX, which is about to break all the rules of space travel by using a recycled rocket to lift a satellite into space. He is the person who first envisioned the Hyperloop. He wants to build space colonies on Mars so when human beings destroy the earth, a few lucky (and extremely wealthy) souls will have a life boat available.

When Vic Gundotra left Google in 2014, he thought he might retire, forever. But a lingering interest in wearable technology and machine learning led him to AliveCor, which lets users monitor their heart health from their smartphones. Diving back into the fray of tech, Gundotra is now convinced that the potential of wearables and machine learning is just starting to be unlocked. AliveCor's portable EKG sensor, Kardia, alerts users if their heartbeats are irregular -- and now, the Mayo Clinic, an AliveCor investor, has begun identifying other signals in an EKG reading that a human might miss. "No human doctor can look at your EKG and tell you with a high degree of accuracy what your potassium level is," Gundotra said.

At 2016's Code Conference, Bill Gates, when asked about AIs, said that "it is the most exciting thing going on right now". He's not the only one who feels that way. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, had the same sentiments. Pichai pointed out, that Google had already been using algorithms to improve its search functions long ago. What is noteworthy, is the fact the 1 out of 5 searches that happen now, is done by voice.

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning were the big themes at last week's Code Conference, just like most of the similar conferences I've attended this year. It's a topic on everyone's mind, driven by huge advances in hardware, such as GPUs, FPGAs and custom-built ASICs; software, such as deep learning neural nets; and applications such as natural language processing, image recognition, and conversational assistants. These themes were echoed by just about all of the speakers at the show, with a number commenting on the rapid advances in the field. Asked about AI in part of a broader conversation, Bill Gates said it is the big dream for anybody who has ever been involved in computer science. "It's the most exciting thing going on right now," he said.

Elon Musk has been floating some very forward facing, futurist tech ideas lately such as how we'll make government on Mars, why we're all living in a simulation like The Matrix, and how he plans to launch a SpaceX rocket at the unprecedented rate of once every two weeks. But his thoughts on something called "neural lace" have to be the most far out. "Creating a neural lace is the thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines," Musk tweeted late Friday night, which followed statements made earlier in the week on the topic at Recode's Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. So what is Musk saying when he talks about a neural lace? In the most basic sense, it's a mesh of electronic fibers that you would place on your head to improve human performance.

As far back as I can remember, artificial intelligence (AI) was always going to be the next big thing to revolutionize the way we live and work. Funny thing is, that's still true. And yet, at this week's Code Conference, AI was the hot subject for CEOs of Amazon, Google and IBM. Which begs the question, is AI finally real, or is it destined to remain the perpetual technology of the future? I'll never forget how cool it was to watch the crew of Discovery One engage in witty dialog with the Hal 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Some of the most powerful people in the world have awfully bold predictions about the future of mankind. At this week's Code Conference, the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hit audiences with some pretty crazy thoughts. Billionaires being held accountable for their actions? Less of a prediction and more of a call-out, Gawker CEO Nick Denton had a particular target in mind when he made comments that Silicon Valley billionaires are a thousand times more powerful, and under a fraction of the scrutiny and regulation, than Congressmen. Denton's recent legal strife, which was partly the work of venture capitalist Peter Thiel, might one day be seen as the suit heard round the world.

When he's not building electric cars or helping to create the idea for a high-speed transit system, Elon Musk really wants citizens of Earth to go to Mars. During a wide-ranging interview at The Code Conference, the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX discussed everything from life to Mars to the possibility that life is just an elaborate computer simulation. This wouldn't be the first time Musk has shared some wildly ambitious ideas and thoughts. Let's break down the three most interesting things Musk shared during his Code talk: Musk predicts the first humans will travel to Mars eight years from now, arriving on the red planet by 2025. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, with a goal of "enabling people to live on other planets," according to a description on the space tech company's website. In April, SpaceX announced the first unmanned mission to Mars would launch in two years using the company's Falcon Heavy rocket.