I was quite surprised to read the other day a statement by a former FBI Chief. He said: "We're not going to solve it (cyber security), folks, not in our lifetime, but we have to constantly manage it." He went on to say that we owe it to future generations to manage cyber security effectively or leave a legacy that will make cyber security far easier to manage in the future. At best we will be locked into an arms race where each side ups their game to get ahead of the other. At the moment the bad guys are way ahead of us and I agree that how we manage cyber security effectively is the best way forward for now and in the future.

Microsoft's Cortana takes its name from an AI character in the Halo video game series. These technologies all have one thing in common - they are digital servants aimed at a mass-market audience that feature a "female" voice or persona. Am I the only one that thinks that this more than a little creepy? No doubt you've also noticed that I've been putting the word "female" inside quotes, and that's very deliberate on my part. Despite how these technology solutions are packages to look, sound, or in the case of Tay and Xiaoice, behave, these digital characters are not female.