Onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee and getting them the tools and information they need to become a productive member of the team. Given that AI, and in particular its large subset, machine learning, will be joining your company soon, if it hasn't already, successfully onboarding AI will be critical to many firms. CES 2020 featured lots of smartwashed products: "smart" coffeemakers, washing machines, etc. Really? The nascent trend: figuring out how to build machine learning and AI into our daily lives without forcing average people to learn the AI equivalent of a command line interface. AI doesn't replace people - not yet anyway - it augments them.

As we enter new frontiers with the latest technology trends and enjoy the many positive impacts and benefits it can have on the way we work, play and live, we must always be mindful and prepare for possible negative impacts and potential misuse of the technology. The British, Chinese, and United States armed forces are testing how interconnected, cooperative drones could be used in military operations. Inspired by a swarm of insects working together, drone swarms could revolutionize future conflicts, whether it be by overwhelming enemy sensors with their numbers or to effectively cover a large area for search-and-rescue missions. The difference between swarms and how drones are used by the military today is that the swarm could organize itself based on the situation and through interactions with each other to accomplish a goal. While this technology is still in the experimentation stage, the reality of a swarm that is smart enough to coordinate its own behavior is moving closer to reality.

As we enter new frontiers with the latest technology trends and enjoy the many positive impacts and benefits it can have on the way we work, play and live, we must always be mindful and prepare for possible negative impacts and potential misuse of the technology. The British, Chinese, and United States armed forces are testing how interconnected, cooperative drones could be used in military operations. Inspired by a swarm of insects working together, drone swarms could revolutionize future conflicts, whether it be by overwhelming enemy sensors with their numbers or to effectively cover a large area for search-and-rescue missions. The difference between swarms and how drones are used by the military today is that the swarm could organize itself based on the situation and through interactions with each other to accomplish a goal. While this technology is still in the experimentation stage, the reality of a swarm that is smart enough to coordinate its own behavior is moving closer to reality.

Smart dust … it sounds like a magical substance sprinkled on dumber things. Which is kind of true. The concept has been making the hype-cycle rounds late this summer and setting off some industry buzz among megatrend watchers during an otherwise lackluster news and information cycle. But smart dust is not all that new a concept. Not long ago, it might have been known by the more mundane and geeky term micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS, which is common in the computer chip world.

Smart dust, 4D printing and brain-computer interfaces are some of the most attention-grabbing technologies featuring in Gartner's latest Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. The forecast reveals three major technology trends set to be the highest priority for organizations looking to compete in the digital world. Emerging technologies are revolutionizing the concepts of how platforms are defined and used, Gartner says. The report notes, "The shift from technical infrastructure to ecosystem-enabling platforms is laying the foundations for entirely new business models that are forming the bridge between humans and technology. Within these dynamic ecosystems, organizations must proactively understand and redefine their strategy to create platform-based business models, and to exploit internal and external algorithms in order to generate value."

Miniaturization is one of the most world-shaking trends of the last several decades. Computer chips now have features measured in billionths of a meter. Sensors that once weighed kilograms fit inside your smartphone. Researchers are aiming to take sensors smaller--much smaller. In a new University of Stuttgart paper published in Nature Photonics, scientists describe tiny 3D printed lenses and show how they can take super sharp images.