‘Many people don’t realize that some of the most significant technological breakthroughs in recent years, like voice and facial recognition software, autonomous driving systems, and image recognition software, have not actually been designed by humans, but by computers. All of these advanced software programs have been the result of neural networks, popularly referred to as “deep learning.”

Neural networks are modeled loosely after the human brain and learn like them in similar ways by processing large amounts of data, along with algorithms fed to the networks by programmers. A neural net is then able to teach itself to perform tasks by analyzing the training data. “You essentially have software writing software,” says Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of graphics processing leader Nvidia.

Research in the area of deep learning is advancing so quickly that neural networks are now able to dream and can even communicate with each other using inhuman cryptographic language indecipherable to humans and other computers. The only drawback to the technology is that the networks require a lot of memory and power to operate, but MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science Vivienne Sze and her colleagues have been working on a solution that could enable the powerful software to operate on cell phones.’

Read more: Cell Phones Are About To Become More Powerful Than You Could Imagine

‘A new form of malware has been discovered masquerading as popular messaging client WhatsApp. The virus steals an extraordinary amount of data from the victim’s device, including call logs, text messages, contacts, phone numbers, location, and browser history.

WhatsApp users should be on the look-out for a dangerous new form of malware that disguises itself as the successful messenger.

Dubbed GhostCtrl, the malware disguises itself as a number of popular apps, including WhatsApp and Pokemon Go to trick users into downloading the virus.’

Read more: WhatsApp Warning – New virus secretly Films You and can record your entire browser history

‘The Wall Street Journal published a headline today that should strike fear into the heart of every crusaders in the fight for $15: “Robots Are Replacing Workers Where You Shop.”

As the story explains, Wal-Mart is replacing some of its non-customer facing workers with robots, like bookkeepers who were responsible for counting and storing the store’s cash supply.

“Last August, a 55-year-old Wal-Mart employee found out her job would now be done by a robot. Her task was to count cash and track the accuracy of the store’s books from a desk in a windowless back room. She earned $13 an hour.

Instead, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. started using a hulking gray machine that counts eight bills per second and 3,000 coins a minute. The Cash360 machine digitally deposits money at the bank, earning interest for Wal-Mart faster than sending an armored car. And it uses software to predict how much cash is needed on a given day to reduce excess.’

Read more: Wal-Mart Replaces More Than 4,000 Employees With Machines 

‘Pet translators, implanted fitness trackers and virtual shelves to show off digital downloads of music and TV will be popular tech products of the future, new research claims.

Online retail giant Amazon commissioned the report to mark the launch of its Shop The Future online store of tech products – including 3D printers and augmented reality glasses – having taken predictions from futurists on tech trends in years to come.

Their predictions for new products included communication devices that could understand and translate the different barks and miaows from pets, while the concept of “simplexity” will become part of how people shop – using voice activation and artificial intelligence to make previously complex tasks simple, the report said.’

Read more: Soon we’ll wear fitness trackers INSIDE our bodies: Amazon report on future technology says there could also be devices to translate barks and miaows from dogs and cats 

‘In an effort to compete with more technologically advanced forces, the US Army is investing in new programs to develop autonomous drones and create a network of battlefield devices that communicate with each other.

In March, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report that found the US Army has fallen behind other technologically advanced states after spending nearly two decades fighting technologically inferior adversaries in the Middle East.

The report specifically mentions Russia, which has invested heavily in anti-access / area denial (A2/AD) technologies that are able to block communications in certain areas.

“There are regions in Donbass where no electromagnetic communications – including radio, cell phone, and television – work,” the CSIS report reads, according to Defense One. “Electronic warfare is the single largest killer of Ukrainian systems by jamming either the controller or GPS signals.”’

Read more: US Army to modernize forces with autonomous drones & ‘Internet of things’

‘Robots that serve dinner, self-driving cars and drone-taxis could be fun and hugely profitable. But don’t hold your breath. They are likely much further off than the hype suggests.

A panel of experts at the recent 2017 Wharton Global Forum in Hong Kong outlined their views on the future for artificial intelligence (AI), robots, drones, other tech advances and how it all might affect employment in the future. The upshot was to deflate some of the hype, while noting the threats ahead posed to certain jobs.’

Read more: The Future Of Artificial Intelligence: Why The Hype Has Outrun Reality

‘There is a great deal of “utopian research” going on in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) merging with the brain.

Exuberant cheerleaders like Ray Kurzweil are quite confident we are approaching a moment when a computer will exhibit all the power of the human brain.

The definition of “power” in this context is fuzzy. But Kurzweil and others are sure we’re about to uncover the “algorithm” that underlies all brain activity.

They couldn’t be more wrong. Neuroscience has barely scratched the surface of understanding how the brain operates. Cracking the code is not on the horizon.

Most importantly: how would a brain-computer interface work? Hook up your brain to a super-computer, and how does your brain absorb the computer’s data, and how does it make the data known to YOU, the user?’

Read more: Brain-Computer Hookup Equals Mainstream News; The Fatal Flaw In The Human-Computer Interface

“For more on what David has to say about this click here …

‘Given the steady roll-out of biometrics in banking, personal computing, and travel as of late, it seemed to be just a matter of time before police were equipped the latest biometric ID technology.

Defense One reports that,

Device-maker Motorola will work with artificial intelligence software startup Neurala to build “real-time learning for a person of interest search” on products such as the Si500 body camera for police, the firm announced Monday.

Neurala, it turns out, received partial funding by DARPA under a program called SyNAPSE that dates back to 2008 as an effort to create next-gen artificial intelligence “to build robots whose intelligence matches that of mice and cats.”

Neurala’s “Brains for Bots” mission can be seen in the video below which emphasizes what DARPA is seeking: the ability to scan the environment and recognize people and objects. The video becomes more than a tad creepy, however, when a drone is eventually seen stalking following a young woman who is strangely referred to as an “object.”’

Read more: Police Body Cameras To Be Equipped With Facial Recognition

‘Yes, the Canadian government has rolled out an app that gives you points for eating well and exercising and taking quizzes about the flu shot and other healthy activities! And everyone seems totally fine with this. Welcome to the future, everyone, because the totalitarian states of tomorrow will be more carrot then stick, and we will all be pigeons in a virtual Skinner box. What could go wrong?’

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‘Genetic engineering continues to reach disturbing heights in China, where researchers at the biotech firm Sino Gene in Beijing have found a way to change a dog’s nature through genetic modification and then reproduce the animal via cloning. They could, for example, give a dog bigger muscles and then make copies of it.

The scientists recently created a cloned beagle called Long Long, who is the first dog to be cloned using a parent who was genetically modified. While scientists have been cloning dogs in South Korea for 12 years now, this marks the first time that a genetically engineered dog was duplicated. This unnatural male puppy was born in late May at the same lab where his father, Apple, was born last year.’

Read more: Chinese scientists create genetically engineered PET DOGS