© jurvetson

Authors Kurzweil and Vinge have posited the concept of a "singularity" event that will change human history forever. This will occur when human beings create intelligences that are greater than our own, and this will cause an intellectual transition that will take the world far beyond our understanding. Now whether you read this as a positive or negative event, there is no doubt that artificial intelligence is pushing the boundaries of technology into the science fiction realm.

Take, for example, the super computer Watson who is now leading the human competitors on a Jeopardy tournament. But this isn't the first time that robot intelligence has beat out the human brain in a contest. Chess maestro Gary Kasparov was defeated by IBM's Deep Blue back in 1997.

© veni markovski

Ray Kurzweil, futurist and author, is known world-wide for his prominent and optimistic ideas about the future of technology. The 63 year old believes that by 2045 humans will build a computer capable of replicating and storing the human mind, and this is what he calls the "singularity." It would essentially allow our mental selves to live on indefinitely.

He takes an equally sunny view on the issue of cybersecurity, which is in opposition to the prevailing global doom over the threats of cyberwar and the futile arms race against cybercriminals. He believes that he information security industry should serve as a model for addressing the sort of pandemic diseases that may result form our globalized society and possibly from future bioterror attacks. Just as the antivirus industry is constantly detecting new threats, dissecting them, and distributing cures, he argues that our biological antivirus systems should work the same way in a networked fashion and at a comparable speed.

© redspotted

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a Phase 1 grant to ecoATM, a company based in San Diego, California. The grant is to fund further refinement and expansion of the company's advanced machine vision, artificial intelligence and electronics testing systems. The US Patent and Trademark Office (US PTO) has granted its first patent on the ecoATM system. The ecoATMs are automated self-serve kiosks that combine FireWire cameras, LED illumination, neural-network software, and networked PCs with touch-screen user interfaces.

These systems allow retail stores to evaluate and buy back used electronics directly from consumers for cash or store credit. The AI system is able to learn and then accurately identify thousands of different models of phones and other devices and also assess cosmetic or internal damage. The company has recently closed the first round of a Series A preferred stock offering which as raised $14.4 million.