The following tools are useful to be able to determine what people are currently searching the web for:
On a related note, McAfee has published this report on the “most dangerous search terms“.
Scientists at the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex are embarking on an ambitious project to produce the first accurate computer models of a honey bee brain in a bid to advance our understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how animals think.
The team will build models of the systems in the brain that govern a honey bee’s vision and sense of smell. Using this information, the researchers aim to create the first flying robot able to sense and act as autonomously as a bee, rather than just carry out a pre-programmed set of instructions.
Ref: http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/nr/green-brain-honey-bee-model-sheffield-university-1.212235
There has long been a thrust towards home (or home-centric tasks) automation but it has remained the venue of the hobbyist or the person with the interest and money to engage a professional installer.
Cloud and WiFi is starting to change that.
Some example products taking advantage of these two technologies include:
Some areas that are ripe for WiFi-enabled devices and cloud services:
This is an interesting paper that is worth reading - A Generation of Software Patents .
Some highlights from the paper: most software firms do not patent; most software patents are obtained by a few large firms (mainly for defensive purposes rather then to promote innovation); and software patents are more likely than other patents to be involved in litigation (and number of lawsuits have more than tripled since 1999).
Some other sites related to software patents:
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/lpf/Patents/patents.html
