Nanogirl Michelle Dickinson: The robot that can read bedtime stories

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

That sentence will send a chill through anybody who has seen the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

HAL 9000, the on-board computer, created a wave of fear around intelligent computers that we could talk to as if they were human.

Last week at CES, the world's largest consumer electronics trade show, that fear seemed long forgotten - voice recognition technology was the dominant feature in many of the products on display.

Voice-enabled technology has several advantages, for example I'm writing this article through dictation software on my computer - software I discovered last year after breaking my hand and needing a solution that could help me to type as fast as I could before my injury.

With scientific jargon-filled sentences in my daily work, I needed a solution that could be taught unusual language and adapt to regional accents.

That's the great thing about voice recognition technology: it's trainable and can learn from its mistakes, linking speech recognition to complex natural language processing systems to figure out not just what you say, but what you actually mean.

Using voice commands rather than physical typing through a keyboard is empowering those with dyslexia to write without typing, those with physical disabilities to speak through their machines and interestingly those who are too young to learn to spell to verbally type a written document.

With new laws being enforced around distracted driving, voice command software usage is growing as a simple hands-free, fast solution that doesn't need a menu structure to navigate or a security code to unlock.

Google says, at present, 20 per cent of its mobile searches are initiated using voice command, however, as we become more comfortable using the technology and its capabilities improve, this number is expected to grow.

Competition in the marketplace is pushing the capabilities of the technology; there has been more progress over the past 20 months than in the first 20 years of voice recognition technology.

As Amazon, Apple, Google and IBM push each other's software to understand speech as well as humans can, Microsoft has just claimed to have achieved the lowest word error rate of just 6.3 per cent.

This beat IBM's 6.9 per cent set only a few months before and - when compared with the 43 per cent word error rate set in 1995 - shows how far we have come.

Our relationship with voice-activated systems is also changing thanks to software designed for human companionship.

Microsoft's Xiaoice is a voice activated chatbot designed to come up with responses that will keep a conversation going for longer, and Jibo is a social robot that can read interactive bedtime stories to children.

Voice technology is not without its challenges though, as seen last week through Amazon's intelligent personal assistant, Alexa.

Because the software is always on and always listening, the Echo speaker device overheard a 6-year-old girl ask for a doll's house, and promptly ordered a $230 doll's house online because her mother had enabled voice purchasing on the device.

On a more serious note, US police investigating a murder were able to extract recordings from a voice controlled speaker that had been playing at the home of the suspect, bringing up questions around privacy of data and questioning whether a portable speaker could be considered a key witness to a murder.

As more of our devices are converted to speech power, commonplace objects such as remote controls will soon be a thing of the past.

The next time you search for yours behind the couch, remember that this might be the last one you ever own!

No fewer than 14 million Nigerians were enrolled for National Identity Number (NIN) at the end of 2016 , statistics obtained by Technology Times from National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have revealed.

This rising tide of national identity enrolment  by Nigerians is one of the key highlights from the NIMC  report of enrollment exercise (2012-2016) released by the Nigerian agency responsible for National ID management.

According to the report, the acquisition of Bank Verification Number (BVN) data from banks via the harmonization process provided a significant boost to NIMC’s efforts in 2016. As at December 2016, NIMC’s total enrollment figures stood at over 14 million.

Analyzing the figures, Technology Times data analyst, Nigeria recorded an impressive  11.462%  increase in 2016 with 6.8m registrations  as against the 59,258  it recorded in 2012 when the kick-off of the pilot scheme of enrolment of Nigerians into the National Identity Database (NID).

NIMC says that one of the strategies adopted by the current administration under the leadership of Engineer Aliyu A. Aziz, who took over the helm of affairs in November 2015, has been the shifting of focus to educating Nigerians on the importance of enrolling for the National Identification Number (NIN).

NIMC says that one of the strategies adopted by the current administration under the leadership of Engineer Aliyu A. Aziz, who took over the helm of affairs in November 2015, has been the shifting of focus to educating Nigerians on the importance of enrolling for the National Identification Number (NIN).

”The NIN is deemed to be used in the near future for all important transactions within the country and even outside”, NIMC says.

The report also  reveals that  residents in Abuja , the nation seat of power has the highest number of  enrolment with 962,036 representing 6.8 percent of the total registration  while Yobe has the least with 59,053 enrollment

National ID: The table below released by NIMC shows the enrollment figures from each state across Nigeria:

Analyzing the data further,  North Central  has 5.26 million Nigerians enrolled making the geopolitical zone with  the highest registration while North East has the lowest enrolment with about 1.06 million which  has been attributed by Technology Times data analyst  to  the  incessant attacks by the  Boko Haram insurgent during the period under review.

However  NIMC says it  has concluded plans to deploy a special National Identification Number (NIN) Enrolment Centre at the Technology Times Outlook 2017 business summit to allow more Nigerians the opportunity to be enrolled into the National Identity Database (NIDB).

The summit with  theme ‘National Identity-Unlocking Possibilities for Knowledge-Driven Nigeria’, is scheduled to hold  on the 23rd and 24th of February, at the MUSON Center, Onikan, Lagos.

According to NIMC ,those enrolled will be issued the NIN, which is a non-intelligent set of numbers assigned to an individual upon successful enrollment.These consist of recording an individual’s demographic data and capture of ten (10) fingerprints, head to shoulder facial picture and digital signature.

”The NIN enrollment Center will be adequately equipped, to ensure that all participants at the event are enrolled. The deployment of this enrollment Center will facilitate, as well as fast-track the enrollment of Nigerians as the Commission is committed to populating the NIDB.”

Also   Engr. Aliyu Aziz,  NIMC Director General/ CEO, has been confirmed to  deliver a keynote address titled ‘National Identity Management: Unlocking Possibilities for Knowledge-Driven Nigeria’,which is expected to  provide a status report of Nigeria’s identity management and also offer insights of the possibilities that ID initiatives for overall planning and national development.

The new crime fighters: Scientists team up with police

Some of the country's top scientists are joining forces with police to help fight crime - but those behind the new collaboration say it's a far cry from the slick, distorted world of shows like CSI.

The partnership will put police staff alongside Waikato University researchers who will mining crime data for patterns, offer psychology insights and help tackle a growing cyber crime problem which could be costing the country $400m each year.

The new collaboration builds on work the university is already leading through its Institute of Crime Science.

"Crime science is devoted to finding out what works to cut crime," said Inspector Shanan Gray, who is helping drive the project.

"It uses data, professional knowledge and an evidence-based problem solving approach to identify ways to detect, prevent and disrupt crime."

Crime scientists - coming from fields ranging from architecture and engineering to mathematics and criminology - examined who committed crime, how and why, and where and when crimes were carried out.

"CSI really is just TV - in the real world things are more complicated," he said.

"But police do understand the need to use science and evidence to inform what we do."

Crime science would form just part of the work at what's been named the Centre for Evidence Based Policing, which Gray said would draw on empirical research to make decisions about "what works" in policing, with frontline staff would having input.

The approach was growing in popularity internationally, and had become more prominent in policing over the last decade.

The centre would host police research and evaluation staff, as well as researchers from the university and ESR, with an initial team of 15 to 20 people.

Better sharing of data could help police better understand what drove offending, how to protect in victims in family harm cases, or save more lives on the roads, Gray said.

Police constantly collected a vast amount of data, from burglary statistics to offender demographics, and there was a need to use and share of much of it as possible to build a deeper understanding of crime.

"Social changes associated with population growth, climate change, fluid migration patterns and an ageing society all have the potential to drive crime and insecurity in ways that are not currently well understood."

Bill Gates children understand why he'll be leaving his $120 billion fortune to his foundation

Bill Gates said his three children understand why he has pledged to leave his £70 billion (NZ$120b) fortune to charity when he dies.

In a revealing insight into his private life, the Microsoft founder, 60, said his children are "proud" of his decision to dedicate his money to helping the world's poorest.

Gates said that instead of billion-dollar trust funds, his two daughters and son will be given a "great education" to help kick-start their own careers.

But the business mogul did say there would still be a financial safety net in place, adding: "They are never going to be poorly off".

Speaking on This Morning, Gates said: "Our kids will receive a great education and some money so they are never going to be poorly off but they'll go out and have their own career.

"It's not a favour to kids to have them have huge sums of wealth. It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path."

Gates and his wife Melinda, 52, have three children together, Jennifer, 20, Rory, 17, and Phoebe, 14.

Rory and Phoebe are believed to at school and live at home with their parents outside Seattle, Washington.

The Gates will only pass on a fraction of their vast wealth to their children.

The rest will go to their charity, the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation, which funds health and education projects around the world.

In a rare insight into family life, Gates told This Morning presenters Holly Willoughby and Ben Shephard his children are behind the decision.

He said: "This money is dedicated to helping the poorest. They know that, they are proud of that, they go on trips with us to see the work that's being done."