The 'Ultimate' Survival Guide to Computers

Have you ever wondered what is going on inside Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri? Something is asked and the system responds with barely any hesitation. Yet, in that short interval a task of enormous complexity has been performed. Although our brain solves these problems without effort, its algorithms are almost unknown. How do engineers go about emulating the brain's performance and enabling machines to listen, learn and understand? How far are the state-of-the-art systems from a human-level solution?

Do you feel overwhelmed and distracted by all of the emails, text messages, website and social media updates, likes, pings, pokes, snapchats? Two things are certain, you are not alone and those distractions are not going to go away unless you get a handle on them. As the amount of content we generate on the web continues to grow at a rapid pace and we look to make better use of our time, personally and professionally, Andy Tattersall will show you some of the ways you can do to take back control. All you need is willpower and a terrible wifi connection.

More and more devices of our daily life are "smart": ranging from smart light bulbs to smart TVs to smart fridges - everything can, and most likely will be, in the future connected to the Internet. More and more people are already used to remotely controlling their heating at home using their smart phone. In this talk, we will explain the technology behind the "smart things" and discuss the how your smart thermostat and your neighbour's TV might be hijacked to take down the Internet.