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Telling stories is not just the oldest form of entertainment, it's the highest form of consciousness. The need for narrative is embedded deep in our brains. Increasingly, success in the information age demands that we harness the hidden power of stories.

The specificity of Facebook's advertising machine lets companies sidestep many potential pitfalls that could prevent them from launching a successful ad campaign. For Universal Pictures, one of the problems Facebook helped them sidestep was the fact that white Americans didn't really know what iconic rap group N.W.A. was, or that Ice Cube and Dr. Dre made music.

"rtificial intelligence already pervades 21st-century life, from Siri's directions to Netflix's suggestions of what you should watch next. But how much emotional intelligence is inside computers, cell phones, and video game consoles? In the past, the answer has been "none" - even the most complex deep learning machine is still a machine. That's changing, though, thanks in part to Nevermind, a video game that can sense players' emotions and adjust the experience to fit."

Recent Royal College of Art (RCA) design graduate David Hedberg's Smile TV is more than a loving homage to the good old 'campfire inside the living room.' Made from an open frame CRT monitor and equipped with a computer vision system, the unsuspecting television set turns the medium's engagement pattern on its head: instead of making you smile at on-screen silliness, you have to "smile to watch." Only when you do - and for as long as you do - will Smile TV reveal its otherwise scrambled broadcast. "This project grew out from experimenting with facial recognition and image manipulation," Hedberg explains over email.

A new world is coming. It's scary. Freaky. Over the freaky line, if you will. But it is coming. Investors like Ron Conway and Marc Andreessen are investing in it. Companies from Google to startups you've never heard of, like Wovyn or Highlight, are building it. With more than a couple of new ones already on the way that you'll hear about over the next six months.