Three top unnamed anti-virus companies located in the US appear to have been hacked by a collective that communicates in both Russian and English, and is offering to sell source code belonging to these firms, plus network access, for more than US$300,000.

Humanity needs machines that can understand "all things human" and take into account our emotional and cognitive state, according to artificial emotional intelligence company Affectiva's co-founder and chief executive, Rana el Kaliouby.

Making software more consistent has clear benefits, according to Tibco chief operating officer Matt Quinn, but he also thinks we need major changes in the way software works if we are to take full advantage of technologies such as AI.