Russia isn't going to sit on the sidelines while American companies like Amazon and Google conquer the smart speaker world. Search giant Yandex has launched the Yandex.Station, billed both as Russia's first smart speaker and the company's first hardware product. The device uses Yandex's in-house voice assistant, Alice, to handle upwards of 4,000 skills like checking traffic, ordering pizza or finding flights. However, its real specialty is video -- it's an unusual bridge between audio-only speakers and smart displays. The Yandex.Station has an HDMI output that lets you stream videos directly to your TV, whether it's from Yandex's own KinoPoisk or alternatives like Ivi and Amediateka.

Technology promises to make it easier for people with dementia to live independently for longer and stay connected with family and friends. Home sensors, communications and personal navigational devices--some of which are already commercially available--provide ways to monitor patients and loved ones from afar. Robotics, smartphone apps and some intriguing experiments with tablet computers, meanwhile, show the potential to help sufferers of dementia sustain their social and family contacts. Help can't come soon enough. An estimated 50 million people world-wide suffer from dementia, according to the World Health Organization--a number that is expected to rise exponentially as the global population ages.

Samsung Electronics today announced the opening of the artificial intelligence (AI) Center in Russia, which will be located in the --White Square-- business center in Moscow. The Center will help the company strengthen its leadership in the field of AI and explore the broad capabilities of user-oriented AI. The new Center--s main research areas will be computer vision and basic algorithms for AI platform. The Center will also expand the field of AI for key areas such as robotics, intelligent driving assistance, as well as those for future projects by Samsung. The Samsung AI Center in Russia will be led by Professor Dmitry Vetrov of the Higher School of Economics (HSE).

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a huge tool for people in many fields, especially in healthcare. A new artificial intelligence, deep learning network called deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) has been developed to help dermatologists. Through testing, the new CNN has been proven to detect skin cancer even better than expert dermatologists. The CNN was developed by researchers from around in the world, including Germany, the United States and France. The new development is important because 232,000 new malignant melanoma cases are found around the world every year and 55,500 people die from melanoma cases each year. If the CNN is developed to be used as a tool in a dermatologist's office, many lives could be saved.

"Loot boxes are like scratch-off cards: you open one out of curiosity, get a little prize, think'darn, maybe next time,' and then it just turns into a habit," says Brian. "I got a big prize with my first $20 and thought, 'Hey, maybe I'll get something good again,' and spent another $5 next week, and then $5 more. It's a disturbingly easy trap to fall into." Brian (not his real name), a 25-year-old American Reddit user who responded to a Guardian call-out, is one of millions of players who buy "loot boxes", lucky-dip boxes that cost real money and yield random virtual rewards. Loot boxes have attracted controversy and comparisons to gambling in recent months, prompting countries including Belgium and the Netherlands to determine that their inclusion in popular games such as Fifa, Overwatch and Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius contravenes local gambling legislation. Now, politicians and gambling-awareness organisations in the UK are calling for regulation, too.

Ask any American to tell you three things about Germany and the first thing out of their mouth will be Oktoberfest, likely because they've "always wanted to go there". That's such a dated, narrow-minded stereotype. Germany doesn't just have attractive blonds, they also have attractive brunettes. Yes, zee Germans are quite proud of their country's natural beauty, but it's not only skin deep. Germans have a strong work ethic, which is why they have the biggest economy in the EU (by nominal GDP), and which also helps explain why many of them lack a sense of humor.

Humans will come to love robots like they are'family' rather than fear them as the enemy, according to a leading Oxford University scholar. Sir Nigel Shadbolt says we are entering an age where AI will act as a carers for the elderly and a friend for lonely children. He claims that fears robots will turn on people and destroy humanity are unfounded. Robots will become beloved members of the family, not the enemy of humanity, claims leading Oxford University scholar. Sir Nigel, a professor of computer science at Oxford University, made the comments at the Hay Festival in Wales.

You may want to watch your step when you enter an airport. Everyone walks slightly differently and scientists are developing technology that identifies individuals - including criminals - by looking at their gait. This system - which is a type behavioural biometric - could soon work in airports just like fingerprinting and eye-scanning technology. This non-intrusive technique, which uses pressure pads built into the floor of an airport, is around 99.3 per cent accurate at identifying people. The system looks at a person's gait rather than the footprint shape itself.

The TNW Festival in Amsterdam took place in the hometown of our Head of Sales BENELUX, Roy Somaroo. So naturally, Roy went along to find out what the hottest topics in the tech scene are. As I bounced between the nine different themes of TNW I was struck by the convergence of thoughts. Despite the variety of speakers and opinions, it seemed there were some themes that you just couldn't avoid. For me, it all boiled down to two things: technology and experience.

A computer was better than human dermatologists at detecting skin cancer in a study that pitted people against machines in the quest for better, faster diagnostics, researchers said on Tuesday. A team from Germany, the United States and France taught an artificial intelligence system to distinguish dangerous skin lesions from benign ones, showing it more than 100,000 images. The machine – a deep learning convolutional neural network or CNN – was then tested against 58 dermatologists from 17 countries, shown photos of malignant melanomas and benign moles. Just over half the dermatologists were at "expert" level with more than five years of experience, 19% had between two and five years' experience, and 29% were beginners with less than two years under their belt. "Most dermatologists were outperformed by the CNN," the research team wrote in a paper published in the journal Annals of Oncology.