Amazon has finally brought its voice-controlled smart speaker to the UK after it first launched in the US more than two years ago. The speaker will land on 28 September, with pre-orders going live later today. The cylindrical speaker, which is also coming to Germany, uses Amazon's personal voice assistant called Alexa, which is similar to Apple's Siri. The Echo will cost 149.99 ( 179.99) and will also be available for Prime customers at a reduced rate of 99 ( 129.99) for a limited time. The cylindrical speaker, which is also coming to Germany, uses Amazon's personal voice assistant called Alexa, which is similar to Apple's Siri Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled smart speaker that works alongside a smartphone app.

In this tutorial we'll write a little program to see if we can recognise emotions from images. How cool would it be to have your computer recognize the emotion on your face? You could make all sorts of things with this, from a dynamic music player that plays music fitting with what you feel, to an emotion-recognizing robot. Important: The code in this tutorial is licensed under the GNU 3.0 open source license and you are free to modify and redistribute the code, given that you give others you share the code with the same right, and cite my name (use citation format below). You are not free to redistribute or modify the tutorial itself in any way. By reading on you agree to these terms.

Automating the work of data scientists will dramatically lower the cost of artificial intelligence and make it easier for business people without advanced tech skills to make use of the latest in business intelligence, says entrepreneur and investor Nova Spivack. His latest startup, Bottlenose, released a new platform on Tuesday that Mr. Spivack says is a step in that direction. "We saw a lot of technology jump from academic to commercial areas. There is more data and more capability with which to do analytics, but data scientists are increasingly scarce," Mr. Spivack said in an interview. "We are not producing enough data scientists, and you can't create enough of these people no matter how hard you try." Making matters worse, it takes time for credentialed data scientists to gain enough sufficient experience to be fully functional on the job, he said.

Sony (NYSE:SNE) launched its PS4 Slim this week with the PS4 Pro set to debut in November. These new models are set to dominate for the Christmas season and reinforce the company's lead over Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nintendo (OTCPK:NTDOY). Their Virtual Reality product will also be there to tempt the consumer for the holiday season. In particular this will appeal to the youth dynamic, the holy grail for marketing departments. The PS4 is a terrific profit center for Sony but it is not the only ace in the pack for the company.

It is used to disguise a person's identity, cover explicit areas of an image or to render vehicle number plates unreadable. But deliberate pixilation of photographs could soon be rendered useless by artificial intelligence that can peer through the blurring to see what is hidden beneath. Software engineers have used machine learning to teach a piece of software to adapt image recognition techniques to recognise objects, faces and words in obscured images. Artificial intelligence could be used to defeat attempts to protect people's identity (stock image) or hide certain information in videos and photographs posted online. The software could mean that people who appear on Google Street View, for example, could be identified despite attempts by the search company to hide their identity with image blurring. It is a bizarre disappearing act that only the most affluent seem to be able to afford.

Amazon has confirmed its virtual assistant Echo speakers are coming to the UK and Germany. Until now, the company sold its voice-controlled devices only in the US. The machines can answer questions, control other internet-connected devices, build shopping lists and link in to dozens of third-party services including Spotify, Uber and BBC News. Experts say they appeal to early adopters' sense of curiosity but tend to be a harder sell to others. Amazon told a press conference in London that the devices would become available in the two European countries on 28 September.

Imagine infusing thousands of wireless devices into your brain, and using them to both monitor its activity and directly influence its actions. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, and for the moment it still is – but possibly not for long. Brain research is on a roll at the moment. And as it converges with advances in science and technology more broadly, it's transforming what we are likely to be able to achieve in the near future. Spurring the field on is the promise of more effective treatments for debilitating neurological and psychological disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and depression.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

It took more than two years, but Amazon's connected speaker, the Echo, has finally arrived in Europe. At a launch event in London today, the company confirmed that the standard Echo and the Echo Dot (both in a new white color) will soon go on sale UK and Germany, bringing with them the retailer's clever AI assistant, Alexa -- who now has an English accent. Pre-orders open later today, with a new white variant of the 150/ 180 Echo shipping on September 28th, while the 50/ 50/ 60 Dot will arrive on October 20th. For the next two days, Amazon UK is knocking of 50 for Prime customers. In the US, Echo users have enjoyed the fruits of numerous partnerships Amazon has struck up over the years. With Alexa's help, owners have been able to hail a cab via Uber, control their smart door lock and even have their Twitter timeline read back to them.