Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant all have something in common – each AI is programmed to have a female voice. Other than Apple adding the option of a male voice for Siri, all of the technology on the market speaks with a softer tone. Although some consider this move an act of sexism, two studies have revealed that both men and women preferred female voices - which were found to be'warmer' and'understanding'. Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa (pictured is Amazon Echo, Alexa's home) and Google's Assistant all have a female voice. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has recently cited two studies that investigate these allegations, which have discovered that'both women and men find the female voice welcoming and warm,' reports Joanna Stern with WSJ. One study from Indian University played male and female synthesized voices for both men and women.

At Piton de la Fournaise on the island of Réunion, every day is like a glimpse of our planet's violent youth: Chunks of boiling lava spew upward like molten fireworks, while rivers of fire cut across an ashen, constantly repaved landscape of gray. Sitting more than 400 miles off Madagascar's eastern coast, the volcano has been grumbling for 530,000 years, producing extremely fluid, basalt-rich lava flows. In modern times, it's been one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, earning its moniker "peak of the furnace." Since the 17th century, the 8,633-foot-tall peak has erupted more than 150 times. It's no surprise that the French-held island's 900,000 inhabitants treat the volcano with caution. But thanks to drone pilot and Your Shot photographer Jonathan Payet, we get to sneak a peek at the furnace in remarkable detail.

Launched today by Google Jigsaw, Perspective is an application program interface (API) built on human reviewer ratings of hundreds of thousands of online comments. Starting from this human-determined baseline of what makes comments "toxic," Perspective then learns to automatically identify similar comments so they can be flagged by online publishers. Sites can use the Jigsaw tool in a variety of ways. For instance, Perspective can be used to flag questionable comments so human moderators can review them and decide whether or not to publish them. Google said publishers can also use Perspective to let readers view the potential impacts of their comments as they write them, or to sort comments by toxicity to give preference to less abusive remarks.

In a typical sci-fi movie about extraterrestrials, there are certain kinds of sounds you'd expect to hear: electronic bleeps and bloops, whooshing spaceships, the slithering of slimy aliens, some pew-pew-pew laser blasts. But as anyone who's seen it will tell you, "Arrival" is not a typical sci-fi movie about extraterrestrials. To help create a unique aural feel for the film -- the story of a linguistics professor (Amy Adams) who is recruited by the military to help communicate with mysterious alien visitors -- director Denis Villeneuve turned to a longtime friend and frequent collaborator, sound editor Sylvain Bellemare. The atmospheric, emotionally stirring soundscape Bellemare crafted has now earned him his first Oscar nomination. A native of Montreal, Canada, the 49-year-old Bellemare had never worked on a big science-fiction film before, nor had he been part of a Hollywood studio production.

It's considered one of the first "robotic" devices in history. For centuries, inventors will refine the design. The first robot was a steam-powered "pigeon," created around 400 to 350 BCE by the ancient Greek mathematician Archytas, known as the father of engineering. He was using the robot to study birds in flight. The first android in the Western World, a completely mechanical figure which simulated a living human or animal, operating with apparently responsive action, is believed to have been constructed in 1525 by Hans Bullmann (?-1535) of Nuremberg, Germany. The height of the Lute Player automaton (see the lower image) is 44 cm.

Nothing in the world can replace the wisdom that exists in books. Whether you love paper copies, download books to your e-reader, or listen to books on tape in the car, reading remains the best way to learn and grow. As a tech entrepreneur, you want to learn from the best. Countless entrepreneurs have launched startups before you, and this is not the time to go it alone and try to lone-wolf it. Some of the best tech founders in the world have written books imparting years of wisdom so that someone else just like you can learn from their mistakes.

Wondering who will win the 2017 Oscars? Instead of turning to industry experts, film critics, or polls, you can try something else this year: Artificial intelligence. A startup called Unanimous A.I. has been making predictions--like who will win the Superbowl, March Madness, US presidential debates, the Kentucky Derby--for the last two years. It uses a software platform called UNU to assemble people at their computers, who make a real-time prediction together. UNU's algorithm is built to harness the concept of "swarm" intelligence--the power of a group to make an intelligent, collective decision.

Innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning promise unheard-of productivity acceleration but threaten workers who fear job losses. Rapid technology advances are opening up tremendous opportunities but sourcing scarce talent in a global market can stymy recruiting. SAP Radio host and moderator Bonnie D. Graham recently challenged three HR experts to share their perspectives on how CHROs can shake up the status quo and get it right in the new year during an episode of Changing the Game with HR entitled, "CHROs and People Strategies: New Year Resolutions and Beyond." Tina Marron-Partridge, IBM Global Business Services Talent and Engagement, sees HR leaders facing a defining moment in their profession, forced to modernize the workplace culture for a consumer-grade experience. "In a digital world, you need a digital-first culture," she said.

When Michelle Kennedy had her first baby, she realised that nothing is capable of preparing you for the numbing isolation and loneliness that motherhood can entail. Integral to the launch of the highly successful dating app Bumble and a former executive of the European social networking site Badoo, Ms Kennedy said that she felt that modern parenting involved a new language that she didn't speak. So in the spirit of a true entrepreneur, she decided to transform her frustration into an opportunity. Ms Kennedy created a brand new app called Peanut, which aims to break the stigma around motherhood and help women--just like herself--to make meaningful connections based on common values and interests during this new--often scary and almost always transformative--phase of their lives. "There is still a stigma [about motherhood]on two levels," she told the Independent.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) reminds us of many Hollywood movies, like The Terminator, The Matrix etc, in which machines surpass ability and smartness of human beings to perform incredible acts. With significant advancement in technology, it is now actually possible to empower a machine with AI by using a few programming techniques and database management system. But AI is no restricted to machines robotics only, and is now seen as the next frontier of mobile devices too. Cortana, Siri and Google Now have already shown us how AI can make a difference in digital world to make human lives better. They behave as personal assistants to advise and suggest a user, like reminding birthdays of loved ones, an important meeting, a major event and many more.