Best Buy's latest sale tries to inject some variety into the many early Black Friday deals we've been seeing since the end of last month. The company appears to be celebrating Single's Day with its one-day-only "treat yourself" sale, which discounts a number of video games, smart home devices, wearables and more. Whether you decide to pick something up for yourself or someone on your list, there are a handful of decent tech deals in this sale -- and Amazon's matching a couple of them. We gathered them all here so you don't have to search for them. The Sonos Five, which was previously called the Sonos Play:5, is $100 off at Best Buy, bringing it down to $399.

If you recently purchased a Ring Video Doorbell, take note. About 350,000 of the smart video doorbells are being recalled for potential fire and burn risks. The recall is for the second generation of the smart doorbell cameras, which is model number 5UM5E5, according to a recall notice posted Tuesday on the Consumer Product Safety Commission website. "The video doorbell's battery can overheat when the incorrect screws are used for installation, posing fire and burn hazards," the notice says. The affected doorbells were sold at electronics and home goods stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com and Ring.com between June and October 2020 for approximately $100.

Retail executives should prioritize technology investments to support unified retail commerce in today's unpredictable business environment. Now more than ever, I've found that retailers want to systematically analyze store conditions and improve the execution of activities like inventory management and out-of-stock replenishment, price changes and picking of online orders. As managing director of the Americas at a company that offers automated shelf-monitoring solutions, I expect the adoption of real-time store Internet of Things (IoT) systems that "digitize the shelf" by employing autonomous robots and shelf cameras to detect products to peak. But to build a business case with attractive ROI, retail decision-makers will need to understand the impact of these in-store automation solutions on operational practices; measure the potential gains on store sales, staff productivity and customer experience; and ensure they choose the right solution for their store's needs. Covid-19 has exacerbated the inventory distortion in stores worldwide, and IHL Group (via Retail Dive) estimates that retailers are missing out on $1 trillion in sales due to out-of-stocks.

Walmart isn't about to let rivals like Amazon delve further into self-driving deliveries without offering a response. As CNBC reports, the retailer has teamed up with GM's Cruise for a self-driving delivery pilot due to start early 2021 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The project will have an autonomous EV fetch your local store orders. This will save you time and money while also helping to reduce Walmart's impact on the planet, the company said. It also suggested this was particularly helpful while the COVID-19 pandemic raged on, noting that it was a truly "contact-free" delivery option. It has also forged partnerships with companies like Ford and Udelv.

Walmar WMTt wants to learn whether robotic deliveries fit in with its retail operations so it's launching a pilot program with General Motors GM-backed Cruise using the tech startup's electric, self-driving to haul groceries and other goods to suburban Phoenix customers. The project starts sometime in early 2021 and will use battery-powered vehicles in Cruise's test fleet in Scottsdale, Arizona, Tom Ward, Walmart's senior vice president for customer product, said in a blog post Tuesday. Cruise has said the electricity used to charge up its self-driving fleet comes entirely from renewable resources, which helps the retailer's goal of curbing carbon emissions from its operations. "Customers can place an order from their local store and have it delivered, contact-free, via one of Cruise's all-electric self-driving cars," Ward said. "Technology that has the potential to not only save customers time and money but also be helpful to the planet is technology we want to learn more about."

At the beginning of 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) was predicted to become what some experts called a "key ingredient" technology across many industries over the next decade. Fast-forward to today, and interest in AI is surging even more. As we are now deeply entrenched in the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to enhance manual business processes with more automation through AI has hit many industries with urgency, but especially retail. About two-thirds of executives surveyed by McKinsey in June said they had accelerated the implementation of robotics, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies in response to COVID-19. The retail industry has a unique opportunity to learn from consumer behavior this year and implement AI solutions that can meet shoppers' needs in the long term.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the technology of today, the story of 2010 and the excitement of tomorrow. The past decade will be reminisced as an era where machines began their journey on the path of intelligence – proficient in learning, executing, and'thinking' like humans do. The digitalization of the Retail Industry has been changing in recent years with augmented efficiency, rapidity and accuracy across every branch of business domain. Through prognostic analytics and innovative data exploration, we are now able to make all data-focused business resolutions. AI in the domain of retail has enabled industries to access high levels of data information which has improved retail operations and given business better opportunities.

From Siri to automated customer service representatives, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots can benefit people by connecting them with a host platform or service. Chatbots can sometimes feel real when a person receives curated responses and these messages can offer directions or information without making an individual navigate the AI's host. This tech is so common it has become part of some people's lives and a tool that helps people to work within their environments. AI chatbots are popular with major retailers, like Kroger, and can recognize text and images to make tailored responses on its host platforms, such as a website or social media outlets including Twitter and Facebook. Other chatbots, like Siri, help owners initiate actions on their Apple products through verbal responses.

Walmart Inc. has ended its effort to use roving robots in store aisles to keep track of its inventory, reversing a yearslong push to automate the task with the hulking machines after finding during the coronavirus pandemic that humans can help get similar results. The retail giant has ended its contract with robotics company Bossa Nova Robotics Inc., with which it joined over the past five years to gradually add six-foot-tall inventory-scanning machines to stores.

A school of fish demonstrates swarm intelligence. Human behavior fascinates me, especially the way people communicate and connect with others. I've written extensively about emotional intelligence, or EQ, and the "soft skills" (like empathy, awareness and creativity) that fuel it. Coupled with technical expertise, leaders with high EQ inject humanity back into business and put people first to create environments that empower and ignite their teams, delight their customers and fuel sustainable growth. But conversely, I'm also intrigued by the mystique around artificial intelligence, or AI, as well as its potential.