These are the names we call out now, perhaps more often than we call out those of friends and family members. Over the past decade we've become accustomed to the idea that when we call a customer service line, we must often pass through a gauntlet of voice-activated technology before reaching a human. The fact that we are willing to shout "representative" repeatedly in order to talk to a person shows both the limits of AI in its current state and our desire to connect to another human being. In business, the human factor is often the difference between a one-time user and a lifelong customer. It's a fact that luxury department store owners have known for years. Years ago, the most luxurious boutiques would keep files on index cards noting a frequent consumer's style preferences as well as any other details that might make for an easier conversation.

Alexa-like voice services traditionally have supported small numbers of well-separated domains, such as calendar or weather. In an effort to extend the capabilities of Alexa, Amazon in 2015 released the Alexa Skills Kit, so third-party developers could add to Alexa's voice-driven capabilities. We refer to new third-party capabilities as skills, and Alexa currently has more than 40,000. Four out of five Alexa customers with an Echo device have used a third-party skill, but we are always looking for ways to make it easier for customers to find and engage with skills. For example, we recently announced we are moving toward skill invocation that doesn't require mentioning a skill by name.

Bill Gates, captured on April 19, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. Tech titans have a long history of making book recommendations. In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg launched a book club via Facebook, noting a must-read every two weeks. The year opened with Moisés Naím's The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be and closed out with David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; in between were titles on racism, genetics, religion, medicine, and sociology, and a smattering of science fiction novels. Jeff Bezos, owner of "bookstore killer" Amazon, had a book list on the platform in 2013 that included a variety of entrepreneur-focused books, like the iconic The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton Christensen and Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins.

The E3 Expo is in full swing, and if Bethesda's Fallout 76 reveal got you excited (and if not, go re-watch the trailer below) then you should head over to Amazon right now. The online retailer is offering physical copy pre-orders of Fallout 76 for $48 right now, $12 off the standard $60 price for new games. That's good for 20 percent off, but there's a catch: You need to be a Prime member to take advantage of it. The new Fallout 76, which doesn't roll out until November 14, is taking an unusual approach compared to previous iterations in Bethesda's post-nuclear wasteland. In this game you inhabit the Fallout world with other players with whom you can either team up or hunt down PvP-style.

This week we saw a huge milestone with China beating Amazon to successfully establish fully commercialized drone delivery, a new type of online to offline buying experience combining China's Spotify with retail, and artificial intelligence (AI) predicting which roads will flood in advance in order to reduce traffic congestion. China is pushing the boundaries of technological advancement faster than any country on Earth and This Week In China Tech is the place to stay on top of the news that you won't find in the Western media. Aerial photo taken on May 10, 2018 shows a drone carried with parcels, taking off from a branch post office in Weicheng Township, Qingzhen City of southwest China's Guizhou Province. You probably remember how Amazon captured the consumer imagination when they announced their concept for delivery drones at the end of 2016, but they never really materialized. Chinese retailers have now delivered fully operational drone delivery systems, confirming 17 authorized routes last week (article in Chinese).

Remark Holdings (MARK) is what one would call a contested company. It has long supporters with strong conviction, but there has also been some kind of a short drive, and the present short count is almost 16% of the nearly 25M float. That short count is far from the highest we've seen, a company like Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) still has 78% of the float shorted (at least according to the latest figures) but it seems to have done major damage already. Who to believe, the conviction longs or the shorts who put out a troubling report. Questions like these are very difficult to solve, especially if you're not a forensic accountant. Since we're no forensic accountants ourselves, we'll try to gather some stylized facts and see what these add up to, and whether there is some chance for the longs to recoup some of their losses. This company was one of two highest conviction longs for SA contributor Yale Bock, who is the President of Y H & C Investments (see here).

Banks That Have Implemented Social Media Payments Through Facebook and Twitter, Let's Talk Payments

Global Artificial Intelligence in Retail Market is Expected to Grow From US$ 712.6 Million in 2016 to US$ 27,238.6 Inception of exponential technologies such as sensors, robotics, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence in the retail industry has enabled the retailers to enhance their interactions with consumers and transformed the way retail operations were performed. This change in the industry is prominently driven by the seismic shift in the shopping pattern of the consumers, and their preferences backed by demographic dividend across regions. The report focuses on an in-depth segmentation of this market based by retail format, technology, and application. The geographic segmentation of the report covers five major regions including; North Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SA).

AI has the potential to empower us all to accomplish more, drive better business outcomes and achieve breakthroughs that redefine what's possible. From changing the transportation landscape to discovering new ways of protecting the planet, from reinventing healthcare to connecting with customers, the opportunities are endless.

For a couple of days this week, I attended the EmTech NEXT conference at MIT, which is organized by MIT Technology Review. The focus of the event was that fabled idea "The Future of Work," and if you are on the side of the humans, the future seems pretty bright. Virtually every speaker (MIT folks, AI and robotics leaders) came out in favor of augmentation over automation. They say that AI and robots won't take our jobs, but rather augment them by doing the things we humans don't do so well. I must say that I was a bit surprised that augmentation has become the consensus view among experts.