Imagine an app that describes to the visually impaired the objects around them, or reads the Sunday paper, a favorite magazine, or a street sign. Or an app that is capable of monitoring what is happening inside an area without human control, and then makes a decision based on interpreting an occurrence detected with a live camera. This book teaches developers Microsoft's Computer Vision APIs, a service capable of understanding and interpreting the content of any image. Who This Book Is For Developers just getting familiar with artificial intelligence. A minimal knowledge of C# is required.

Amazon has long used robots to help humansmove merchandise around itswarehouses. Now automation is transforming Amazon's white-collar workforce, too. The people who command six-figure salaries to negotiate multimillion-dollar deals with major brands are being replaced by software that predicts what shoppers want and how much to charge for it. Machines are beating people at the critical inventory decisions that separate the winners and losers in retail. For the staffers deciding how many books, games or plastic pool toys to peddle, the tradeoff can be stark: Order too little and you miss out.

Without a doubt, retailers enjoyed a very good holiday season last year. Not only was U.S. retail spending up 4.9 percent over the previous year, but the new tax law promised to leave both businesses and many consumers with more money to spend in 2018. The critical question for retailers this year is, how can they capitalize on this changed landscape when the next holiday season rolls around in November? With an eye on making the most of the coming holiday season, Dennis breaks down how smart retailers are already using technology to drive sales. The answer, according to Steve Dennis, a leading retail consultant, blogger and former executive at Neiman Marcus and Sears, is a mixture of traditional tactics and investment in new technologies.

Microsoft is working on technology that would eliminate the need for cashiers and checkout lines in supermarkets. The company is looking to challenge Amazon, which has already opened a checkout-free store in Seattle, called Amazon Go, according to people familiar with the matter. It is believed Microsoft is developing systems to track what shoppers add to their carts or basket as they move around the supermarket. The Redmond-based software giant has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and is reportedly in talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration. Microsoft is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores. The tech firm is looking to challenge Amazon's automated grocery shop, according to six people familiar with the matter (stock image) Microsoft's technology aims to help retailers keep pace with Amazon Go, a highly automated store that opened to the public in Seattle in January.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a variety of different industries and sectors has exploded over the past few years. From healthcare and finance to agriculture and cyber security, there are now fewer and fewer businessesand enterprises that are unaware of the benefits AI could bring to their area of expertise. The retail industry is one of many commercial and industrial sectors that have already begun to implement and integrate the first wave of AI-enhanced technologies into their business operations and there are currently a growing number of use cases and studies available that showcase the power of artificial intelligence within a retail setting. While artificial intelligence is often touted as "master of all trades" solution, and while its capabilities may eventually warrant such descriptions, current AI-technologies are best suited to more specific applications. Security, customer behavior and buying patterns, digital signage and much more can all be improved upon by artificial intelligence, however, this is best done with the implementation of specific AI or machine learning technologies as opposed to integrating a single solution and hoping it will run everything.

Microsoft Corp is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon.com Inc's automated grocery shop, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Redmond, Washington-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts, the people say. Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart Inc about a potential collaboration, three of the people said. Microsoft's technology aims to help retailers keep pace with Amazon Go, a highly automated store that opened to the public in Seattle in January. Amazon customers scan their smartphones at a turnstile to enter.

While Amazon continues to test out its cashier and checkout-less Go stores, Reuters reports that Microsoft is working on similar technology. Besides a number of partners who are working on products in the vein of Amazon Go -- which allows shoppers to simply take items off the shelf, put them in their cart and leave with a bill automatically tabulated based on computer vision watching what they buy -- it has an internal team that has tried out using cameras attached to shopping carts and mobile apps. The report calls out a small team within the company's Business AI group dedicated to retail tech, and said CEO Satya Nadella recommended a device that could live on-site to manage cameras without transferring data to the cloud. Microsoft isn't new to the space and in 2017 it showed off a slew of retail-focused products at the National Retail Federation's Big Show event that included a version of the Skip mobile app that's in testing in grocery stores. With Skip, shoppers scan each item as they shop using the app, then check out on their phone when they've finished.

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.