Apple Inc. said Friday that it's pushing back its plans for a Siri-powered smart speaker until sometime early next year. The HomePod speaker was announced in June, with an initial launch date set for December. Apple said that its smart speaker will be able to control home appliances and take basic orders. In June, some analysts questioned whether a December launch would be too late for Apple to compete with Amazon.com But Apple promised that the speaker would have all of Siri's smarts and stand out from the pack by offering superior sound quality.

OK, Google, and hey, Alexa, you won't have Siri to worry about in the living room for the holidays. Apple on Friday delayed the pending release of its high-end HomePod connected speaker until 2018, saying it wasn't ready for shipment. When the company announced HomePod in June as a higher-fidelity answer to Amazon's Echo and Google Home -- and its Siri personal digital assistant on board -- December had been its scheduled release. In a statement, Apple said "We can't wait for people to experience HomePod...but we need a little more time before it's ready for our customers." It also put off the release of its AirPods wireless earbuds in 2016 by two months.

Apple promised to release the HomePod in December, but the company now says it won't start shipping them until next year. Apple revealed the HomePod at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June and had said it would come out for the holiday season, but that won't be the case anymore. "We can't wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple's breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it's ready for our customers. We'll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018." The delayed release date means that people who wanted to buy the HomePod for the holidays won't be able to anymore.

Weather can cause significant fluctuations in consumer demand, and because of the bullwhip effect, it can produce unnecessarily high fluctuations on the supply side as well. And these types of variations typically turn into costs. Prepare too extensively, and you'll end up breaching the capacity limitations at every level of your supply chain and increasing your fresh goods spoilage, but failing to prepare sufficiently leads to significant lost sales. What's more, lost sales do not only apply to products that go out of stock, especially during extreme weather conditions when customers are more likely to make their decision on which store to visit based on the availability of a key product, for example bottled water, snow shovels, quality barbecue meats or candles. So how can retailers optimally prepare for weather-related fluctuations?

Samsung 55-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV--$1,197.99 (Save $300): This 2017 model won our Editors' Choice award for its impeccable picture quality, and now you can get it for the lowest price we've ever seen. Plus, it's down to the lowest price we've ever seen. Playstation 4 Slim 1TB Console Playstation VR Headset--$549.99 (Save $137): Kids clamoring for VR this year? This bundle is the perfect "big" gift if you want to get them a new console too. Jaybird X3 Sport Bluetooth In-Ear Headphones--$99.99 (Save $30): These headphones are fantastic for anyone who works out (Hello, New Year's resolution-ers).

In the future, you could have a personalised AI stylist that knows what you like to wear and decides what your next outfit should be. Researchers are working on a neural network that could create'predictive fashion' using CGI images of items of clothing that might look good. This system could be used by retailers to give people a personalised shopping experience as well as helping predict broader fashion trends. Researchers at the retail giant are working on machine-learning systems that could potentially shape fashion trends of the future. The system relies on a tool called GAN (generative adversarial network).

We've already published our favorite Black Friday deals for 2017, but we're making some topic-specific guides to help you navigate the immense number of deals going on over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There are a lot of excellent gaming deals going on, and we've gathered some of the best right here, all available online so you don't have to traipse around in the cold on Thanksgiving weekend to get them. PS4 controllers seem like they run out of juice every day or two, and they always cost at least $60 to replace. If you're in need, most Sony DualShock controller colors will be $40 all week, and Microsoft is discounting many versions of its Xbox One controller to match. Oddly enough, leading up to Black Friday, both companies are already discounting their controllers. Best Buy and Walmart have some new exclusive DualShock colors, as well.

Everyone and their robot dog wants a Nintendo Switch right now. Nintendo's new hybrid console is in extremely high demand after a strong start to its life, with bonafide classics like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey already out for the young system. It has not been as easy to find one as people would hope, but thanks to some Black Friday 2017 deals, you might be able to find one after you recover from turkey exhaustion. GameSpot has helpfully compiled all the deals from every major retailer that has announced its Black Friday selection so far. There is good news and bad news when it comes to securing your very own Nintendo Switch on Black Friday.

Welcome to the User Guide for the Deep Learning AMI. The Deep Learning AMI (DLAMI) is your one-stop shop for deep learning in the cloud. This customized machine instance is available in most Amazon EC2 regions for a variety of instance types, from a small CPU-only instance to the latest high-powered multi-GPU instances. It comes preconfigured with NVIDIA CUDA and NVIDIA cuDNN, as well as the latest releases of the most popular deep learning frameworks. This guide will help you launch and use the DLAMI.

But the deals are here already. The Black Friday phenomenon – which already stretches over the following weekend and into Cyber Monday – grows each year, taking up more days and more focus. That is matched by companies who are more and more desperate to show off their deals, including Amazon. This year, the company has launched its Black Friday page with eight days left to go. And as ever, the best deals look to be on Amazon's own stuff.