It's Google's biggest retail partnership -- and the most personalized shopping experience it offers -- as it tries to broaden the reach of its voice-powered assistant Home speaker. Wal-Mart announced Monday that it's expanding its grocery delivery service with ride-hailing service Uber, and it's been testing same-day delivery service with Deliv at Sam's Club in Miami. With other Google Express retailers, personalization takes time as the assistant learns shoppers' preferences, says Brian Elliott, general manager of Google Express. Wal-Mart says it will be tapping its 4,700 U.S. stores and its fulfillment network next year to offer more kinds of customer experiences using voice shopping.

Google's Express delivery service has just gained another big player in addition to Target and Costco: Walmart. Soon, you'll be able to buy items from the major retailer with your voice through Google Home or via the Google Express website or app and then have your purchase delivered to your home. That's made even better by the fact that the service now delivers for free, so long as you meet a merchant's minimum purchase requirement. Unlike Amazon Prime, you don't even need to pay a membership fee. Besides having thousands of items to choose from -- everything "from laundry detergent to Legos," the tech titan says -- you can also have a personalized shopping experience by linking your existing Walmart account with Google.

At its core, big data is about predictions. Though it has been described as part of the branch of computer science called artificial intelligence, and more specifically, an area called machine learning, this characterization is misleading. Big data is not about trying to

This book generally does a good job of not assuming prior math / notation knowledge. The problem I have with most ai or game theory books is that they assume you have a math undergrad or grad degree. I come from an applied arts (design) background and this book was really helpful for getting my head around the basics of ai algorithms. Some of the explanations were lacking completeness and the author doesn't clearly tie the last two chapters to the rest of the book with concrete examples. There are some formatting issues and errors in the book.

My morning routine is simple: I wake up when my phone's alarm goes off, I go back to sleep, wake up again, contemplate more sleep, get dressed, make coffee and listen to one of Alexa's "flash briefings" before I start slinging words on the internet. Getting that first news blast of the day used to be a job for my trusty clock radio, but no longer: Alexa's invasion has begun. More precisely, it began this past summer, when I was dragged through a Home Depot, saw a spider-wrapped Echo, and said, "Eh, what the hell?" For a while there, in the early days, Alexa's responsibilities boiled down to reading my Audible audiobooks and telling me what the weather was like so that I didn't need to look out the window. Since then, though, she's become so enmeshed in the fabric of my household that I don't consciously remember all the times I talk to her.

In The Booming Artificial Intelligence Market: Who's In? Everybody!, I wrote that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a bit of a "big boy" game. By that, I meant that not every company has the capital for investments in AI, machine learning, natural language processing and related efforts, and in some instances, many business leaders aren't yet paying much attention. At the Internet Association's 2017 Annual Charity Gala held in Washington D.C., IA's president and CEO Michael Beckerman interviewed Amazon's Jeff Bezos in a fireside chat. Among the many things they discussed and topics explored was AI, and where the internet behemoth is headed as it relates to AI. Bezos echoed my sentiments on the accessibility issue--and pointed to it as one he intends to address as part Amazon's overall AI strategy. It's an understatement to say that Bezos realizes the importance of AI and machine learning, pointing to the many advancements that were either in the realm of science fiction or in or imaginations for the last few decades and which are now becoming reality.

Originally posted on The Horizons Tracker. I've written a few times recently about the initial forays of IBM's Watson into retail. For instance, at the back end of last year they launched Watson Trend to help us buy the perfect holiday gift, whilst they've also powered the recommendation engine at retailers such as North Face. Both are good examples of the use of AI to help provide more accurate predictions of the things we prefer. A good example of the work being undertaken in this area comes from a recently published paper that sees researchers develop a filtering model to do this job.

A survey last year found that 98 percent of smartphone owners had used their device's artificial intelligence-based virtual personal assistant (VPA). The majority of those surveyed were inhibited about talking to their artificial intelligence (AI)-powered VPAs in public, but that's likely to change as AI becomes more firmly entrenched in everyday life. As AI becomes a part of daily living, brand leaders are realizing the potential the technology has to transform marketing. With AI, marketers can understand customers more completely and connect with them on a deeper, more personal level. This can allow brands to deliver a buying experience that is relevant to the customer.

Amazon's Echo Dot was made available for free through Amazon.com The apparent promo appeared to shut down around 4 p.m. EDT, with some users showing notifications that the product was no longer available. There is no listing of the promotion, which is applied at checkout and is listed as an "Audible Promo," presumably in reference to Amazon's audiobook service Audible. It is unclear if the deal or apparently giveaway was intended solely for Amazon Prime customers, but customers without Prime were also able to order the product for free as of Friday afternoon. When the device is added to a user's cart, it is listed at it's retail price of $49.99.

A bizarre drone designed to take the hassle out of walking your dog is being advertised by an online retailer. Drones Direct say that they have modified a popular automated aerial vehicle to allow owners to take their pet for a stroll completely hands free. The device uses GPS to lead dogs along a programmed route. Their DJI Phantom 4 Dog Drone, which the firm insists is a genuine product, costs twice the price of the regular model at £1,999 ($2,590). A bizarre drone designed to take the hassle out of walking your dog is being advertised by an online retailer.