David VanderWaal, vice president of marketing for LG Electronics USA, left, and Michael George, vice president of Alexa, Echo, and Appstore at Amazon.com Inc., speak about the Amazon Alexa partnership with the LG InstaView Door-In-Door smart refrigerator during the company's press conference at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. LG is seeking automotive alliances to accelerate autonomous driving, as well as acquiring artificial intelligence and robotics acquisitions to speed up its global expansion. Amazon ($AMZN) is scheduled to release earnings after Thursday's close (Feb 2, 2017). The social media giant hit a record high of $847.21 in 2016 and is currently trading near $835. The stock is prone to big moves after reporting earnings and can easily gap up if they report strong numbers. Conversely, if they miss, the stock can easily gap down like it did last quarter.

Apple Inc. is set to join the Partnership on AI, an artificial intelligence research group that includes Amazon.com Apple's admission into the group could be announced as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the situation. Representatives at Apple and the Partnership on AI declined to comment. When the nonprofit organization was announced in September, it anticipated gaining additional members. Apple, Twitter Inc., Intel Corp. and China's Baidu Inc. were among noticeable absentees at the time.

Apple is reportedly planning to join the Partnership on AI, which Bloomberg describes as "an artificial intelligence research group that includes Amazon.com More broadly, "While the introduction of the Siri virtual assistant in 2011 gave Apple an early presence in AI for consumers, it has since lost ground to rivals such as Google and Amazon," Bloomberg writes.

This week at the National Retail Federation's (NRF) annual Big Show in New York City, Microsoft is unveiling the latest digital innovations that are transforming the shopping experience for customers – at every step of their journey, across every channel. While personalization, omnichannel and customer-centricity are not new themes, retailers are more aware than ever that competing in today's world requires emphasis on the entire customer journey. Technology and culture change will be required at all levels of a retail organization to provide the experiences customers expect. We call this digital transformation, and many of our retail customers are already embracing this shift with help from technologies such as Microsoft Azure, Power BI and Dynamics 365, as well as solutions from our global network of partners. The hardware and software on display in our booth at NRF this week from these customers and partners are impressive -- including store-scanning robots, mobile apps, intelligent vending machines and smart shelves. Here are some of the solutions Microsoft customers and partners are implementing that use technology in new ways, from the warehouse to checkout.

In the near future, artificial intelligence (AI) would be in major demand by the consumers to make interactions as seamless as possible. Many of us as an end user are unaware of the fact that Google uses AI to improve their search. It provides us with the correct results most of the times. Behind the scenes of any AI-powered systems, there is a long and complex computational process involved with the trained data set for the algorithm to perform so that the user gets an overwhelming experience. This experience is so fast and seamless that the user thinks everything is happening magically.

A semi-autonomous drone modified with an umbrella canopy promises to shield users from the rain by automatically tracking their movements, but it's a hell of a lot pricier than a regular brolly. Drone retailer DronesDirect lists the creatively named Umbrella Drone, a specially adapted DJI Phantom 4 quadcopter, at a staggering £1,299, down from £1,499. The retailer, meanwhile, is selling the standard Phantom 4 for £997. However, a call to DronesDirect established that the Umbrella Drone is currently still in testing, and isn't available to buy just yet. The designers say the light-hearted creation came about because of the UK's notoriously unpredictable weather, and will be able to cope with even "the most adverse" conditions.

When investors think of artificial intelligence stocks, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) isn't usually the first name that comes to mind. Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) as the leader in at-home AI, due to the success of the company's Echo device, while "Watson" from International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is arguably the top turn-key artificial intelligence solution for enterprise-level entities. Those investors who believe AI is the future, however, may want to put MSFT stock back on their radar as a way to play the movement. The software giant's recent acquisition of Maluuba speaks volumes about its artificial intelligence ambitions and what it actually wants to "do" with it. Maluuba isn't a household name, but within artificial intelligence circles (and these are VP of AI Research Harry Shum's words), "Maluuba's vision is to advance toward a more general artificial intelligence by creating literate machines that can think, reason and communicate like humans – a vision exactly in line with ours."

In a year of uncertainty and unpredictability, change strangely remained our only constant in 2016. Against a backdrop of unexpected political events – the outcome of the Brexit referendum, the election of Donald Trump and the Italy constitutional reform vote, for example – and an unsettled global economy, technological innovation has been developing at a dizzying pace. Nowhere has this been more notable than in the retail sector. Customer demand for convenience is driving change. Our Unfaithful Consumer research found that 55 percent of consumers see it as the most important factor when it comes to deciding where, and how, to shop. With the help of truly disruptive new technology, the focus in 2016 was on making the entire shopping experience more convenient for the consumer.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be understood as a science, engineering and deployment of machines, which perform tasks with intelligence as similar to humans. Since its inception 60 years ago, AI has observed significant growth in recent years. Initially, AI was considered as topic for academicians, though in recent years with development of various technologies, AI has turned into reality and is influencing many lives and businesses. Additionally, evolution of various other supplementary technologies such as cloud computing, machine learning and cognitive computing are collectively paving the growth of the market for AI. Many IT giants and start-ups are investing heavily in development of AI software solutions and hardware products. Some the prominent players in AI market in the recent times are Intel Corporation (U.S.), Google Inc. (U.S.), Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Amazon.com,