About a year ago, the author (whom I happen to know personally) sent me a rough draft of this book. And let me say, it was pretty rough. The important part though was that there was a ton of promise in both the characters and the overall plot (Artificial Intelligence and humans.) At the time, there were only a few chapters written, but generally, I liked what I had read. I gave my feedback and then wished my friend good luck and that I looked forward to reading the final product.

First, there were mom-and-pop stores and boutiques. Then came malls and, with them, big retail chains. After that, we got the online experience -- where with just a click we can access thousands of products, order them, try them on and send them back if they don't suit us. Americans do over 90 percent of their shopping in physical stores, and the launch of physical stores by online companies, including Amazon and Warby Partner, is one of the latest trends in retail, according to New York data company CB Insights. So startups worldwide are also striving to bring new technologies to stores, to help improve the buying experience and sales.

Tess. is a London-based online service created for women that offers personalized professional styling recommendations based on artificial intelligence. of 5 (Photo: MyTess/Dasha Egay) Today, artificial intelligence has become the latest trend in various fields, including education, healthcare, the environment and the business sectors. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if artificial intelligence invades the world of fashion? Whether people will admit it or not, fashion is playing an essential role in our daily routines. Since we are currently in an era where artificial intelligence is on the rise, some of us can't help but wonder how AI will change and influence the world of fashion. Earlier in May, people got a glimpse of how experts incorporated artificial intelligence into the ever-evolving field of fashion.

Amazon's voice activated digital assistant Alexa appears to know more about Prime Day than she's letting on. All she'll do at this point is recite a cryptic poem pointing to a possible deal on July 8, 2016. SAN FRANCISCO -- The off-season sale Amazon calls Prime Day hits July 12. If you're thinking of taking part, you'll save money and time by planning ahead. Here's how to prepare yourself ahead of the marketing bonanza, from apps that alert on price drops to asking Alexa.

Amazon's voice activated digital assistant Alexa appears to know more about Prime Day than she's letting on. All she'll do at this point is recite a cryptic poem pointing to a possible deal on July 8, 2016. The Tap is similar to Echo, but requires you to press a button to speak to Alexa. SAN FRANCISCO -- The meaning behind a cryptic poem recited by Amazon's voice-command digital assistant Alexa on Wednesday became clear Friday with the announcement that Amazon customers who order by voice will get exclusive deals during the online retailer's Prime Day sale. Alexa users will receive a 10 discount on their first Amazon order using Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap, July 8 through July 12. Amazon created the shopping holiday for its Prime customers last year as a sort of Christmas in July event to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Could the future of online shopping be as simple as sketching out what you're looking for and letting a computer figure out the rest? They've taught a deep learning neural network -- an incredibly powerful tool that mimics the way that the human brain works -- to recognize hand-drawn sketches and use them to search for real-life products. The network was "trained" to match sketches to photos based on a data set consisting of around 30,000 sketch-photo comparisons. From these it learned to interpret the way that people depict real objects in hand drawing. Most impressive of all is the fact that the sketches drawn by users don't even have to be all that detailed -- but the more detail users do add, the more accurate the search results become.

By 2020 50% or more of the U.S. workforce are expected to be on-demand workers / contingent workers in the liquid workforce. Zoondy capitalizes on this paradigm shift by utilizing a commodity brokerage approach to create a marketplace for seasoned professionals to sell their skills and expertise in four unique ways: free, fixed price, auction and goal pricing. Zoondy provides a secure, structured market environment for buyers and sellers of professional high-skill expertise to transact for the knowledge, expertise and skills that they need on a short term or project basis. While most associate freelance and on–demand workers with creative engagements, at best or un-skilled hourly gig workers, at worst, like Uber drivers, Fivver or Upwork; Zoondy targets the 43 million seasoned professionals, retirees and work-from-home executives who have proven expertise that can be shared locally or globally with businesses both small and large. For seasoned professionals, a Zoondy profile takes only minutes to set up and when completed the platform immediately begins marketing a user's skills.

When Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Messenger would open up to branded chatbots at the F8 conference in April, 1-800 Flowers' was the example he used in his demo. "I love this one," he said. "It's pretty ironic: To order from 1-800-Flowers, you never have to call 1-800-Flowers again." With the "chatbot gold rush" now in full swing, Facebook's launch partner should be a good barometer for the success of Messenger bots so far. Two months in, is anyone getting roses besides the recipient of Zuck's announcement flowers, head Messenger honcho David Marcus?

The jobs at highest risk are those in the transport and retail sectors. In fact the transport sector could have 1.5 million jobs, that's 74% of the current workforce, replaced with automation and 60% of retail. Not surprising when you see how popular online shopping has become - who needs a high street shop? Almost 750,000 have been lost in manufacturing to automation just in the last 15 years alone. Even Stephen Hawking the renowned scientist fears that AI or Artificial Intelligence could eventually spell the end of the human race.

The knock at the door from a harassed delivery driver clutching a plastic bag full of food could be about to end. A fleet of autonomous wheeled drones are to be used on the streets of central London to carry meals ordered through the Just Eat takeaway app. Meals will be placed inside the insulated compartments of the droids and customers will be given a secure code to open them when it arrives at their door. Customers order their food online and are given a secret code which will give access to the six-wheel drone (pictured) upon arrival at their door. Unlike robots designed to resemble humans, the Starship's bot is purely functional with a large compartment to hold deliveries, the equivalent size of two grocery bags.