Ever since rumors about the Samsung Galaxy S8 surfaced, there have been substantial reports hinting at the launch of a new smart assistant by Samsung. This new AI-powered voice assistant is said to be a strong competitor against Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google's Google Assistant. This week, there's new proof that the South Korea giant could be introducing its rumored Bixby assistant with its upcoming flagship phones. SamMobile recently spotted a new trademark filing by Apple's biggest rival company. The application is apparently for the logo of its new AI assistant. Based on the document, the logo resembles not only the letter "B," but also the number "8" -- fueling speculations that Bixby is debuting with the Galaxy S8 and the larger Galaxy S8 Plus.

Major smartphone makers are following Apple and Google into the smartphone trend of 2017: artificial intelligence. LG's G6 could feature Google Assistant, Samsung said its Galaxy S8 will feature its own AI assistant, and Huawei's Mate 9 is the first phone with Amazon's Alexa. The Chinese conglomerate has been especially vocal about AI in their smartphones--unusual for top smartphone makers, who are normally secretive about their latest devices. Huawei said they will have an AI-focused "Superphone" in 2020--just a year before their goal to be the world's top smartphone maker. The Chinese tech giant has been sitting at No. 3 since last year, behind Samsung and Apple.

Newly released Galaxy S8 renders are the clearest images we have of Samsung's upcoming flagship yet. The renders are based on factory CAD files according to habitual leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer and appear to confirm much of what has already been leaked in the last six months. The most notable change is the display size relative to the chassis, which, again, backs up previous leaks. The S8 will minimise its screen to body ratio, scrapping the home button and move the finger-print scanner to the back of the device in an oddly high position. That means a 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch display within a slightly thicker profile than the S7 frame.

As Samsung's unveiling of its make or break Galaxy S8 approaches, the firm's official cases for the handset appear to have leaked online. The leather cases, complete with a Samsung logo, show the S8 will have a fingerprint sensor on the rear - backing previous claims it will have no home button but an'infinity screen' on the front. It also reveals the firm may have added a button just for its new Siri-killer smart AI, called Bixby. The leather cases, complete with a Samsung logo, show the S8 will have a fingerprint sensor on the rear - fitting with previous claims it will have no home button but an'infinity screen' on the front. Bixby could be used for a wide variety of functions in a similar way to Apple's Siri.

We are on the verge of a very fast rate of technological change. If you think the Internet and mobile communications have changed the world, just wait. Coming years will be even more disruptive and amazing. When most people ponder technology they default to thoughts about compute power and its limitations. In 1965 Gordon Moore, the cofounder of Intel theorized that processing power should be capable of doubling every 18-24 months.

Robots are taking increasingly bigger roles in life and business – moving well beyond manufacturing and into transportation, education, medicine and care for the elderly. But ethics and law haven't caught up. Dr. Kate Darling, a pioneer in the fields, is helping quicken the pace. A leading expert in robot ethics, she is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab where she investigates social robotics and conducts experimental studies on human-robot interaction. Darling explores the emotional connection between people and life-like inventions, seeking to influence technology design and policy direction.

Between cat videos and online banking, the web runs the gamut of wasteful and wonderful when it comes to getting things done. And if you were to weigh the Internet's time wasters against its time-saving tools, it would be like an elephant sitting across a fulcrum from a field mouse. But through all the advances that have come with cloud computing, the Internet is quickly turning into a giant productivity machine. Shopping is great when you're soaking in some retail therapy, but when you're doing it because you have to, it can feel like a major chore. Mezi, a free iOS app, works like a personal assistant that you can text message. Just tell the service what you want--airfare, clothing, dinner reservations, personal electronics--and Mezi's agents scour the web for the best deals, even using coupons if possible to get you a good deal.

Machine learning in 2017 will become a mainstream tool for communications providers struggling to transform data overload into actionable analytics, according to Argyle Data. "The telecommunications industry is drowning in data," said Padraig Stapleton, VP of engineering at Argyle Data. Stapleton said fraud and financial analysts alike are overwhelmed by the struggle to control and harness this fire-hose of information into actionable analytics. There is just too much IP traffic going across mobile networks for humans to review, detect and respond to fraud in the traditional ways such as discovering fraud and writing preventative rules. Machine learning does all the grunt work for analysts, sifting through data in real time and providing output instantly in understandable, accessible formats," said Stapleton.

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 has been the subject of countless rumours over recent months, but the latest leaks all but confirm an unusual design choice that could be cause for concern. Thanks to the handset's enlarged screen, Samsung has decided to completely drop the home button and move the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone. However, Samsung appears to have taken a very different approach to rival smartphone manufacturers that have also embraced the rear-mounted sensor. Schematics released by Cnet Korea suggest that the Galaxy S8's fingerprint scanner will sit right beside the camera sensor, rather than a couple of centimetres below it. Users will inevitably end up inadvertently fingering the larger camera lens instead of the fingerprint scanner, which will need wiping down if enough dirt builds up over its surface.

Nearly a decade ago, Comcast promised liberation from the tyranny of the cable box. But today its control seems here to stay--as does big cable's control over how you consume the programming you pay for. This week, the Federal Communications Commission met for the first time under its new chairman, Ajit Pai, a Republican. The original agenda for the meeting included consideration of the agency's latest proposal--advanced under former Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler--to force cable companies to make their services a bit more open. That item disappeared from the agenda--and with it the likelihood that much of anything will change in the world of cable, at least as far as government regulation is concerned.