By now, many of us have heard about or might even own one of the popular, sleek multi-functional voice-first devices, such as the Amazon Echo, also known as "Alexa", the name used when waking the device to give a verbal command. Quick joke: How do you make Alexa laugh? This joke is terrible for many reasons, not the least of which is that I ended up anthropomorphized a digital device, which may be one of the biggest issues with this devices. Related: There's No Doubt That Amazon Alexa Is the Next Big Thing First, according to Voice Labs Voice Report for 2017, 6.5 million voice-first devices -- defined as an always-on piece of hardware utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) with primarily a voice interface, both for input and output -- were shipped in 2016. In 2017, that number is estimated to grow to 24.5 million devices shipped, thanks in large part to its appearance during the Super Bowl commercials.

Nine of top 20 UK fintech deals were completed post-referendum, with investment totalling $368 million, according to a new report by Startupbootcamp's London fintech programme in conjunction with PwC. As a testament to the strength of the UK fintech market, the report also revealed that today's British fintech start-up works on a robust model that puts customers first through an investment into technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Fintech start-ups are increasingly focusing on building smarter, faster machines as they seek to gain a better understanding of artificial intelligence and its potential to solve customer problems. This according to data compiled from hundred of start-ups and financial services companies, which also reveals that almost one in seven applications to the Startupbootcamp incubator programme in 2016 looked to build new prototypes, many of which were focused on AI and machine learning. Over the past few years, the focus on AI and machine learning has been driven by a need to further understand and develop the technology with no clear concept of how to implement it in daily life, according to the report.

The NHS is testing a new artificially intelligent chatbot app that it hopes will offer an alternative to the non-emergency 111 helpline. The bot will allow users to enter their symptoms and get advice immediately right on their smartphones. The idea is to offer the health advice service to ease the number of calls to 111, which may otherwise be resolved with a few simple answers from the app. The 111 helpline has been subject to criticism for unanswered calls, failing to identify serious conditions and inappropriate advice. This service is mostly manned by non medical professionals who often answer questions using a script anyway.

Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, Harald Krueger, CEO of German car maker BMW and Amnon Shashua, co-founder, chairman and CTO Mobileye NV, pose after a press conference in Munich on July 1, 2016. As the automotive industry races to commercialize automated driving by the turn of the decade, the number of real power players in the space is rapidly consolidating. The latest move is Intel's acquisition of Israeli machine vision leader Mobileye for $15.3 billion. If completed, the deal may finally put Intel in a strong position in a new market after it has struggled in recent years to break into new new territory beyond its deteriorating stronghold in PC chips. Founded 1999, Mobileye is the undisputed global market leader for the image processing systems that are increasingly becoming standard equipment on new vehicles and will be essential to making self-driving vehicles work.

Intel has shifted its self-driving car efforts into high gear with a $15.3 billion deal to acquire computer vision and collision-avoidance company MobileEye. With the deal, announced Monday, Intel gets its hands on technology for machine learning, data analysis, localization and mapping for driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. Mobileye develops a full package of software and chips designed for use in autonomous cars. The deal is expected to close in nine months and calls for the combined global autonomous driving organization, which will consist of Mobileye and Intel's Automated Driving Group, to be headquartered in Israel and led by Amnon Shashua, Mobileye's co-Founder, chairman and CTO. The acquisition of MobileEye will be merged with Intel technologies like Xeon processors, FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), 3D Xpoint memory and 5G modems in autonomous cars said Brian Krzanich, Intel's CEO.

Intel is no longer satisfied just partnering with other companies to create self-driving cars: it wants to own the whole stack. The chip maker just announced it intends to purchase Jerusalem-based Mobileye for $15.3 billion. The two companies were already working together on various projects. The pair announced a partnership with BMW in July 2016 with the aim of putting an autonomous car on the streets by 2021. Then in November, the two companies partnered with auto parts maker Delphi to create the Automated Driving Group, which will create a self-driving car system that can be sold to automakers.

Android users have long been able to personalise their phone's home screen by creating widgets and downloading launchers and icon packs. However, many users are unaware of this, and instead rely on their own pictures and their phone's pre-loaded wallpapers to keep their handset's look fresh. That's why Google has created the'myAndroid Taste Test', a short quiz designed to help users discover the perfect home screen design and layout for them. The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session A man looks at an exhibit entitled'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Electrification Guru Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart talks about the electric Jaguar I-PACE concept SUV before it was unveiled before the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S The Jaguar I-PACE Concept car is the start of a new era for Jaguar. Japan's On-Art Corp's CEO Kazuya Kanemaru poses with his company's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' and other robots during a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan Japan's On-Art Corp's eight metre tall dinosaur-shaped mechanical suit robot'TRX03' performs during its unveiling in Tokyo, Japan Singulato Motors co-founder and CEO Shen Haiyin poses in his company's concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China A picture shows Singulato Motors' concept car Tigercar P0 at a workshop in Beijing, China Connected company president Shigeki Tomoyama addresses a press briefing as he elaborates on Toyota's "connected strategy" in Tokyo.

Google just killed the Captcha, perhaps the most obstructive thing on the entire internet. For years, Captcha served as the primary way of telling humans and robots apart on the internet. It made sure that the person looking to access a website was actually a human being – ensuring that robots couldn't be used to send spam or flood a website with requests, for instance. But over time, robots have gradually become too clever for the often simple tests – which early on required people to transcribe hard-to-read text. With that, the technologies have become more complex, too.

Technology is most successful when it impacts society in a positive way, and whilst Artificial Intelligence is still a sensitive subject for some, another benevolent application for AI has been found in fighting crime. AI powered platforms are brilliant at recognising patterns, which also means that they can pick out anomalies. That's why AI is such a valuable tool for detecting fraud, for instance. It can flag up suspicious behaviours amongst datasets that are so huge, human administrators wouldn't know where to start. The latest use of the technology to combat crime isn't on the streets, or even in the courts – it's a prison that is pioneering this new high-tech approach to security.

The two words that can send goosebumps to every college basketball fan in the country. It's the month where every fan will fill out a bracket, each thinking that they picked the right 12 over 5 seed upset or that they were the only one to pick the Cinderella team that makes it to the Elite 8. The month where people will spend hours watching regular season games, pouring over stats and expert analysis, trying to carefully predict the most likely winner, only to find their pick lose in the first round (Thanks Michigan State). The month where your younger sister ends up having a better bracket than you because she picked the teams with the "cooler" mascots (Sad, but true story). March Madness is the sports phenomenon that incites anxiety, regret, elation, and every other possible emotion in the spectrum. And it's about to start in 4 days.