The next time you ask Google Assistant a question, you'll be more likely to get something beyond a flurry of web links. Google is rolling out an update to Assistant on Android that provides more detailed (not to mention more vivid) info cards when you ask certain questions. Search for local events and you'll get cards that include associated visuals and bookmark buttons. Look for cute cats, meanwhile, and you'll see pictures for adorable breeds on top of the actual rankings. Other upgraded searches include stocks (you'll see a stock performance graph), financial calculators, color pickers and even a bubble level.

One of the most common applications of machine learning today is in recommendation algorithms. Netflix and YouTube use them to push you new shows and videos; Google and Facebook use them to rank the content in your search results and news feed. While these algorithms offer a great deal of convenience, they have some undesirable side effects. You've probably heard of them before: filter bubbles and echo chambers. Concern about these effects is not new.

Matrix completion has a long-time history of usage as the core technique of recommender systems. In particular, 1-bit matrix completion, which considers the prediction as a ``Recommended'' or ``Not Recommended'' question, has proved its significance and validity in the field. However, while customers and products aggregate into interacted clusters, state-of-the-art model-based 1-bit recommender systems do not take the consideration of grouping bias. To tackle the gap, this paper introduced Group-Specific 1-bit Matrix Completion (GS1MC) by first-time consolidating group-specific effects into 1-bit recommender systems under the low-rank latent variable framework. Additionally, to empower GS1MC even when grouping information is unobtainable, Cluster Developing Matrix Completion (CDMC) was proposed by integrating the sparse subspace clustering technique into GS1MC. Namely, CDMC allows clustering users/items and to leverage their group effects into matrix completion at the same time. Experiments on synthetic and real-world data show that GS1MC outperforms the current 1-bit matrix completion methods. Meanwhile, it is compelling that CDMC can successfully capture items' genre features only based on sparse binary user-item interactive data. Notably, GS1MC provides a new insight to incorporate and evaluate the efficacy of clustering methods while CDMC can be served as a new tool to explore unrevealed social behavior or market phenomenon.

"Abstinence ... Animal rights ... Very conservative ... Marijuana OK ... Children should be given guidelines ... Religion guides my life ... Make charitable contributions ... Would initiate hugs if I wasn't so shy ... Enjoy a good argument ... Have to-do lists that seldom get done ... Sweet food, baked goods ... Artificial or missing limbs ... Over 300 pounds ... Drag ... Exploring my orientation ... Women should pay." By the fall of 1994, Gary Kremen was working toward launching the first dating site online, Match.com. There was another four-letter word for love, he knew, and it was data, the stuff he would use to match people. No one had done this, so he had to start from scratch, drawing on instinct and his own dating experience.

Amazon's digital assistant could soon do more than just turn on your lights or tell you the weather. The e-commerce giant has signaled a major leap into healthcare for Alexa, by rolling out an invite-only program for developers to create their own skills around health and medicine. It would allow users to ask Alexa to book a doctor's appointment, find an urgent care center and check for updates on prescription refills. Amazon's digital assistant could soon do more than just turn on your lights or tell you the weather. Amazon, which launched the program on Thursday, said the skills are all compliant with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which ensures that personal health care information is protected. The firm told Wired that it has added extra security levels to how it treats the data collected through these skills, beyond the encryption, access controls and secure cloud storage it deploys for other skill data.

Step aside, Mr Aldrin, because there's a new buzz in town - and it's coming from robot bees that NASA is sending to work on the International Space Station. Dubbed'Astrobees', the cube-shaped robots will fly about the orbiting laboratory, running experiments and helping out the crew by using their attachable manipulator arms. The design of the little bots was inspired by the flying combat remote from Star Wars, which teaches the film's hero Luke Skywalker to fight with a lightsaber. Dubbed'Astrobees', the cube-shaped robots will fly about the orbiting laboratory, running experiments and helping out the crew by using their attachable manipulator arms The design of the little bots was inspired by the flying combat remote from Star Wars, which teaches the film's hero Luke Skywalker to fight with a lightsaber (pictured) The robots were built and developed at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, where engineers created a mock-up of the interior of the International Space Station where they tested the Astrobees' capabilities. 'There are some things only humans can do in space.

Siri just doesn't know when to keep quiet. A security flaw in Apple's digital assistant makes it so that users can easily send a message or make a phone call on someone else's locked device, according to Quartz. All users need to do is take advantage of the'Hey Siri' feature, which activates the digital assistant once those wake words are spoken. Siri just doesn't know when to keep quiet. A security flaw in Apple's digital assistant makes it so that users can easily send a message or make a phone call on someone else's device Apple offers Siri on every iPhone released after the iPhone 6S, which was launched in September 2015.

Late Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Amazon could be working on a pair of wireless earbuds, similar to Apple's AirPods. Just as the latest AirPods offer hands-free access to Siri, the rumored Amazon pair will also likely work with Alexa. They'll also apparently have gesture controls and come in a charging case, again, much like the AirPods. But as much as it seems Amazon is going after Apple with this new venture, the company might really be going after another rival too: Google. When it comes to the virtual assistant wars, there are really two main players: Alexa and Google Assistant.

Amazon could go head-to-head with Apple and launch its own pair of wireless headphones. The e-commerce giant is in the process of developing earbuds with its AI Alexa assistant built into them, Bloomberg reported, citing sources close to the situation. The product could possibly hit the shelves as soon as later this year. Amazon could go head-to-head with Apple and launch its own pair of wireless headphones. Amazon's earbuds will appear similar to Apple's AirPods, except they'll feature better audio quality and will be offered at a cheaper price point than the iPhone maker's version, Bloomberg said.

Smart deadbolts eat batteries for breakfast. I know, because I have five of them installed on various entry doors in my own smart home, and I replace the batteries in each one two to three times a year. So when I learned that the Array by Hampton was not only powered by a rechargeable battery, but that its battery is continuously topped off by an integrated solar panel, I thought "Brilliant!" After thorough testing, I can say Hampton has solved the battery problem, but as good as it is, this lock won't be the right addition for every smart home. The Array's biggest drawback (for people who live in smart homes, at least) is one that Hampton touts as a feature: It connects to Wi-Fi, with no additional hub needed.