The current wave of virtual assistants owes a lot to a sidekick from one of the most popular video games of all time. The release of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 introduced Master Chief's AI partner Cortana, popularizing a lot of the common characteristics that are now shared by real-world AI helpers. Cortana was a friendly, helpful female voice in your ear, one who blurred the line between companion and digital tool. She sounded an awful lot like Siri -- and she did it a decade before virtual assistants became indispensable features of our smartphones and homes. Halo didn't invent the concept of an AI helper.

Smart appliances can make you feel like you're living in the future, but they can also just make your life generally more convenient (while you're feeling so cool). Today, you can get some smarts in one of the most important appliances of all with an AmazonBasics microwave for $42, down from a list price of $60. This microwave is made to pair with an Amazon Echo device. Once connected, it can be controlled using just your voice, with useful commands ranging from setting cook times to heating up specific things, such as coffee or popcorn. The microwave has a handy Ask Alexa button built right in, which wakes up your Echo when pressed and gets it ready for voice commands.

Gay dating app Scruff has banned images of men in underwear or swimming trunks, after it was suspended from the Google Play app store several times. Scruff said it had changed its profile picture rules after "repeated suspensions by app store distributors" but declined to specify which stores. The app was most recently suspended from Google Play in January, when it disappeared for three days. Google told BBC News it did not comment on individual apps. Several Scruff members responded to the policy change on social media, threatening to delete their accounts.

Artificial Intelligence, thanks to a myriad of dystopian literature, has always been viewed with negative connotations, even though it's still hundreds of years away before total superiority, according to some people's calculations. Despite this, in the last few years, AI, and deep machine learning have gained truly significant, commercial application. As seen in the below chart from MIT, the adoption of AI by business has been happening at a dizzying pace. A pace that is expected to continue. The reasons for this are simple and relatively cyclical in explanation.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the study and design of algorithms that perform tasks or behaviors that a person could reasonably deem to require intelligence if a human were to do it. Broadly construed, an intelligent system can take many forms: a system designed to be indistinguishable from humans; a speech assistant such as Alexa, Siri, Cortana, or Google Assistant; a self-driving car; a recommender in an online commerce site; or a non-player character in a video game. We refer to intelligent systems as agents when they are capable of making some decisions on their own based on given goals. Machine learning (ML) is a particular approach to the design of intelligent system in which the system adapts its behavior based on data. It is the success of machine learning algorithms in particular that have lead to recent growth in commercialization of artificial intelligence. Humans are increasingly coming into contact with artificial intelligence and machine learning systems. At times it is evident, as in the case of Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or Google Assistant. It is also evident in the case of self-driving cars or non-player characters in computer games.

Editor's note: This story is the first installment in a monthly series looking at some of the biggest investments grocers and food companies are making. Previous articles sponsored by BMO Harris Bank can be found here. "Hey Google, set my alarm for 8:30 a.m. These are among the most common demands and questions for voice-controlled personal assistants and smart speakers. But once consumers say "Alexa, order me bananas, Honey Nut Cheerios and a loaf of bread," difficulties arise. Conversational commerce, as it is called, is still in its infancy across all industries, Jon Reily, vice president of commerce strategy at Publicis.Sapient, told Grocery Dive. Every retailer, from department stores to grocers, is trying to figure out how best to use it, he said. But food retailers do have an advantage, Reily noted. Unlike other verticals like clothing stores where all products need to be seen before purchasing, much of grocery shopping is replenishment of items like cereal, cat litter, ...

In a partnership with Apple, health insurance company Aetna announced Tuesday a new app and wellness program that will track and offer personalized health recommendations to its customers, and grant them the option to redeem points for gift cards or toward payments for an Apple Watch by meeting activity goals and other health-related challenges. In short, you can expect a free Apple Watch as long as you're taking care of yourself. To participate in Aetna's program, which kicks off later this spring, users will need either an iPhone 5S or newer, or an Apple Watch Series 1 or newer. The announced Attain app -- which resembles Apple's in-house apps -- will provide personalized activity goals based on your age, sex, and weight, and challenge you to engage in activities like getting more sleep. It turns your activity and challenges into points, which can be redeemed for items like gift cards should you not want to put them toward the payment of your Apple Watch.

A machine that can read your mind and convert thoughts into speech has been built and tested by scientists. The creation is being heralded as'life-changing' for those unable to communicate, such as stroke victims. The pioneering system combines the power of speech synthesisers and AI (artificial intelligence) to turn brain activity into intelligible sentences. It is based on the same technology used by Amazon Echo and Apple Siri. It offers hope of patients paralysed after a stroke or accident communicating with friends and loved ones - despite being unable to speak.

These findings were published today in Scientific Reports. "Our voices help connect us to our friends, family and the world around us, which is why losing the power of one's voice due to injury or disease is so devastating," said Nima Mesgarani, PhD, the paper's senior author and a principal investigator at Columbia University's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. "With today's study, we have a potential way to restore that power. We've shown that, with the right technology, these people's thoughts could be decoded and understood by any listener." Decades of research has shown that when people speak -- or even imagine speaking -- telltale patterns of activity appear in their brain.

The Super Bowl is just around the corner, and you know what that means: awesome game day food, a whole lineup of unusually interesting commercials, and of course, the most exciting event of the year for football fans, all while gathered around the big screen. Even cord-cutters won't have to miss out on the action. In fact, you can tune in on the cheap with the help of a pretty sweet discount on Amazon's Fire TV Cube, down to $80 today from a list price of $120. This cube-shaped streaming device is best-known for its voice control, with the smarts of Amazon's Alexa digital assistant built right in. You can turn on your TV, play videos and music, adjust volume, change the channel, check the weather and news, and more with just the sound of your voice.