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.

I'll cut to the chase: TP-Link's Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch Dimmer (model HS220) is an in-wall switch that looks good and works well. Let's start with the good looks, as I must say I really like what TP-Link has done to the face of this devicer. A large rocker switch occupies the bulk of the real estate. A quick tap turns the light on or off, gradually brightening or dimming the connected bulbs. A tap-and-hold immediately takes the bulb to your preset maximum brightness or quickly shuts it off.

Apple's new AirPods give you hands-free access to Siri, and it sounds like Amazon is working on something similar for Alexa. Bloomberg reports the online retail giant is working on its own true wireless earbuds that will also be its first Alexa wearable. Details are scarce for now, but Bloomberg's sources say although the Amazon version will be similar to AirPods in terms of both general design and features, the company is aiming to offer better audio quality than Apple. Sound quality has been a key criticism of both models of AirPods. In addition to saying "Alexa" to activate the virtual assistant, the earbuds will reportedly offer gesture controls for things like taking calls and skipping tracks while listening to music.

Walmart customers in need of groceries have had two options in recent years: Go to the store and fill up a shopping cart by hand; or select food items online and have them delivered to their home or picked up in person. Now, the big box retailer has unveiled a third way to order groceries: via voice command. Beginning this month, customers who own a Google assistant can say, "Hey, Google, talk to Walmart" to add items to a virtual grocery cart, Tom Ward, senior vice president, Digital Operations, Walmart U.S., said in a statement Tuesday. The voice commands allow customers to add items to their cart one at a time over a few days -- not necessarily to complete their shopping for the week all at once. As the technology becomes more familiar with customers' shopping habits, Ward said, it will improve over time.

Developing intelligent virtual characters has attracted a lot of attention in the recent years. The process of creating such characters often involves a team of creative authors who describe different aspects of the characters in natural language, and planning experts that translate this description into a planning domain. This can be quite challenging as the team of creative authors should diligently define every aspect of the character especially if it contains complex human-like behavior. Also a team of engineers has to manually translate the natural language description of a character's personality into the planning domain knowledge. This can be extremely time and resource demanding and can be an obstacle to author's creativity. The goal of this paper is to introduce an authoring assistant tool to automate the process of domain generation from natural language description of virtual characters, thus bridging between the creative authoring team and the planning domain experts. Moreover, the proposed tool also identifies possible missing information in the domain description and iteratively makes suggestions to the author.

Apple's HomePod is officially getting a bit cheaper. On Thursday Apple quietly dropped the price of its Siri-powered smart speaker to $299, a $50 drop from its original price of $349. The speaker, which was praised by critics for its sound last year but dinged on its smart capabilities, is Apple's rival to Google's Home, Amazon's Echo and the increasingly crowded field of smart speakers powered by the Google Assistant and Alexa made by the likes of Sonos, Bose and others. All three smart devices can do tasks like play music, give you the weather or set timers, HomePod, however, still lacks the ability to do more advanced functions like call an Uber or play music directly from Spotify, Google Play Music or Pandora (you can play those services off your iPhone through AirPlay). 'What music should I play?':

Apple has cut the HomePod price by up to 18 percent in various regions as it seemingly tries to gain more of a foothold in a competitive market. As spotted by 9to5 Mac, the smart speaker is down from $349 to $299 in its US store, $449 to $399 in Canada and £319 to £279 in the UK. Third-party retailers have often offered discounts on HomePod, but it's the first official price drop from the mothership. The HomePod arrived only 14 months ago. The move could entice more people to buy a HomePod, though it's competing with many other recognizable brands at both its bracket and lower price points.