A smart light switch gives you control over your lights from anywhere, and it's a great way for smart home beginners to begin building their connected setup. Today, the popular Wemo light switch is $35 on AmazonRemove non-product link, down from a list price of $50. This convenient light switch connects to your mobile device via your home Wi-Fi system, no hub required. Once it's connected, you'll be able to set schedules, randomize lights when you're away, turn lights on and off remotely, and even sync up with sunrise and sunset. If you want to integrate this Wemo switch into a larger smart home system, know that it's compatible with Nest and IFTTT, and you can add voice control with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.

Based in part on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Apple has been able to tune Siri to better understand users based on where they are and what POIs they're more likely to ask about. Apple says machine learning on its own has helped improve automatic speech recognition for general language over the years, but "recognizing named entities, like small local businesses" has proved a performance bottleneck. We decided to improve Siri's ability to recognize names of local POIs by incorporating knowledge of the user's location into our speech recognition system. That's done partly by relying on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau: We define geo regions based on the combined statistical areas (CSAs) [1] from U.S. Census Bureau. The CSAs consist of adjacent metropolitan areas that are economically and socially linked, as measured by commuting patterns.

Vienna's residents and tourists do not have to rely on the kindness of strangers or scroll through long lists of website links to find parking, restrooms or other critical information. They can simply use WienBot, the Austrian city's chatbot. Available via Facebook Messenger, WienBot provides answers to an array of user questions and continuously learns from the interactions -- even pre-empting questions as it captures the most frequently used terms. WienBot is an example of how governments can use artificial intelligence (AI) to go digital, one of the biggest challenges for cities, states and nations worldwide. Advancements in AI and AI-powered chatbots will allow government CIOs to customize and improve the delivery of services for the citizens they serve.

As robo-advisory platforms become more common around the world, the focus of these service providers has shifted to creating a robust investment framework rather than just providing a convenient and affordable way to invest, says Michele Ferrario, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based robo-advisor StashAway. After all, robo-advisory platforms are already commonplace in some countries, with the bigger players in the US -- such as Wealthfront and Betterment -- managing billions of dollars. The first robo-advisor was established a decade ago. "Globally, robo-advisory models are maturing. The basic value proposition of a very nice user interface and low-cost investing is not enough anymore and the importance of the investment framework and asset allocation is gaining prominence. You will see that the new players in Europe have a very strong focus on risk management and asset allocation and you will see more established US players talk about how they manage money," says By comparison, robo-advisors are not as common in Southeast Asia.

AP – Samsung's new smartphone illustrates the limits of innovation at a time when hardware advances have slowed. The new phone, the Galaxy Note 9, will be faster and will last longer without a recharge. But while earth-shattering new features are in short supply, it will carry an earth-shattering price tag: $1,000. The minor improvements reflect a smartphone industry that has largely pushed the limits on hardware. Major changes tend to come every few years rather than annually, and this isn't the year for anything revolutionary in the Note.

Just as you don't have to be first to be the best, a product doesn't have to be the first of its kind to be the winner in a category. The Echo Show, the first smart display from Amazon, was a valiant effort to set the tone for this particular kind of assistant-with-a-screen. But from what I've experienced with the brand new Lenovo Smart Display over the course of a week and a half, Google is now the one setting a precedent for what devices like this should aspire to be. Unlike the Echo, which is made directly by Amazon, Google's first smart display is made by Lenovo. While the Chinese tech company has a reputation for quality, it's really the Google Assistant that makes this device worth buying.

One-quarter of all American households now have an Amazon Echo powered by Alexa. But the surge in popularity of these virtual assistants comes with new questions about convenience, and privacy -- especially as the company looks to make the smart speaker more "human." Alexa has captured 70 percent of the voice market share in the United States, according to Alpine AI, with customers turning to the device for anything from playlists to recipes to finding their phone. It's become a major source of revenue for Amazon, in particular because it generates larger spending from Amazon Prime members, according to a new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. NBC News obtained exclusive access to Amazon's Seattle headquarters and an interview with the executive in charge of Alexa, Toni Reid, to learn a little more about the future of this pint-sized device.

After more than a year of rumors and vague comments from Samsung leadership, the Galaxy Home, Samsung's Bixby-powered smart speaker, is finally official. Samsung briefly showed off the device at today's Galaxy Note 9 launch event in Brooklyn, but the company left us with more questions than answers. We don't know when it'll launch; how much it'll cost; what music services, if any, it supports besides Spotify; and, perhaps most importantly, what Bixby will be capable of when the Galaxy Home goes on sale. Like Apple did with the HomePod, Samsung is touting the Galaxy Home first and foremost as an excellent listening speaker, with multidirectional tweeters and a full subwoofer as well as some neat audio-optimization tricks. Spotify is Samsung's new streaming-music partner, which means you'll be able to control Spotify music playback with Bixby.

Amazon is giving more automakers access to the tools needed to integrate Alexa into their vehicles' infotainment systems. The company released its Alexa Auto software development kit today, making the tools accessible to all developers via GitHub. Integrating Alexa into vehicles gives users easier access to the assistant's skills while they drive, and they can take advantage of functions like weather reports, notifications, smart home controls, media streaming and the many third-party skills accessible through Alexa. Some other functions supported by Alexa Auto -- including navigation, calling and local search -- will be particularly useful for drivers. A number of automakers have begun or have announced plans to integrate Alexa into certain models.

Samsung is wading into the smart-speaker market with an entirely new product called the Galaxy Home. The speaker has a large, rounded body and sits on a tripod -- a very different design from competing speakers offered by Amazon.com, Samsung announced a partnership with Spotify, which is the default music player for the Galaxy Home. The speaker will be able to pick up streams from a Galaxy phone and hand it off to the speaker. The company didn't say much about the Galaxy Home apart from acknowledging its existence, and promising more details will come at its developers conference in November.