Amazon's got a great deal for smart home users today, but you can only get it if you're part of a special club. Anyone who has an Echo device or a third-party Alexa-enabled device can get a TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini for $10 with coupon code SMART10. The bad news is Amazon's sale is limited to one device per customer. TP-Link's Kasa devices are already great options for smart home rookies since they don't require a hub, instead connecting via the Kasa smartphone app and Wi-Fi. The Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini HS105 works with Alexa devices (natch) as well as Google Home, though only the Alexa-enabled get today's discount.

The concept might sound strange at first, but trust me, it's a great idea well executed in the First Alert Onelink Safe & Sound. Think about it: You have a smoke detector in every room, and each one contains a loudspeaker, optimally mounted on the ceiling or high up on the wall. Add a mic, a Wi-Fi connection, and a digital assistant, and instead of behaving like a lifeless barnacle unless smoke or carbon monoxide is present in the room, that device can play music and games, retrieve news and information, control your smart home, and do all the other great things an Alexa-powered smart speaker can do. As an Alexa device, the Onelink Safe & Sound works well. Its speaker is loud and clear, and its microphone is sensitive and accurate.

It has once again been a big month for AI with some really interesting things going on that are vitally important to how we will use AI in future. The most exciting piece of AI news came out of IBM when they revealed'Project Debater.' Now to some, it might actually sound like your worst nightmares coming to life because Project Debater can argue back, however it actually displays a range of impressive innovations. Firstly, it can understand the context of what someone is saying during a debate, creating its own argument in real time. AI assistants based on innovations like Project Debator will deliver exciting opportunities for every business. Now AI assistants aren't new with many people using the likes of Siri and Cortana, however with Project Debator capabilities have been added to improve how it interacts with people turning it into a really powerful business tool.

Do you believe Artificial Intelligence is the future game-changer? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not the FUTURE, it is ALREADY HERE. According to Wikipedia, "Artificial intelligence (AI, also machine intelligence, MI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other animals". In a post by Josh Bersin, Founder and Principal at Bersin by Deloitte, it is mentioned that "AI is all about a wide range of machine learning tools and algorithms that quickly provide data, identify and predict patterns for informed decision making. It is possible for the systems to understand speech, identify photos, and use pattern matching to pick up signals about mood, honesty, and even personality. These algorithms are not "intuitive" like human beings, but they are fast, so they can analyze millions of pieces of information in seconds and quickly correlate them against patterns."

So much of our financial activity is automated these days. We take a set-it-and-forget-it approach to paying bills, tackling savings goals, contributing to retirement funds. It was only a matter of time before reducing our regular expenses could be put on autopilot as well. That is the unique proposition of Trim. Trim isn't an app, but rather an AI assistant that analyzes your financial transactions and finds ways to save you money.

When you ask a voice assistant a question it doesn't have an answer for, that's usually the end of the story unless you're determined to look up the answer on another device. Amazon doesn't think the mystery should go unsolved, though. It's trotting out an opt-in "Answer Update" feature for Alexa that notifies you when the AI helper has an answer to a previous question it couldn't address. The trick is limited to factoids, a spokesperson told TechCrunch, but that could still prove helpful if your curiosity is still rampant months later. Answer Update is reaching Alexa devices over the course of the next week, so you'll have to be patient if you aren't part of the first wave.

Facebook is reportedly aiming to cash in on the £11billion lonely hearts industry with a dating app to rival the likes of Tinder. The social media giant is internally testing the service with Facebook employees, according to a Twitter user who appeared to leak screenshots of the app on Twitter. The screenshots show that'Facebook Dating' would offer users a choice of five genders: woman, trans woman, man, trans man and non-binary people. The app also appears to allow users to prevent their current Facebook friends from seeing their profile or only match with people who they have mutual friends with. Dating apps like Bumble already ask users to sign in using their Facebook accounts in a bid to spot mutual friends – and avoid making embarrassing connections with family members or close friends.

Facebook is testing a dating feature for its users. But only employees of the social network can currently sign up for it. The feature appears to be integrated into Facebook's normal social network and allows them to search out dates from among their network. The testing process of the new feature, known as'dogfooding', is designed to uncover any bugs or issues before it is officially launched for all users. Most of us are Facebook friends with some people we don't actually care about, and there are several ways to keep their updates off your News Feed.

Today, so-called smart homes and IoT devices can make life easier, if you know how to use them. In short, just about every electronic device in your home can take orders from you and coordinate with others. You can make yours into a smart home like George and Judy Jetson's while keeping you safe using these gadgets. But, it helps to understand what IoT and smart devices are. Now, IoT and smart devices get used for creating smart home environments once only possible on television or in movies.

When it works, controlling your TV with Amazon's Alexa digital assistant can feel like magic. Using voice commands avoids thumbing through menus and can get to what you want to watch much faster. But using Alexa as your TV remote requires a bit of know-how. Alexa won't understand everything you might want to do, and controlling your actual television and sound system requires specific equipment. To avoid potential frustration, we'll go through what you can and can't do with Alexa on Fire TV and other television devices, and explain how to set it all up.