Police incident reports indicate two cases are believed to be linked to the same individuals. In each instance, a man met a woman using the mobile dating app Plenty of Fish. In each of the July 16 incidents, the men went to a designated meeting point, only to be assaulted and robbed by two to three other men.

For that the last ten years, business leaders have seen how rising loan production costs have pushed the burden of maintaining profitability onto people, processes, and margins. Today, loans cost $8,000 to produce, up from $4,200 just seven years ago. That's why businesses continue to look for new ways to keep their margins healthy. Business leaders have read about the underlying benefits of robotic process automation (RPA) and its ability to lower cost per loan by automating mundane, repetitive tasks and freeing up employees to perform higher-value work. They have seen RPA lowering costs and gaining momentum in areas like healthcare and manufacturing, and have even witnessed Google Assistant make a hair appointment!

Amazon is giving you more control over audio with an Alexa update that lets you adjust the equalizer and sound modes using your voice. So if you think the music you're listening to on your Amazon Echo could use a touch more low end, asking Alexa to increase the bass should do just that. More specifically, the bands you can tweak are bass, midrange and treble. Alexa can also switch your Echo to a number of EQ presets as well, including for movies, music, sports and TV. The update is rolling out to US users today across the various Echo devices, as well as some third-party smart speakers that use Alexa, including the new Sonos Beam.

Amazon is making it easier for those with hearing and speech impairments to utilize Alexa. Starting today, the Echo Show will have an option to toggle on a new feature called "Tap to Alexa," which will let users tap the device's screen to access the digital assistant. The feature includes shortcuts to common Alexa items like weather, timers, news and traffic, and users can also type out Alexa commands. Additionally, while Amazon launched its Alexa captioning feature in the US a few months ago, it's now releasing that feature to users in the UK, Germany, Japan, India, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. To activate Tap to Alexa, head over to the Echo Show's device settings, select the accessibility settings and switch the feature on.

The home is becoming more and more connected, and there are a ton of devices out there aimed specifically at making it more convenient to control lighting and appliances. But connected devices can do more than simply make things a little more convenient -- they can also help keep you and your home safe and sound. There are a ton of smart security products out there, all aimed at tracking and recording your home, specifically at night and when you're not at the home. There are cameras, window and door monitors, alarms, and more -- and all can be used in conjunction with a smartphone app and sometimes with other smart home devices. If you're in the market for some smart home security products, there are a few things you should consider.

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 29: Sriram Thodla, senior director of services and new business at Samsung, speaks about the new voice agent named'Bixby' that is featured on the new Samsung Galaxy S8 during a launch event, March 29, 2017 in New York City. Following the recall and discontinuation of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the Galaxy S8 is the new flagship smartphone for Samsung. While all eyes will be on the Galaxy Note 9 at Samsung's next launch event, Bixby 2.0 is likely to debut in a smart speaker which may actually damage its sales potential. Bixby is Samsung's attempt to compete against Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa and so far, it has been nothing short of a disaster. This is because compared to Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and even the much-maligned Siri, Bixby is hopelessly outclassed.

Apple's virtual assistant Siri is about to be the most well-fed data science algorithm on the planet. Over the past year, Siri hasn't looked good compared to her peers in the bot world -- Facebook and Amazon have opened up their bot platforms to developers, while Siri has continued to be handcuffed to a handful of limited use cases. But with the announcement of Apple's new wireless earbuds, called AirPods, earlier this month, it looks like Siri is about to be exposed to the daily activities of Apple users all over the globe. Apple's dual hardware/software AirPod launch will, if the smartbuds become as ubiquitous as the iPhone, allow Siri to jump from novelty to the preeminent A.I. bot platform in the world. Since Apple clearly intends for users to leave their buds in throughout all of their daily activities, from work to commuting to travel to exercise, Siri will be able to make suggestions at any point based on geolocation, a particular iPhone activity, a Bluetooth pairing (i.e. with a car or entertainment system), and more.

This video explains how sales and inventory forecasts based on the time series model in Cortana Intelligence can provide accurate, reliable predictions about inventory levels and trends in sales so that businesses can make better decisions about how they manage inventory. Learn how to set up a location and restock the items in the location when needed as well as where to look for sales and inventory forecast charts and how to configure them. You will also find examples of how businesses can improve their bottom-line using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Is it excellent sales or powerful marketing, strong business strategies, implementation of modern technologies or superior customer service that makes Amazon so unique and helps the company stay atop? Over the years, Amazon as a company, has been pushing the boundaries of innovation, setting new trends in customer experience and bringing about revolution as a market leader. The company has embraced emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning which further elevates its success. Let us take a tour of Amazon Inside. Amazon uses a Strategy to Manage Artificial Intelligence known as The Flywheel Amazon has christened its approach to AI as a flywheel.

The events of the past few weeks have provided much fodder to this columnist. First, there was the American grandstanding on immigration, and then the events at Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. More recently, Cloudflare Inc., which hosts information for close to two million websites, including Uber Technologies Inc. and OKCupid, had an Internet security disaster that saw the leak of passwords, cookies, and private messages from adult dating sites. This "Cloudbleed" was discovered on 17 February, 2017, but has evidently been around for many months. Decisions, decisions--what does one chew on first?