Smart speakers (and the virtual assistants they house) offer voice control for so many connected devices it's hard to keep count. Those audio gadgets can also assist with a range of questions -- that is, if they can understand you. The Washington Post took a close look at the performance of Alexa and Google Assistant when it comes to understanding people with strong accents. The results show that while these devices are certainly handy and increasingly popular, there's still a lot of room for improvement. The Facebook CEO covered a range of topics, including its evolving approach to fake news and a comment about Holocaust deniers that warranted a clarification afterwards.

To see the full resolution version of this infographic that has higher legibility, click here. Steve Rabuchin, the VP of Amazon Alexa, has a vision. He dreams of customers having a conversation – not just with voice-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo, but with appliances, cars, and everything in between. Though that dream may not be realized in the short term, sales of smart speakers are increasing as people warm up to the idea of using voice-assisted devices in their homes. Today's infographic, from Raconteur, sheds light on the fight for smart speaker market share, how early adopters are using the devices, and the growing array of voice-enabled devices currently on the market.

A new smartphone app aims to connect medical marijuana patients with advice on getting the most of their prescription, through a growing database of knowledge fed by artificial intelligence. The CannaBot is being announced Friday by the suburban Philadelphia biotechnology and pharmaceutical company Affinity Bio Partners, said CEO Christina DiArcangelo Puller. The system starts out with a medical cannabis dispensary or prescribing physician signing up to use CannaBot. Then, their patients would access it through an Amazon Alexa or Google Home smart speaker. Say they've been taking a certain dosage of the cannabis compound CBD for a headache, but the pain won't go away; they could direct the speaker to bring up CannaBot then ask: What should I do?

Amazon's Prime Day may be over, but all the discounts are not. So if you missed out on any of the smart home deals over the past 36 hours, we've got two more for you. The first is the Lutron Caseat Wireless Smart Lighting Dimmer Switch Starter Kit for $120 on AmazonRemove non-product link. We've seem this bundle hit this all-time low a few times before, but it hasn't budged from its $160 MSRP since February, so this is a great time to grab it. In the box you get the two dimmer switches, two pico remotes, and a smart bridge, and they're certified to work with Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant.. We reviewed the Lutron Dimmer Switch kit in March and gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

We don't normally cover case fan launches here on PCWorld, because while proper airflow is a key component of any build, fans don't tend to be that exciting. Thermaltake's just-announced Riing Trio 12 RGB stands out from the crowd of spinning blades with a unique twist: Amazon Alexa support. In the third quarter of 2018 TT RGB Plus will gain Alexa voice support, so you can control it via Amazon's Echo. Saying "Alexa, tell Thermaltake..." will cue Alexa to activate a skill that allows you to customize the fans' lighting to match local weather conditions, kick off various lighting modes, or enable a "Hello TT" showcase mode. The weather mode sounds kind of goofy, but it could add some nifty ambiance if your computer room looks outside.

You're settling into your window seat, bound for a summer vacation, when the flight attendant wishes you a happy birthday or commiserates about the lousy weather that delayed the last leg of your trip. It might feel like the flight crew has been scouring your recent social media posts, but at some airlines, that wouldn't be necessary. Carriers like United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines are giving gate agents and flight attendants access to more customer data in hopes of giving passengers more personalized service. Still, there's only so much a birthday greeting can do to make up for a lost bag or late arrival, particularly when airlines want to steer clear of conversations that feel too personal. While in-cabin recognition might be the most visible way airlines are working to do more with the troves of data they collect, behind-the-scenes efforts to mine stats on everything from collisions between airport vehicles to turbulence touch almost every piece of a passenger's trip.

Interactive options, including support for apps, help listeners shape their listening experience. Nearly 50 million Americans have lost at least some of their hearing. A new generation of hearing aids employs technology like Bluetooth and pairs with digital assistants to make them more useful at home and at work. "Because people are living and working longer, the need for hearing aids is actually on the rise," says Dr. Stephen Kirsch, an audiologist in Santa Monica, Calif.. "Computer chip technology has greatly improved, providing better audibility but not necessarily better intelligibility – yet – but there are other advancements, too." Technology like hearing aids could help about 29 million Americans, says the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

For the third time Netflix organized its Personalization, Recommendation and Search Workshop. It was awesome to get invited for this event during my tech holiday in the San Francisco Bay Area. The experienced data scientists from all over Silicon Valley and beyond made it a knowledge-rich day. Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, and University of Minnesota shared how to understand and serve your users better. There was one subject that all speakers agreed on: classic matrix factorization (collaborative filtering) reached its expiration date. This includes challenges of multi-armed bandits, an implicit feedback approach, top-N ranking techniques, tyranny of the majority and algorithmic bias. At Netflix almost your whole homepage is personalized: the banner, carousels, order, artwork, text and search. That is why they state that a good recommender system considers: what, how, when and where a title is recommended.

People could soon be diagnosed by Dr Alexa in their own living room as the NHS announces plans to join up with Amazon to create a virtual doctor. New Government Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, will today announce plans to connect Amazon Echo smart speakers to the NHS website. This will give the hi-tech gadgets – which answer questions out loud when spoken to – access to accurate medical information checked by NHS experts. The voice-activated technology speaks to owners as an artificial intelligence character named Alexa, and could soon have a wealth of health knowledge to hand. Government minister Hancock will say in a speech today the partnership will give people peace of mind that the health advice they receive is from a reliable source.

If you have a special guy in your life that loves technology. Or, if you are that special guy and want to get your hands on the latest tech, the number of options available to you are immeasurable. Whether it's a smart home device or a smartwatch, there's something for everyone in the tech space to make your life a little easier or to simply help you scratch your gadget itch. So, we've compiled the following list of outstanding gadget options for men who need a new tech fix and don't know where to start. From the finest Xbox One controller you can buy to some of the best-sounding headphones on the market, the following gadgets are sure to be outstanding options for any man who wants something new.