Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are about to get an AI personal assistant. Known as CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN) the bot, developed by Airbus, will use IBM's Watson AI technology to help astronauts. Researchers hope that with its face, voice and artificial intelligence, it will become a genuine'colleague' on board, helping astronauts with their daily routines, and warning of any impending problems - much like the HAL robot in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 was designed to do. Known as CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN) the bot will use IBM's Watson technology to help astronauts. CIMON is designed to support astronauts in performing routine work, for example by displaying procedures or – thanks to its'neural' AI network and its ability to learn – offering solutions to problems.

Technology and mobile devices are revolutionizing the way consumers interact with the world now, and artificial intelligence and machine learning are making massive breakthroughs recently for mobile app development. These developments have a bearing for healthcare organizations, which are seeking ways to use the technology to better engage patients. Machine learning (ML) is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI)--it gives machines the ability to enhance their decision-making skills and performance without any human interference. It is based on learning from experiences and examples, instead of programming rules, and machines collect and analyze data to come to relevant conclusions. As ML is based on neural networks that simulate the biological neural networks, they are capable of accumulating experiences and recognizing patterns in a way similar to the human brain.

Tech giants like IBM and Google have invested billions internally in A.I. research, but the past few years have also seen a wave of acquisitions, as big companies buy up startups to obtain top talent and new data-crunching science. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has made the case that artificial intelligence is core to the search giant's major businesses. It definitely shows in its acquisitions, including its 2014 purchase for over $600 million of U.K.–based Deep-Mind--whose software is best known for being the first to defeat a human champion at the strategy game Go (above). Apple kicked off its A.I. acquisition spree in 2010 when it bought Siri, whose voice-recognition interface has since become, for many, the embodiment of consumer-facing A.I. The social networking giant is also an A.I. heavyweight, using deep learning to clean up its News Feed (though that's very much a work in progress).

Internet-enabled, voice-activated "smart" devices have infiltrated homes, making it possible for people to adjust their bedroom temperature, turn on their oven or order a pizza merely by speaking the command. But talking and beeping devices, combined with other noise-emitting items like TVs, phones and iPads, have created a high-tech racket. It's the opposite of the peaceful retreat many homeowners strive to create. "Homes have suddenly become more'live,' " says Steve Haas, an acoustical consultant who works in luxury residences. "It emphasizes the need for better control."

Amazon.com said on Tuesday that it has partnered with hospitality chain Marriott International to help increase guest access to amenities with Alexa, through its voice-controlled device Echo, in an attempt to expand its presence in the hospitality industry.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can transform a digital business, but a successful strategy means looking beyond the hype and the overstated expectations that surround it by keeping a pin-sharp focus. While the case for its use has long been compelling, from enhancing the customer experience to reinventing entire business models, few can rival the technology's distracting narrative of conflicting opinions, difficult questions and speculation. Will it take our jobs or outperform us at chess? Or perhaps it will exist simply to serve us in the vein of some of its most mainstream iterations, such as the digital personal assistants of Siri and Alexa. Inevitably, it's the former element that sparks the most alarm and feeds into the more complex and ambiguous territory known as general AI. This is a world in which machines are increasingly humanized and are sophisticated enough to reason on par with, and even better than their living, breathing counterparts.

Google's'smart' speakers have failed to live up to their name. A mysterious technical glitch has left internet-connected Google Home speakers unable to respond to queries. The smart speakers house the AI-powered Google Assistant which responds to voice commands and requests. Users worldwide reported that queries were met with the response of'there was a glitch' or'sorry, something went wrong' and to'try again in a few seconds', but the device still failed to work. Many user also said the glitch meant their morning alarms on their smart speakers failed to go off.

Roughly two months after its annual I/O conference, Google this week invited Ars and several other journalists to the THEP Thai Restaurant in New York City. The company bought out the restaurant for the day, cleared away the tables, and built a little presentation area complete with a TV, loudspeaker, and chairs. Next to the TV was a podium with the Thai restaurant's actual phone--not some new company smartphone, the ol' analogue restaurant line. We all knew what we were getting into. At I/O 2018, Google shocked the world with a demo of "Google Duplex," an AI system for accomplishing real-world tasks over the phone. The short demo felt like the culmination of Google's various voice-recognition and speech-synthesis capabilities: Google's voice bot could call up businesses and make an appointment on your behalf, all while sounding shockingly similar--some would say deceivingly similar--to a human.

DSP is not the only entrant in the race. Though its Alexa Voice Services division, Amazon has been working with a broad range of chipmakers to offer gadget makers an easy way to embed Alexa in their hardware - Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Cirrus Logic Inc, among others, all offer chips that will put Alexa inside a gadget.

We tried out the latest speaker from Sonos and took a phone call from Google's suspiciously-advanced AI assistant. It's no Westworld host, but the Duplex technology is already impressive. Also, we have what might be the final update in a long-running patent squabble. While you're on a break from that summer job, go ahead and send us some back-to-school gadget questions before you decide how to spend the money you're earning. Is it really over?Apple and Samsung settle seven-year patent battle For years, Apple has battled Samsung in court, claiming that its Galaxy devices copied software and hardware design elements from the iPhone and iPad.