The use of natural wood, hand-knitted fabrics, and leather lend a rustic hand-made vibe to the Maverick.Cavalier Cavalier Audio is a New Jersey-based designer and manufacturer of voice-controlled speakers. The company's latest product is Maverick portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker with Amazon Alexa voice control. Maverick blends a hand-crafted finish and immersive sound to a market that's positively crowded out with'me-too' products produced from mass-produced plastics and so-so design. The Maverick has been designed to stand out from the crowd by using authentic materials, stylish design while incorporating the latest audio technology. Maverick was dreamed up by a team of musicians and engineers with the aim of offering world-class acoustics to life via a 20W stereo speaker system featuring two active drivers and dual passive radiators that the designers claim will produce true room-filling experience.

Fashion is a glamorous business. British fashion house Burberry recently sparked a massive outcry after burning £28 million of excess stock (as listed in its annual report), continuing a "brand protection" practice associated with other fashion labels like Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Far from protecting Burberry's brand, this backlash could not have come at a worse time for the label. The industry is already under intense scrutiny for years of unethical practices. In addition, fashion houses have to contend with changing tastes and shopping habits.

Despite Google's best efforts, Google Assistant has often been overshadowed by its more efficient, feature-laden counterparts, such as Alexa and Siri. However, the company is taking steps to make it more intuitive, and to increase its compatibility with its own services, which many would agree should have been considered from the get-go. One such example, apparently rolling out now, is video calling on Duo. Android Police reports that instructing Assistant to "video call contact name" will now automatically boot up Duo (although if you or your contact don't have Duo, Hangouts might be initiated instead). As is the case with many Duo updates, though, things aren't working smoothly just yet.

Router and smart-home product manufacturer TP-Link announced two new products today: A weatherized outdoor home-security camera to go with the well-regarded indoor model that's already on the market, and a new Wi-Fi smart plug with dual outlets that can be controlled independently of each other. The Kasa Cam Outdoor ($139.99) is a ball-shaped Wi-Fi home security camera offering 1080p resolution and a 130-degree field of view that TP-Link says eliminates the need for pan/tilt features. Once its bracket is mounted to the wall, the camera body can be rotated inside the bracket's magnetic socket to provide the best coverage. The camera captures video in 1080p resolution and is outfitted with a mic and speaker for two-way conversations. The user can also trigger an onboard siren (rated 80db at one meter) from the Kasa app to intimidate unwanted visitors. The camera enclosure is rated IP65, meaning it is dust tight and protected from water jets from up to a 6.3mm nozzle from any direction.

The pace at which companies are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) continues to gain momentum and the financial sector is not immune to this trend. According to research by global management consultancy Accenture, banks that invest in AI and human-machine collaboration tools could boost their revenue by over a third (34 per cent) by 2022. AI is considered one of the most important disruptive technologies for today's banks, with a recent PwC survey revealing that 72 per cent of senior management see AI and machine learning (ML) as key sources of competitive advantage. The survey also highlighted that 52 per cent of companies in the financial services sector are already making substantial commitments to AI, with 66 per cent projecting significant investments by 2020. The finance sector has been using AI in very specific areas for some time, but we're now seeing a rapid growth in take-up due to increasing market competition, the need to reduce overheads and the benefits of harnessing increasing volumes of data. "Banks are experiencing massive competitive pressure from multiple organizations that don't carry the same technical debt in the form of legacy software," highlights Daniel Kroening, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.

When new technology takes off, we sometimes assume the only early adopters are the young. While millennials are no doubt talking to the new wave of voice-activated speakers, it turns out that Google Home and Amazon Echo are really resonating with baby boomers. In fact, our research has found that boomers see their voice-activated speakers as more than a simple device. Here are three key things we discovered when researching boomers who own voice-activated speakers. Boomers are clearly using their devices for practical reasons.

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.