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.

Apple Inc.'s new head of artificial intelligence will also oversee the Siri digital assistant, taking on that responsibility from software executive Craig Federighi, according to the company's website. Apple listed John Giannandrea on the site as its first Chief of Machine Learning and AI Strategy. He's also responsible for Core ML, an Apple tool that helps developers integrate machine learning features into their apps, along with "Siri technologies," Apple said on Giannandrea's new online biography. Apple also updated the biography of Federighi, who runs iPhone and Mac software, to indicate he's no longer in charge of Siri. Apple shifted responsibility of Siri from Eddy Cue, a senior vice president in charge of most services and original content, to Federighi just last year.

Can't get your Amazon Echo or Google Home smart speaker to understand you? It might be your accent. Two teams of researchers recruited by The Washington Post found that Amazon's Alexa assistant and the Google Assistant exhibit a pattern of poor performance with certain dialects. They tested thousands of voice commands dictated by more than 100 people across 20 cities, and the results were conclusive: Google's and Amazon's speakers were 30 percent less likely to understand non-American accents than those of native-born users, and the overall accuracy rate for Chinese, Indian, and Spanish accents was about 80 percent. It points to clear evidence of bias in the data used to train the two voice recognition systems, Rachael Tatman, a Kaggle data scientist with expertise in speech recognition, told The Washington Post.

Machine Learning Apps are fast invading into our everyday lives as the technology is progressing towards delivering smarter mobile-centric solutions. Embedding mobile apps with Machine Learning, a promising segment of AI, is spelling out a lot of advantages for the adopting companies to stand out amidst the clutter and rake in sizeable profits. Many organizations are investing heavily in Machine Learning to reap its benefits. Based on a prediction, Machine Learning as a service market will touch $5,537 million by 2023 while growing at a CAGR of 39 per cent from 2017-2023. Machine Learning Applications refer to a set of apps with Artificial Intelligence mechanisms that are designed to create a universal approach throughout the web to solve similar problems. The ML apps are based on a continuous learning process and provide end users with the exceptional user experience.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on ITProPortal and has been republished with permission. The workplace of the future is going to be made up of hyper-connected workers, and AI will play its part in ensuring this outcome. Soon, digital assistants, voice-controlled devices, and huddle rooms will be commonplace in the office. For businesses, this rise in AI assistance will greatly improve workplace collaboration and free up valuable time for employees to undertake more productive activities. Today's tech-savvy employees are well-versed in tech such as live video and instant messenger to connect and collaborate from anywhere in the world. The introduction of AI will act as an extension to this technology.