Amazon.com has set up model'smart' homes across the United States for shoppers to experience what it's like for voice aide Alexa to dim the lights, turn on the TV or order more laundry detergent. The rollout underscores how Amazon aims to make Alexa and the company's growing list of services, from shopping and entertainment to home security, an everyday part of consumers' lives. It also steps up competition with retailers such as Best Buy Co Inc that focus on showcasing technology and advising shoppers. Inside the Amazon house: An Amazon Echo Spot is seen on a bedside table in a bedroom in an Amazon'Experience center' in Vallejo, California. The so-called'Amazon Experience Centers' are now open near 15 cities including Los Angeles, Dallas and Washington, with more to come Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, said it has partnered with Lennar Corp to convert some of the home construction company's model homes into showrooms for Alexa.

An amateur sex toy inventor has created a smart speaker that doubles up as a voice-controlled dominatrix. British engineer Gary, who keeps his surname anonymous, created his discipline device using parts of an electrified dog collar and an Amazon Echo Dot speaker. Known as mistress Alexa, the gadget administers shocks to its wearer's genitals following a short conversation that users initiate with the phrase'Alexa, punish'. Gary, who built the device for partner Kirsty, has posted a tutorial video to YouTube to help other sex toy enthusiasts build their own dominatrix technologies. An amateur sex toy inventor has created a smart speaker that doubles up as a voice-controlled dominatrix.

For the first time in nearly three decades, the yellow-and-black price tag logo at Best Buy is getting an update. On Wednesday the Minnesota-based electronics retail giant announced that it will be refreshing its logo, moving the words "Best Buy" outside the yellow price tag, which will still appear, but on the lower right of the store name. "The updated logo is true to our heritage, but it's really cleaned up," Best Buy Chief Marketing Officer Whit Alexander said in a statement. "It's an evolution toward the future, and we're really excited about that." More Tech: We asked Google Assistant, Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri 150 questions.

Does the Voice Activated Assistant have a place in the business? There are lots of voice activated assistants available to help us with our daily tasks. Some are built into mobile devices and some are purchased as specific items. The key is that they all respond to commands and can interact with other devices in our lives. These devices are already within most business today, but may not be used to their full potential.

The homes all come with WiFi, smart thermometers, lighting, doorbells and locks pre-installed, and Amazon's voice-activated Alexa personal assistant devices to run them. The experience centers offer customers the chance to interact with the technology in a real-life setting. Lennar announced Wednesday that standard features in its new homes will include built-in Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats and lights -- all controlled by Alexa, Amazon's voice-activated digital assistant. Each house will come with two Alexa-enabled smart speakers, an Echo Show and an Echo Dot. New homeowners will also get a free visit from an Amazon technician to help set everything up and teach them how to use it.

Google has built an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that's able to book a table over the phone and sound so natural it could pass as human. Google unveiled'Duplex' at its I/O developer conference. Audio Player failed to load. Try to Download directly (13.76 MB) Press play then disable your screen reader. Use space bar to pause or play, and up and down arrows to control volume.

Artificial intelligence(AI) in simplest terms is the capability of computers/machines to think and respond like humans, they are basically imitating human behavior. We have noticed an increased usage of AI due to increased usage of computers and technology. We are already familiar this behavior seeing cars driving themselves and the likes of asking Siri queries and using Google voice for search. Artificial intelligence made its presence felt this year through its supplementary processes such as big data and the internet. With the increased usage of AI there will be fewer errors and work would be done with better precision.

Google has revealed a "terrifying" new technology that you could use without ever knowing it. Among a host of announcements at its annual IO conference, it revealed that it had been working on a tool called "Duplex". It is an artificially intelligence assistant that can call people up and interact with them – without anyone ever knowing they were speaking to a robot. On stage, for instance, Google CEO Sundar Pichai showed how the bot could call people up and book a hairdressers' appointment. It went through the entire process of booking it – referring to the human as its "client" – without the person on the other end of the call ever realising that they were talking to a robot.

LG Electronics has announced that its 2018 lineup of OLED and Super UHD TVs now have Google Assistant. The South Korean technology company took to its online newsroom Wednesday to confirm that all models of its 2018 AI TV lineup are arriving with the Google Assistant voice recognition system. The integration means users will have access to many features using Google's digital assistant. According to LG, it has collaborated with Google to bring more convenience to its consumers' lives. The company pointed out that with Google Assistant on board, users can take advantage of cutting-edge AI features operated directly through its TVs' remote control units and without the need of additional hardware.

Last week we got to see what Facebook had to offer, and yesterday we heard from Microsoft. Now, however, it's time for Google to put on a show for its developers and the rest of us watching via livestream. Last year's conference wasn't huge on blockbuster announcements like the previous year, at which we met the Google Home. Last year was also a big year for Google Assistant making moves across the electronics landscape. Google Assistant even came to the iPhone.