Tinder is addictive because it was inspired by a 1940's psychological experiment that turned pigeons into'gambling fanatics'. Tinder executive Jonathan Badeen has admitted basing the dating app's famous'swipe' mechanic on a classic experiment he studied at university. In the experiment, American psychologist B.F. Skinner conditioned hungry pigeons to believe that food delivered randomly into a tray was prompted by their pecking. The pigeons began pecking more in the hopes of earning extra food, essentially turning them into'gamblers'. When users swipe right (signalling an interest in the dating app profile) or left (no interest at all) it reinforces a similar behaviour to the psychological experiment.

Dating apps and online websites are plagued with fraudulent profiles, known as'catfishes'. 'Catfishing' originated as a term for the process of luring people into false relationships, however, it has also come to encompass people giving out false information about themselves more generally. These profiles often use images of another person to allow users to pretend to be someone else in order to get a date, or scam money from a lonelyheart. This is probably the most valuable tool for catching out a catfish and can be done via Google. To kickstart the process, people need only right-click the photos that are arousing their suspcions, copy the URL and paste it into images.google.com.

The wait is over: After a splashy announcement at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June, iOS 12 is finally ready. While it's far from the flashiest iPhone update ever -- there's no visual overhaul here or many hyped-up new features -- iOS 12 might be the most pleasant Apple software update I've ever used. As reported many, many times even before the announcement, Apple's developers focused on sanding down the software's rougher edges and making iOS as a whole faster and easier to use. That was no small feat, especially when you consider the number of issues that wound up plaguing last year's big software release. For once, Apple crafted a software update that feels just as valuable on old hardware as it does on the shiny new stuff.

Alexa had better watch out: Google, not Amazon, had the bestselling smart speaker worldwide in Q2 of 2018. The Google Home Mini had a 20 percent market share during that quarter, selling 2.3 million units. It was followed closely by the Amazon Echo Dot, at 2.2 million. Rounding out the top five were the Amazon Echo, Alibaba Tmail Genie and Google Home. One notable name that's missing from the list is Apple's HomePod.

The company has invited press to its Seattle headquarters for a secretive hardware event, which starts at 1 p.m. ET. It could unveil eight new Echo devices, a device for the car and even a microwave, according to a CNBC report. More Echos make sense for the company. The reign of Alexa is only beginning for Amazon. It wants the chipper voice assistant to be available in more places, including cars and the kitchen.

Where will you meet your next bae? If Facebook has anything to do with it, it'll be through its new dating feature, which it's now testing in Colombia. Announced back in May at the F8 developer's conference, Facebook wants to help its 200 million single users find more meaningful, deeper connections – and given its monopoly in online social interactions, it's pretty well-placed to do that. Online dating is hardly anything new, though, so what sets Facebook's dating feature apart from all the rest? Well, Facebook obviously has access to mountains of data on you that other dating sites don't. Your likes, the types of events you go to, the places you hang out, the circles you move in -- all of this intel will help glean better matches than apps that rely on looks, for example.

For those who've been wondering just when Amazon's mysterious event is going to be, you need wait no longer. That day is today, and it'll take place in the company's Seattle headquarters at 1:30 PM ET / 10:30 AM PT. We don't know too much about what will be unveiled just yet, but if it's anything like last year's event, chances are good that Alexa will be the prevailing theme. According to a CNBC report earlier this week, at least eight new devices will be unveiled at the event. They include microwave oven, a subwoofer, an amplifier, an in-car gadget of some kind as well as a smart plug that'll add Alexa functionality to anything that hooks into it.

Artificial intelligence is one of the most compelling areas of computer science research. AI technologies have gone through periods of innovation and growth but never has AI research and development seemed as promising as it does now. This is due in part to amazing developments in machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks. Machine learning, a cutting-edge branch of artificial intelligence, is propelling the AI field further than ever before. While AI assistants like Siri, Cortana, and Bixby are useful, if not amusing, applications of AI, they lack the ability to learn, self-correct, and self-improve.

Facebook begins publicly testing its online-dating product, called Dating, in Colombia today. The service was first announced at the annual F8 conference in May this year, and will likely be available in other locations in the future. For now, users aged 18 and older in Colombia will be able to create dating profiles and, once those reach a critical mass, find some matches. WIRED got to preview an early version of the service, and it looks promising--especially for users looking for meaningful long-term relationships rather than hookups. In other words, you can expect to find exactly zero swiping.

The scene of the woman talking to Alexa is drawn from a 2017 promotional video advertising the latest version of the Amazon Echo. The video begins, "Say hello to the all-new Echo" and explains that the Echo will connect to Alexa (the artificial intelligence agent) in order to "play music, call friends and family, control smart home devices, and more." The device contains seven directional microphones, so the user can be heard at all times even when music is playing. The device comes in several styles, such as gunmetal grey or a basic beige, designed to either "blend in or stand out." But even the shiny design options maintain a kind of blankness: nothing will alert the owner to the vast network that subtends and drives its interactive capacities.