When Apple first released Siri in 2011, many of us thought "the future" had finally arrived. The idea of having a personal assistant in your pocket was revolutionary. Unfortunately, early experiences left much to be desired. Questions were frequently misunderstood, and the results returned often missed the mark. Over the years, we've seen massive improvements in the accuracy of speech recognition and even the human-like quality of AI personalities.

All three a virtual tie, but each had questions they couldn't answer. Tune in to find out where Apple, Google and Amazon fell down. And it doesn't even once say, "Here's what I found on the Web," to make you read the information on websites. But is it really smarter when it comes to responding to our music-related commands than its rivals Amazon Echo and Google Home, which dominate the smart speaker market? We decided to find out, posing 40 music questions to all three, and then played a bonus round with 10 requests to play a song based on sample lyrics from the tune. That last challenge proved to be the tie breaker.

It looks like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are coming to the Xbox One console very soon, based on a recent discovery that shows a new section within the device's software. Over the weekend, Windows Central reported that it has found hard evidence to prove that Xbox One is getting support for the two voice assistants. The news, reviews and community forums site discovered that a new "Digital Assistants" tab is coming soon to the Xbox One via a software update. The tab basically presents users with the option to enable digital assistants. The tab also comes with a note that says, "Use a digital assistant like Cortana, Alexa, or Google Assistant with your Xbox. To get started, enable digital assistants below, then search for Xbox in the assistant app's skills on your phone."

Amazon's Alexa voice assistant is a handy, seamless way to listen to music and find out about the weather. As the NBA finals head into tonight's Game 2 between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, though, the voice assistant is also dabbling in sports analysis. If you ask Alexa "Who will win the NBA Finals this year," it gives you the following dissertation: "Even with both conference finals going to game 7, these playoffs were over before they even started. I think the Warriors will win the playoffs pretty handily, and the rest of the league will spend the off-season trying to figure out what they will do to damper the dynasty." You'd be forgiven for thinking that Alexa is showing some bias – the Warriors' home base in Oakland is much closer than the Cav's HQ to both Amazon's Seattle headquarters and to Silicon Valley, which you might call Alexa's spiritual home.

Mary Meeker is a legend in Silicon Valley. Because every year, she comes out with what many think is the most complete and thorough analysis of the technology industry. Now, Mary and her team do impeccable work: her presentations are full of great graphs, her slides full of data...and you have to believe that her insights come from hours of researching the industry and listening to the thousands of entrepreneurs that come to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Meeker's employer) for investments. There is one problem though. The research pack is long and dense.

All three a virtual tie, but each had questions they couldn't answer. Tune in to find out where Apple, Google and Amazon fell down. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. All three a virtual tie, but each had questions they couldn't answer.

A reciprocal recommendation problem is one where the goal of learning is not just to predict a user's preference towards a passive item (e.g., a book), but to recommend the targeted user on one side another user from the other side such that a mutual interest between the two exists. The problem thus is sharply different from the more traditional items-to-users recommendation, since a good match requires meeting the preferences of both users. We initiate a rigorous theoretical investigation of the reciprocal recommendation task in a specific framework of sequential learning. We point out general limitations, formulate reasonable assumptions enabling effective learning and, under these assumptions, we design and analyze a computationally efficient algorithm that uncovers mutual likes at a pace comparable to those achieved by a clearvoyant algorithm knowing all user preferences in advance. Finally, we validate our algorithm against synthetic and real-world datasets, showing improved empirical performance over simple baselines.

It appears that Microsoft is planning to expand voice control of Xbox One consoles beyond Cortana. Windows Central reports that Xbox One support for Amazon's Alexa and the Google Assistant is on the way. While Cortana lets you control an Xbox One through either a Kinect or a headset, voice control will be much more convenient through a Home, Echo or smartphone. If and when the new feature rolls out, a "Digital Assistants" section will appear in the Kinect & Devices menu. Enable your preferred assistant on the Xbox One, install an Xbox app on your phone or voice-activated speaker and you should be good to go.

You can already use Cortana if you want to command an Xbox One with your voice, but that's not very practical now that Kinect is no longer an option for the console. Microsoft may have a simple solution: take advantage of the smart speakers you already have. A Windows Central source has leaked details of what appears to be Xbox One support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant in addition to Cortana. Reportedly, you have to enable the feature in the system's preferences and then install the relevant skill for your AI helper of choice. It's not certain what commands would be available, but it wouldn't be out of the question to anticipate media controls (say, launching Netflix or pausing a movie) or navigating to specific screens in the main Xbox interface. The bigger question surrounds availability, provided the feature makes the cut in the first place.

Indeed, it would almost be a waste to simply use it as a regular Bluetooth speaker or ask it about it tomorrow's weather. Apple's Siri can already do that. More and more smart-home and connected-device companies are adding support for Amazon's smart AI assistant, called Alexa, so you can control almost anything that uses electricity in your home using your voice. All you need to add Alexa and voice control to your home is Amazon's $45 Echo Dot. If you need a portable Bluetooth speaker, you can check out the $100 Amazon Tap, which comes with Alexa, and the original Echo is also $100, but it needs a wired connection to a power outlet.