There's no shame in relying on machines and digital assistants to help you through the work week. Whether you've got a Google Home, one of the many variants of an Amazon Echo speaker, or a sprinkling of devices like smart bulbs around your abode, there are plenty of ways to set them up so that they work in your favor. You don't even have to work from home to benefit from the useful tricks these things can do, as there are plenty of ways to program them so leaving the house and coming home from work become a more relaxed part of your daily routine. There's no denying a loud alarm signaling you to get out of bed in the morning. You don't have to do much to set up an alarm with either of the smart speakers either. Just ask Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa to set an alarm at a specific time.

As I vaguely recall, 2001: A Space Odyssey might have been trying to tell us something about the dangers of artificial intelligence. But I haven't seen the movie in years, and instead of morals, all I can remember is how cool HAL9000 seemed, so I'm already fantasizing about making room on my wall for this replica of the lip-reading computer that includes a real AI of its own. Master Replicas Group has yet to reveal pricing information for its new 2001 Interactive HAL Computer prop replica, which almost certainly means it's going to cost a small fortune. But this is a rare time when a replica does more than just look pretty in a display case. We don't have all the details on what MRG's HAL9000 will be capable of--the group has only posted a couple of teasers so far--but in addition to the computer's glowing, unblinking eye, the replica will also have working displays, and functional voice recognition, as this video demonstrates.

There are further Assistant updates regardless of how connected your home might be. Actions now include more advanced media playback for formats beyond music and podcasts. You can listen to clips from TV shows or a white noise generator, for instance, and get control over it like you would any other media format. You can also subscribe to daily updates and other notifications on your phone if you always want the latest news, and there's now a browsing carousel when you have a plethora of visual choices (clearly, this only works on screen-equipped devices). While all these updates are helpful, Custom Device Actions may hold the most potential.

CIOs are developing "a sort of tunnel vision about AI," Isaac Sacolick, a former CIO who now advises CIOs on big initiatives like digital transformation, told me recently. Looking to establish accountability across disparate project teams? Trying to automate processes or allow for lean methodology support? Hoping to enable business consequence modeling or real-time reporting? If you answered'yes' to any of these questions, then you need to download this comprehensive, 68-page PDF guide on selecting, managing, and tracking IT projects for superior service delivery.

The Apple HomePod hasn't exactly had the warmest of welcomes to the market, with customers complaining about its limited functionality -- and perhaps more importantly, its price. At $349, the smart speaker, released February 9, is leaps and bounds more expensive than similar (and perhaps more useful) products from other companies like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. The rumor mill has been churning, and some folks are claiming that Apple has taken note of the criticism. In fact, there are now reports suggesting that Apple could be releasing another version of the HomePod later in 2018 at a significantly lower price point. According to a report from KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo, "there will be a cheap version of HomePod in the second half of" this year.

Here's what you need to know today: Siri, Cortana, and Alexa could soon have to move over in the office, following the release of Cisco's AI assistant for business. Yesterday saw the first live demo of Cisco's Spark virtual assistant, first announced back in November 2017, at a Cisco Live event in Melbourne, Australia. Cisco senior VP and general manager of applications Rowan Trollope told the event that "existing voice assistants that have traction – none of them were built for business. They were built for the consumer domain. That is a totally different domain space to the one we are interested in."

On December 13, 2017, Harry Shum, executive vice president of AI and Research at Microsoft announced new Intelligent search features in Bing with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. It is slated to deliver more comprehensive and complete information, give people answers quicker, and enable people to interact more conversationally with Bing search. AI has been a part of search technology since the beginning, using machine-reading comprehension to examine billions of documents to understand the web and help people more quickly and confidently get the answers they are searching for. Microsoft's commitment to infusing AI into its products is pushing Bing's machine learning capabilities to push the industry in delivering more Intelligent search. Harnessing this data while using machine learning techniques allows Bing to deliver more personalized consumer experiences and advertisers to make deeper consumer connections.

The next version of Windows 10 looks set to shake things up in the way people switch between devices, and now, reportedly, has a name: Spring Creators Update. With Windows 10 being the "final" version of Windows, updates like this are essentially the new versions, with the recent Creators Update, and then the Fall (autumn) Creators Update each bringing big new features and revisions. So what does the next version of Windows 10 have in store? Known in testing as "Redstone 4", the next version of Windows 10 will probably be called Spring Creators Update, a name which has appeared briefly in blogposts and tools, but recently turned up in another tool that more or less cements it as the name. As the name might imply, "spring" is the target for the next version of Windows.

It's one thing to believe that Amazon's Alexa is constantly listening to us, but quite another to worry that she's laughing at what she hears. Users of Alexa-enabled devices such as the Echo and the Dot have reported hearing the tech giant's ubiquitous voice emit a very real-sounding and unprompted laugh of late. Tweets and reports about the artificial intelligence gone rogue have labeled it creepy and scary, and we can see why. Short of little Carol Anne speaking from inside the TV in the 1982 classic "Poltergeist," it's tough to imagine something we'd rather hear less than Alexa just chuckling out of nowhere on the kitchen counter. "Ha ha ha," she says, in a voice that sounds like Alexa four glasses of wine.

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