Banks That Have Implemented Social Media Payments Through Facebook and Twitter, Let's Talk Payments

During Bethesda's BE3 press conference, a downright hilarious sketch starring Keegan-Michael Key showed the comedian considering his controller of choice, then nonchalantly says "Alexa, play Skyrim!" The sketch demonstrated a choose-your-own adventure style game controlled by only your voice, and generously poked fun at Bethesda's own porting strategies and even at Amazon's Alexa itself. It concluded by announcing Skyrim would soon be available "on your pager" and your "Samsung Smart Refrigerator." Interpreting this as a joke was the natural conclusion. Skyrim: Very Special Edition for Amazon Alexa is very, very real.

We spent two months and over 40 hours researching and testing 12 monitored home security systems. We think SimpliSafe is the best self-installed option for most people. It doesn't require a long-term contract and it offers the benefits of a security system that's monitored 24/7. SimpliSafe is reliable, easy to install, and it works with some Alexa voice commands. Our runner-up pick, the Abode, supports many smart-home devices via Nest, Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT, Zigbee, and Z-Wave--all of which are managed through the Abode Web portal.

Google is planning to bring support for more languages to its Google Assistant AI, so that its Google Home speaker could appeal to more consumers. Digitimes Research reported late last week that Google is planning to push sales of its Google Home speakers to more markets this 2018. With this in mind, the search engine giant is aiming to bring support for up to 30 languages to its voice assistant. Amazon's Alexa only supports three languages at present. To take advantage of the situation, Google wants to enable Google Assistant to support up to 30 languages with the use of its deep research in multi-language and semantics.

The Echo smart speaker, powered by Amazon's artificially intelligent assistant Alexa, keeps a digital ear out for its wake phrase, "Hey Alexa." When it hears these words, it starts recording the sounds that come next--your spoken commands--and then it saves these snippets in the cloud. But if it really makes you uncomfortable, then manually make the speaker stop listening when you're not using it: Tap the microphone button on the top of the device, and it will stop listening for your next "hey Alexa." To review and potentially delete the snippets that the Echo has been saving, you have to go through the Alexa app (for Android and iOS) or the Amazon website. Let's start with the former. When you open the Alexa app on your phone, the front page displays a list of saved words and phrases that you've directed at your Echo speaker.

The game maker showed a shred of self-awareness of its endless wringing of the long-running franchise and faux-introduced Skyrim: Very Special Edition, a voice-based reimagining of the RPG for Alexa. It does look better than Pac-Man...

You need sound that matches the picture you paid for. You could set up a full surround-sound system--even a wireless one--which can offer superlative audio quality but requires serious money and time. Or you could go the easier route and get a soundbar. Drop a long brick of speakers on your TV stand, plug it in, and revel in the new sound. Even stereo bars that cost around $100--such as Vizio's 29" Sound Bar and the AmazonBasics model with built-in subwoofer--will put your TV speakers to shame.

Smart speakers or virtual assistants, whatever name you decide to call them, they are very useful, handy, and they are winning the world. There is a statistics showing smart speakers are now owned by one in six Americans. Those products are not only used in home automation, but also in business. Initially, maybe the smart speakers have been launched with another purpose in mind. But now everything has entirely changed. Say, Amazon Echo should be made to boost the sales.

Father's Day is right around the corner, meaning if you haven't already thought of a few gifts for your dad it's probably about time. Luckily, we're here to help you out. There are a ton of things you could get for your tech-savvy father -- but not all of those things are worth sinking your cash in to. That's why we've put together this guide. To help you figure out what to get for your tech-savvy father for father's day.

Aigo.ai has announced the launch of their decentralized community for the world's first truly personal personal assistant. The development of the community is the final piece in the creation of a revolutionary AI assistant that is hyper-personalized to individual needs, desires, and goals - and most importantly, provides you, and only you, with the ability to keep and own all the information and data you share with it. Peter Voss, Chief Scientist at Aigo.ai and a pioneer in the artificial intelligence space, has developed Aigo using groundbreaking "cognitive architecture" to implement the "Third Wave of AI" - learning unsupervised, instantaneously and interactively. With significantly greater cognitive ability than today's Siri, Alexa, and other chatbot technologies, Peter and his team envision Aigo as the foundation for implementing what they call a true "ExoCortex," which they define as an everyday, interactive, cognitive extension of ourselves. The Aigo community will be vital to his team's vision of creating this new category of personal assistants – becoming a hive of intelligence, free of advertising, corporate ownership, and agendas.