Sure, the formerly-cutting-edge virtual assistant has become the butt of many a tech joke, but Apple's Siri problem is only getting bigger. As Amazon and Google develop artificial-intelligence assistants that can do tasks small (set multiple cooking timers) and large (hold conversations with you and others), Siri has been stuck saying, "Here's what I found on the Web for that." At Apple's biggest software event of the year Monday, just four months after HomePod's release, the speaker was mentioned only once. Apple does have some new ideas about what Siri should do for us when iOS 12 launches for iPhones and iPads in the fall: We'll be able to program strings of tasks. A single custom phrase will, say, shut off the lights, turn down the thermostat and launch a podcast. But it feels like the ultimate marketing fake out.

The day I'm scheduled to appear on his show, the television physician and Oprah protege has assembled a cast of victims and villains that includes a college communications major who caught chlamydia from a Tinder date; a 24-year-old woman who was stabbed 21 times by the fiance she met online; and Douglas Hines, a cartoonish engineer donning a white lab coat and outsize bowtie, who claims to have created the world's first sex robot. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. I'm here, presumably, to act as a voice of reason in a segment called "Rise of the sex robots: Why experts are issuing warnings!" My co-panelists, a sex therapist and a psychologist, are well-trained in the art (or is it science?) of near-scripted debate. While one is slightly more optimistic, their arguments are essentially two sides of the same coin: Sex robots either can or will pose a threat to human relationships, or worse. As TV doctors do, they've both developed firmly planted opinions on the subject without any first-hand experience. It's not lost on me that I'm the only one in the room who's actually seen a sex robot IRL. After the doctors deliver their warnings, Oz turns to me, a look of concern written in deep lines across his forehead. He wants to know if people can have real, intimate relationships with robots.

Apple has unveiled all the new features heading to iPhones and iPads at its developer conference in San Francisco on Monday, including speed boost for even older devices, improved privacy and a host of new features. The look of iOS 12 will be very familiar, with the company focusing on improving the experience and the underlying software rather than simply splashing on a new coat of paint. The new iOS 12 will be available for any device running iOS 11 now, which means any Apple smartphone from the iPhone 5S or newer, and any iPad from the iPad mini 2 and iPad Air or newer, plus the sixth generation iPod touch. The developer version is available now, but the first public beta is due later in June, for those eager to test it as soon as possible. A final release will be available in September for everyone else.

Let's face it, the future isn't turning out to be what we were promised in decades past. No flying cars, and the closest thing to robot butlers are Siri and Alexa. Don't get me wrong, they're handy in their ways: suggesting nearby Thai food or tending to virtual shopping carts as we yell our grocery lists across the room. In fact, nothing that's commercially available really is -- at least not yet. In marketing, for example, all kinds of martech come with an AI label.

Asus just showed the world Project Precog at Computex 2018, and I'm drooling all over my keyboard. Imagine a slim laptop with dual touchscreens, one of which can transform into an adaptive keyboard and trackpad combo that can dynamically change the position of keys based on where your fingers are. Imagine a laptop that learns your work routines and can conserve battery life to anticipate an upcoming video conference. Asus' Project PreCog in Stand Mode Asus is also making waves at Computex with their recently announced ROG Phone. Project Precog (likely named after the precognitives from the film Minority Report) will ship with Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa built in, and can function in 4 different configurations: stand mode, book mode, tent mode and flat mode.

Digital assistants have the potential to be the bridge between smart homes, smart cars, smartphones, PCs, wearables and other devices that we use in our personal and professional lives. They could make our lives better organised, and our devices and services much easier to use. What are the promises and challenges of this brave new world of intelligence augmentation? Join us at "A.I. everywhere: How digital assistants will transform our lives" on 5 June 2018 at the Centre for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon, outside of Zurich. The conference will connect networks of artificial intelligence research and practice with thought leaders and decision makers from society, business and government.

Amazon is introducing a feature that will allow Alexa to suggest voice apps when you don't know what app to ask for. Instead, you will be able to simply tell Alexa what you want to accomplish to receive recommendations of skills to help you achieve that goal. Now in beta, the CanFulfillIntentRequest interface can be used by the creators of Alexa skills in the U.S. to alert Amazon to the kinds of questions their skill may be able to answer or queries the skill is able to fulfill. Amazon's Alexa Skill Store now has more than 30,000 voice apps, and getting users' attention can be something of a challenge. The intent request introduced today should help users discover more voice apps and connect developers making skills with a larger audience.

My regular readers will recognize Zaid's name. In 2012, at LegalTech New York, I used his very cool "The Mashup App" which was a vision for the future of the web: a web where we control our personal information and curate our digital data -- from memories to knowledge -- from all from our personal devices. The app is a personal database in which you save your digital data. You can save all types of data including web, PDF, images, video, audio, location, and time data. Since your personal database is on your device, you can save everything that is important to you – in this case, a log of every place I visited during my 3 days at LegalTech that year, plus the 3 days after in NYC at client meetings. From this I could generate a "diary" of my day, or my week and I could also associate any document (such as a PDF or a restaurant receipt or dry cleaning bill) I had to that "pin" location and/or day.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – Apple will offer more ways for people to limit the time they spend on iPhones while introducing features designed to make its products even more indispensable. The paradox emerged Monday as Apple executives previewed new versions of free software due out this fall. The forthcoming controls are aimed at addressing criticism that devices are becoming increasingly addictive and distracting, especially for children during their formative years. Yet Apple made it clear it also hopes to make its devices and services even more alluring -- and potentially irresistible -- by creating new avenues for its digital assistant, Siri, to serve as a backup brain for its users. The company is also creating more entertainment options and new ways to communicate, including a way for up to 32 people to join a group video chat through FaceTime. People have become so dependent on technology that it's unlikely any company will be able to solve the addiction problem, but they can help keep it from getting worse, Gartner analyst Brian Blau said.

Apple's Siri has fallen behind its virtual assistant competition. Google's Assistant expertly surfaces information, while Amazon's Alexa works with a staggering number of third-party apps for a broad variety of capabilities. Apple isn't admitting defeat, though: Siri played a prominent role at WWDC, the company's "Worldwide Developers Conference," on Monday. Specifically, Apple is finally tackling the issue of customization with its personal digital assistant: Making Siri do more, proactively, to make your day easier. Apple is primarily accomplishing this with a new tool called Siri Shortcuts, a sort of IFTTT built straight into iOS for personalizing and automating Siri commands and functions.