In the first quarter of 2017, Amazon owned almost 80% of the smart speaker market, while Google sipped up just 19.3%. But in the same quarter this year, Google sold more than a third of all smart speakers, while Amazon's share plummeted to 27.7%. And it's in the fastest-growing consumer technology market: nine million devices sold in Q1 2018 versus 2.9 million last year. "Google took the top spot, beating Amazon for the first time, shipping 3.2 million of its Google Home and Home Mini devices, against the 2.5 million Echo devices shipped by Amazon," says Canalys in a new report. Dipping market share is not unusual when a market matures. The initial innovator is confronted with competition on all sides -- Google, Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Apple all have smart speaker solutions, and more are popping up daily.

A smart light switch adds control to one of the connected home's most basic functions, and today, you can add one of your own for cheap--the WeMo light switch is on sale for $35 on Amazon, down from a list price of $50. This light switch is designed to add convenience and control to your home lighting. You'll be able to make adjustments and commands from your phone via the WeMo app, but you can also connect it to your other smart devices to add voice control with Amazon Alexa or the Google Assistant. If you know when you'll be around, you can schedule when your lights will come off and on, or randomize when you're away to deter potential intruders. And it doesn't have to be lights--connect this switch to a ceiling fan or anything else controlled by a one-way connection light switch and you'll be able to control that as well.

It started with a chilling phone call: a voice on the other end of the line telling you to unplug your devices and that they are being listened to. Then it became something even more worrying, when you realise that it's true, and the Amazon Echo in your house has been sending your private conversations to random people. The revelation that an Amazon Echo speaker had been quietly recording its owners and then sharing those recordings have shocked and scared many people who own the useful but intimate little cylinders. Amazon has said that such an event is extremely rare – and that it is working to make it even less likely – but the fact that it can happen at all has worried many people who have let Alexa into their home. The bizarre occurrence seems to be the consequence of a relatively innocent sounding feature: a messaging tool that allows people to send voice notes to other people with Echos.

Android Auto Wireless promises to make vehicle smartphone connections less of a futz, provided you have both a phone and infotainment system that supports it. Google is handling the first part, and Pioneer just announced that it has joined JVCKenwood in offering in-dash receivers with the tech. The three models (the AVIC-W8400NEX, -W6400NEX and -W4400NEX) are the first that can connect over wireless or USB to both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Pioneer claims. The receivers support Google Assistant and Siri, letting you do things like control your home lights, garage doors and thermostat from your car. They're also "the most feature packed receivers offered by Pioneer," the company notes, supporting back up cameras, navigation (via Here maps) and other features.

An "unlikely" string of events prompted Amazon's Echo personal assistant device to record a Portland, Oregon, family's private conversation and send it to an acquaintance in Seattle, the company said Thursday.

SEATTLE - A Portland, Oregon, family contacted Amazon to investigate after they say a private conversation in their home was recorded by Amazon's Alexa – the voice-controlled smart speaker – and the recorded audio was sent to the phone of a random person in Seattle, who was in the family's contact list. "My husband and I would joke and say, 'I'd bet these devices are listening to what we're saying,'" said Danielle, who did not want KIRO-TV to use her last name. Every room in her family home was wired with the Amazon devices to control her home's heat, lights and security system. But Danielle said that two weeks ago, the family's love for Alexa changed with an alarming phone call. "The person on the other line said, 'Unplug your Alexa devices right now,'" she said.

One of the biggest and most important trends in business today is the steady growth of artificial intelligence (AI). While people often think of AI in terms of the ways it can eliminate menial tasks such as paperwork and scheduling, the fact is that it will soon be touching every part of the business world, if it is not already. AI is doing more than just providing companies with virtual personal assistants -- it is changing marketing as we know it. Digital marketers today are helped by an incredible wave of information that is available from accessible, advanced data analytics tools, providing more insight into consumers as well as how to market directly to them. As the chief digital officer at Advantix Digital, I have had the chance to be exposed to AI -- from the introduction of machine learning to AdWords and optimizing for voice search. While marketers have always used data as much as they could, the fact is that many ad campaigns still involve a lot of educated guesswork from marketers.

Digital Transformation continues to gain velocity. But even as technology takes over many tasks, it's important that a Human touch is retained. This thought-provoking article by Bryan Kramer s another in our "Great Articles You may have missed" series. A few years ago, experts were trumpeting that the future is mobile, and they weren't wrong. Some of the world's most successful new apps and business models are mobile-based -- just look at Uber, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Mobility, as well as app ecosystem, have made remarkable changes in our daily lives. I believe that it has transformed the way we deal with our activities whether it is online shopping, entertainment etc. The emergence of Artificial Intelligence is equally having a greater impact on our interactions with our gadgets along with mobile apps. AI is now multi-faceted with a wide range of impacts, especially in mobile app solutions. From deep learning, advanced machine learning to natural language processing as well as advanced algorithms, AI currently works at various levels. It assists in creating new as well as unique applications.

University researchers from Berkeley and Georgetown found in a 2016 paper that sounds unintelligible to humans can set off voice assistants in general, which raised concerns of exploitation by attackers. Amazon did not immediately comment on the matter, but it previously told The New York Times that it has taken steps to keep its devices secure.