A new study from Edison Research and NPR reports that Amazon Echo maintains almost a three-to-one consumer market share advantage over Google Home in the U.S., but the gap narrowed considerably in 2017 to settle at 69% to 25%. This represents the first time Amazon has dropped below 70% market share. The data was collected during a telephone survey of 1,010 adults the last week of December after the 2017 holiday season concluded. The market share data was derived from an email interview with the research principle and the report's representation that 16% of survey participants owned a smart speaker of any type, 11% indicated Amazon Echo ownership and 4% for Google Home. Amazon Echo was the only smart speaker for nearly two years.

This year's CES had a lot of interesting and exciting new gadgets, but there were a few that stood out from the crowd. Fox News has compiled a list of five categories and the offerings that stood out from the competition. Best wearable: Smart glasses used Amazon's Alexa Vuzix Blade Smart Sunglasses made a lot of "best of" lists this year at CES and for good reason – Vuzix could achieve what Google Glass didn't. It allows you to keep your head up while interacting with your device. The Vuzix glasses have a couple of standout features, including the ability to query Alexa, Amazon's voice-enabled intelligent personal assistant.

Plug in an Amazon Echo and it's obvious that artificial intelligence is using algorithms to produce responses. But drivers in Singapore probably don't realize traffic signal patterns are being determined AI that examines data from street cameras. In the next few years, AI will become increasingly integrated our modern lives--in ways that will be at times conspicuous, and other times unobtrusive. AI will get to know you. So said a trio of AI experts who work on some of the best recognized digital AI assistants--Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and IBM's Watson--at the "Future of AI" panel Thursday morning at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Technology is forging new views on search marketing. Finding a clear path means having a fluid approach in place, knowing where to start, and by doing at least one thing really well. To succeed in competitive search in 2017, it helps to understand how artificial intelligence and technology are forging a new approach to search. Having limited funds and limited time means that a clear focus is of the essence to search success! This article is meant to help get the mindset you need for successful search campaigns in 2017. There is no "one thing" that offers a magic bullet to success. But one thing is clear – the need to focus on new business generation coming from organic search, sales leads, and/or e-commerce revenue gained from paid search marketing. Old paths to get there must update and see how artificial intelligence and algorithms are vastly changing the world of search.

Are you ready to talk to your toilet? Those are just a few of the ideas we've seen at CES 2018, the annual consumer technology confab here at the Las Vegas Convention Center and other venues. Sure, there are tech titans here battling to control our computers, TVs and smart homes. But our favorite part is the thousands of other companies that gather to launch something new. While these ideas sometimes catch on, like fitness trackers and wireless ear buds, many go nowhere.

Yet the clear darling of this year's show was not a gadget but the growing amount of artificial intelligence software helping these products run. The race between Amazon and Google to be the go-to service for integration of consumer products was on full display. In many booths, signs prominently advertised that products worked with Google Assistant or Amazon's Alexa. The smart home, car and TV all seemed to have been touched by Amazon or Google. "It's the year of A.I. and conversational interfaces," said J. P. Gownder, an analyst for Forrester Research.

CES 2018 is winding down, and we finally have a chance to pause and reflect on what we saw that was actually great. Products that advanced their category, or broke new ground. Things that leaped ahead of the competition, Or maybe they just looked cool. It's easy to hit saturation at CES, but these are the products we're still talking about when everything else has blurred together. We start with the product that was so innovative, two of us raved about it.

The UK has experienced a "lost decade" for productivity, with no increase in production efficiency between 2007 and 2017. Beware those who tell you they know the answer to our longstanding productivity woes. It is a highly complex question and there is no consensus on the precise causes, or what we should prioritise to solve the problem. Yet the bald facts are indisputable. In 2015, this country's output was just 76% of the level in the US, and well behind that of most of our other major competitors in the global marketplace.

Do you use artificial intelligence (AI)? It might sound like a high-brow discussion for coders and data scientists, but AI is everywhere. If you use an Amazon Echo, you use AI. If you use Facebook or Netflix, AI is used on you. AI is a catch-all term for several different technologies – including machine learning, neural networks, voice recognition and natural language processing – but they all have one thing in common (or should do); they allow machines to learn how to respond to your needs.

Artificial intelligence is a moving target. Here's how to take better aim. Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere. We experience it at home and on our phones. Before we know it--if entrepreneurs and business innovators are to be believed--AI will be in just about every product and service we buy and use. In addition, its application to business problem solving is growing in leaps and bounds.