For weeks, users of Amazon's digital assistant, Alexa, have reported versions of the same unsettling event: being startled as they went about their day by Alexa letting out an eerie laugh. Now, Amazon says that it knows why that's been happening and is working to fix the problem. "In rare circumstances, Alexa can mistakenly hear the phrase'Alexa, laugh,'" when other words are spoken, Amazon said in an emailed statement. "We are changing that phrase to be'Alexa, can you laugh?' which is less likely to have false positives, and we are disabling the short utterance'Alexa, laugh.'" The company also said that instead of simply laughing when asked, the digital assistant, which is accessible through its line of Echo devices, will first acknowledge the request, saying, "Sure, I can laugh."

A number of major internet companies are making a final push to urge lawmakers to modify a proposed bill that would allow victims of human trafficking to sue websites that facilitate the crime, Axios reported. At issue for the companies is the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), a bill that would increase the amount of accountability on online platforms for content created and posted by its users--including opening the companies up to lawsuits from victims of crimes that are aided by the online services. A number of tech firms are working to stop a bill designed to fight human trafficking. A letter from tech advocacy and lobbying group Engine was sent to members of the United States Senate Wednesday in an effort to convince lawmakers to reconsider their position before voting on the bill. Signatories of the letter include popular social network platforms including Reddit, Twitter and Pinterest.

In smart buildings, in this context non-residential buildings for offices, we indeed see an increasing role of smart office and smart workplace applications as IoT and data are also driving the further integration on the overall facility optimization level and areas such as lighting control, room control, space management, building management in an age of IoT and IoT-enabled office and workplace applications. And, indeed, here as well AI plays a role on several fronts as also in buildings intelligence moves to the edge and of course into the smart office.

Every time there is a big wireless, telecom or technology trade show, the big question I am always asked by the media as a telecom and wireless analyst, is simple. What was the key message or take away from the show? Last week, at the world's largest wireless trade show, Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Spain, the answer was clear. First it is about 5G, with plenty of AI and IoT mixed in. Yes, our world is rapidly changing. So, what will 5G, AI and IoT do for us?

It all started in the days following the release of the original Echo. Amazon was taking a gamble with a new hardware category: an always-on personal assistant for the home. And as early customer feedback started to roll in, Amazon realized that Echo had to grow beyond voice commands. "We realized that there were some use cases where it would probably be more friendly if you could confirm things on a display," said Miriam Daniel, Amazon's director of product management. This sparked the idea for the Echo Show, the first Echo product with a screen.

Ed Baig reviews the Samsung Galaxy S9 (S9), from super slow-mo to AR Emojis. Samsung Galaxy S9 comes in three colors in the U.S. This one is lilac purple. When Samsung unleashed the Galaxy S4 smartphone in 2013, it piled on so many newfeatures, I joked that it was like Samsung was auditioning for a Las Vegas magic act. Fast-forward five years to the Galaxy S9 and S9 that I've been checking out for a week and a half, and it's comforting that Samsung no longer goes hog wild with parlor tricks, unless you want to count super slo-mo video or animated emojis.

Late at night, in the gathered shadows of your bedroom, you may have heard it. Or, perhaps you heard it over breakfast with your family in the kitchen, the sound rising unbidden from over your shoulder in a corner of the room you had thought -- and now, desperately wish -- to be empty. At least, that's what Amazon Echo owners say they've been hearing lately. In recent weeks, many of them have hit social media saying they their smart speakers have been laughing spontaneously, unprompted by commands. So Alexa decided to laugh randomly while I was in the kitchen.

Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana could help hackers infect a computer running Windows 10 with a virus. A pair of independent Israeli security researchers found the major security flaw this week. By giving simple voice commands, they found they could install malware and launch websites from computer's lock screen. The hack works because Windows 10 allows a device to connect to a different network while it is still locked. This means an attacker can connect a USB with a network adapter and ask Cortana to open an unencrypted and potentially dangerous websites.

Amazon's Echo is emitting chilling laughter and refusing to do what is asked of it. The terrifying behaviour is leading people to lose sleep and to unplug their devices, amid fears their smart speakers are after them. But the chilling behaviour doesn't demonstrate that the machines are about to take over. In fact, it shows just how far they've got to go. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

Amazon's Alexa has been letting out an unprompted, creepy cackle - startling users of the best-selling voice assistant. The laugh, described by some as "witch like" was reported to sometimes happen without the device being "woken" up. Others reported the laugh occurring when they asked Alexa to perform a different task, such as playing music. "We're aware of this and working to fix it," Amazon said. Voice assistants like Alexa are designed to respond or act only when prompted with a wake word, which in this case is "Alexa" or "Amazon".