Google announced today that its virtual assistant will now support two new languages -- Spanish for users in the US, Mexico and Spain as well as Italian for those in Italy. These languages will be rolling out over the next few weeks, according to Google, and while initially they'll only be available for Android, the company says iPhone support will be released later this year. With these additions, Google Assistant now supports a total of eight languages -- including English, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese and Korean -- in 12 countries around the world. While that puts Google's virtual assistant in line with Microsoft's Cortana, which also supports eight languages, ahead of Amazon's Alexa, which only supports German and a few versions of English, and ahead of Samsung's Bixby, which supports just English and Korean, it's still well behind Apple's Siri. Apple's assistant currently supports 20 languages -- quite a few more than any of its counterparts.

Amazon's new $100 Echo is a disappointment for anyone who looking to upgrade from the original model. Sure, it's nearly half the price, but its sound quality is also significantly worse. With that in mind, the $150 Echo Plus seems like a far better successor on paper. It features better speakers and a built-in smart home hub. It's still not a must-have upgrade -- a testament to how much Amazon got right at the beginning -- but it at least offers some improvements over its predecessor.

On October 23, Doppler Labs founder Noah Kraft got a Facebook notification. One of those "On This Day" pop-ups, resurfacing a post from exactly two years ago, when Kraft had appeared on CNBC to make the case for his company. "We want to put a computer, speaker, and mic in everyone's ear," Kraft said during the interview. "We have very lofty visions of the future, everything from real-time translation to personal assistants." Because on October 23, Kraft was nine days away from shutting down Doppler Labs for good.

After what seems like an eternity (for IKEA and HomeKit fans, at least), the Swedish furniture maker has added support for Apple's smart home platform. As 9to5Mac notes, so long as you have the company's Tradfri hub installed at your house, you'll be able to start controlling the lighting via your iOS device. It's worth noting that, this will only work with smart lightbulbs at this time; dimmer switches aren't online just yet. More than that, the hub integrates with Amazon's Alexa so if you aren't all-in on HomeKit, you can still use voice commands to turn your lights on and off. Google Assistant support isn't included in this update, however.

Is your learning establishment preparing for – or even aware of – the next revolution in human development: robots educating our young? Artificial intelligence (AI), though rudimentary at the moment, is already having an impact on daily life. Your mobile phone is fast becoming a personal assistant, learning to anticipate your needs. Computer games contain virtual characters that learn to respond to their environment and smart cars are doing the same in the real world. And the UK government is keen for the country to exploit AI, publishing a report on the impact of AI on the economy, estimating that it could add another £630bn to the UK economy by 2035.

In this digital age, AI has shaped the way we are living, it is seeping its way into our lives, affecting how we live, work and entertain ourselves. From voice-powered personal assistants like Siri and Alexa to more underlying and fundamental technologies such as behavioral algorithms, suggestive searches and autonomously-powered self-driving vehicles boasting powerful predictive capabilities, there are several examples and applications of artificial intelligence in use today. Artificial Intelligence implementation can greatly enhance productivity in all aspect of life, but it can also be disruptive if not properly managed. Today, Artificial Intelligence technology allows non-living things like robots & computers to think for themselves to an extent. Artificial Intelligence and Man Artificial Neural Systems (ANS) A neural network is an electronic model of the brain consisting of many interconnected simple processors.

You can already unlock Schlage's Sense smart deadbolt with your voice through Siri, but you now have another choice if you're not a fan of Apple devices. The smart lock is now compatible with Amazon Alexa, so you can lock/unlock it or check out its status by barking out voice commands through an Echo speaker or any of the e-retail giant's Alexa-enabled devices. If you want to play with the integration a bit more, you can fire up the Alexa app and create "routines" for your smart devices triggered by key words. For instance, you can create a sequence that automatically locks your front door and switches off the lights when you say "good night." Schlage has another smart lock with Alexa integration through either Wink or Samsung SmartThings, but Sense could be the better choice if you don't have plans of automating all the appliances in your home.

The Amazon Echo, powered by Amazon's Alexa digital assistant, were breakthrough products that forever changed how we control our smart homes. The inexpensive Echo Dot that came later made it possible to put Alexa in every room of a home without spending a fortune. The second-generation Echo is better and less-expensive than the first full-sized Echo, but it's not nearly as important as those first three products. The new Echo is roughly 1/4-inch wider than the original, but it's about three inches shorter. That makes it much less likely to topple over than the too-tall original.

In the land of smart home appliances, Amazon has been tops for years. And after spending time with the company's new Amazon Echo, I have no reason to believe that's changing anytime soon. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been using the new Amazon Echo (2nd generation), an update to the company's wildly popular smart home appliance. And after putting it through its paces, adding skills, testing its microphone, and seeing how well its speaker could blast music around the house, I'm more convinced than ever that Amazon AMZN knows how to build a smart home device. Get Data Sheet, Fortune's technology newsletter And when the second-generation Echo launches on Tuesday for an affordable $100, I think many shoppers will discover the same.

What customers want and what businesses think they want are often two different things. Here's what customers are looking for. Anyone who has gotten an unsolicited and irrelevant offer related to something they've done online knows that creepy feeling that someone is watching me. This kind of reaction is the third rail of today's drive to personalize interactions with customers. That's a problem because, when done right, personalization can be a huge boon for retailers and consumers.