The key weakness of the Microsoft Cortana-powered Harman/Kardon Invoke smart speaker was that it just wasn't a great smart-home controller, lacking many of the services and IFTTT support of its rivals. Today, Microsoft said, that changes. Microsoft said Friday that it has added support for IFTTT, the conditional platform that triggers various connected services, to Cortana. And those services have expanded, too: Cortana can now control products from Ecobee, Honeywell Lyric, Honeywell Total Connect Comfort, LIFX, TP-Link Kasa, and Geeni. Because Cortana offers essentially the same capabilities across various platforms, that means the new smart-home controls are available from the Invoke, but also from your Windows 10 PC or even the Cortana apps for Android and iOS.

Tinder's new update will allow female users to take the lead in conversations with matches in a setting dubbed "women-talk-first." The dating app's new feature is optional for female users. By entering the app's settings, women will soon be able to change it so that they are required to initiate dialogue before men. Therefore, this feature would allow for women to not be on the receiving end of an assortment of messages from every person they'd ever matched with. Match Group, a company that operates Tinder alongside other dating websites, claimed the change is great for women if they don't mind the "pressure" of initiating a conversation with a new match.

I joined the Star Wars fandom late in the game. I grew up in India, where Star Wars is less of a thing, but in 2015 I watched "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and set out on a quest to watch everything. They can move and talk (though mostly in gibberish) and act intelligently. As we all know, technology is often inspired by movies. Just look at how speech technologies are evolving and inspired by movies like Star Wars.

First things first: what is AI? AI is trendy nowadays but not new. Back in 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer developed by IBM defeated Garry Kasparov who is still considered as one of the greatest chess players in the world. But what has changed since? The proliferation of data and the rapidity of computing power have accelerated the development of algorithms. Machine learning emerged as a branch of Artificial Intelligence and allows computers to learn from datasets without being programmed explicitly.

We've been promised so much over the years, but now AI is ready to deliver. From connected cars and smart homes, through to improved ambient assisted living (AAL), AI is the common thread that unites them all. Analysts predicted that worldwide revenues for cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) systems will reach $12.5 billion in 2017, an increase of 59.3% over 2016, and that investment will continue that trajectory, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54.4% through 2020 when revenues will be more than $46 billion. The analysts might just be right this time too, as the supporting base of technology has caught up with the demands and opportunities offered by improved AI. A clear example was at CES 2018, one of the biggest annual showcases of technology, which lit up Las Vegas in early January, and much of the major noise this year was around AI and associated devices.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay. It has proven itself as a valuable and effective way to perform routine tasks in a variety of industries. While AI may not have poked its head around the corner of your office door yet, it doesn't mean that it is not on the horizon as a tool to help unload some of your most arduous responsibilities. AI has the ability to free up your times and provide accurate completion of routine skills. This year is expected to be the year that the technology heats up and hits desks, making it a possibility at your workplace in the near future.

For some folks, President's Day is a time to honor U.S. presidents of old, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But for tech companies and online retailers, it's another opportunity to lay out some discounts and rake in some sales. We hope you're able to enjoy the weekend. If you happen to be in the mood to peruse, we've hand-picked some of our favorite tech deals from around the web. At the bottom of this article we've also included links to some of the more notable sales going on, in case you want to browse for yourself.

Smart home technology feels like it's making its way towards mainstream adoption in 2018. AI integrated devices are leading the way and responding to voice commands for anything from looking up the day's weather forecast, providing dinner recipe inspiration or switching on the lights when you get in from work. As we rely on technology increasingly to help us navigate our busy lives, it makes sense that our home interiors will become tech-integrated too. We've rounded up some of the most popular and easy ways to introduce new tech into your home this year. More and more households are relying on digital AI assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, with smart speakers becoming part of the furniture in many homes.

Relatively few healthcare organizations have the resources or analytics maturity to develop their own intricate big data analytics infrastructure from scratch, but a growing number of vendors are starting to make the daunting and costly process easier by offering Artificial Intelligence and machine learning as a service (MLaaS). The "as a service" industry, which has quickly branched out to cover a number of critical data-heavy use cases, allows organizations to contract with third-party vendors that do the heavy lifting in terms of data collection, storage, movement, and analytics. Many healthcare stakeholders are already familiar with MLaaS technologies, even if the acronym itself is new to them. On the consumer side, voice-driven personal assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Home use machine learning techniques to create smart environments and automate technical tasks. In the enterprise space, IBM Watson's commercialized analytics and precision medicine services are a good example, as is Partners Healthcare's IDEA platform, which uses data lake technology to streamline the development of research projects targeting a number of high-value use cases.

According to a survey by online dating app "Coffee Meets Bagel," the perception of Valentine's Day appears to have changed dramatically. Singles are loud and proud, feeling empowered and less pressured to have a date for the hallmark occasion -- and this isn't the best news for dating apps. As a result, some operators are trying to head off dating-app fatigue with tech solutions: from the creation of in-person authentic experiences such as concerts and cultural experiences, to leveraging blockchain and artificial intelligence for courtship advice. Others may even accept cryptocurrencies for payment to match-making platforms. With men twice as active on relationship sites, according to numerous surveys, a slew of dating apps have emerged catering to women already, allowing ladies to call the shots.