Personal Assistant Systems
How to get Engadget UK Flash Briefings on your Amazon Echo
Here at Engadget UK, we want to deliver the latest technology news to wherever you are, on whatever device you happen to be using. You can already find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, but today we're adding a new "app" to the mix: an Engadget UK Flash Briefing for the Amazon Echo. Simply install our Echo skill and have Alexa read up-to-the-minute updates on what's happening in the world of technology. Engadget UK Flash Briefings are free and take just seconds to install. First, head on over to Amazon UK, and then click the Enable button inside the "Get This Skill" box.
Is government ready for AI? -- FCW
Artificial intelligence is helping the Army keep its Stryker armored vehicles in fighting shape. Army officials are using IBM's Watson AI system in combination with onboard sensor data, repair manuals and 15 years of maintenance data to predict mechanical problems before they happen. IBM and the Army's Redstone Arsenal post in Alabama demonstrated Watson's abilities on 350 Stryker vehicles during a field test that began in mid-2016. The Army is now reviewing the results of that test to evaluate Watson's ability to assist human mechanics, and the early insights are encouraging. The Watson AI enabled the pilot program's leaders to create the equivalent of a "personalized medicine" plan for each of the vehicles tested, said Sam Gordy, general manager of IBM U.S. Federal.
Alexa voice-powered apps and Internet usage can lead to mental illness
In this episode of WRLWND Radio, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about the rapid growth of voice-powered apps on Amazon's Alexa voice platform, also, a study that reveals that extreme Internet usage can lead to mental illness and he touches on the growth of video-gamers worldwide. Amazon's Alexa voice platform has now passed 15,000 skills, these are the voice-powered apps. This is up from last September when it was around 10,000. Today, Amazon is currently the leader in voice-powered devices and it is expected to control 70 percent of the market this year -- well ahead of Google Home, Lenovo, LG and others. Due to the increased interest in voice-powered devices, Apple has joined the party with the with its own Siri-powered device, the HomePod which will be released this December.
Two Decades of Recommender Systems at Amazon.com
Each person who comes to Amazon.com It's as if you walked into a store and the shelves started rearranging themselves, with what you might want moving to the front, and what you're unlikely to be interested in shuffling further away. The algorithms aren't magic; they simply share with you what other people have already discovered. The algorithm does all the work. It's computers helping people help other people, implicitly and anonymously. Since we wrote about the algorithm in IEEE Internet Computing in 2003,2 it has seen widespread use across the Web, including YouTube, Netflix, and many others.
EDITORIAL -- What work will look like in the 'Age of AI'
Our modern age is rife with questions that could have been (indeed, often were) posed by genre writers such as Ray Bradbury, H. G. Wells or Philip K. Dick. We'd like to pose a few of our own: Is it truly safe to put our lives in the "hands" of self-driving cars? Is Amazon's Alexa spying on our idle chatter? What happens when smart machines become smarter than the people who operate them? Many of the most critical questions brought about by advancing technology are related to work.
Smart home gadget ends a violent dispute by calling police (updated)
New Mexico police report that a smart home device (incorrectly labeled at first as a Google Home) intervened in a domestic violence incident by calling 911. When Eduardo Barros asked "did you call the sheriffs?" They overheard the altercation and called both negotiators and a SWAT team, who arrested Barros over assault, battery and firearms charges after a stand-off. Barros' girlfriend was hurt in the altercation. However, police contend that the situation could have been much worse.
Google Home Assistant Speaker Auto-Calls Police During Domestic Assault
Smart home devices are popular purchases for home users, but they're also increasingly capable of doing things that their owners might not expect. Eduardo Barros was house-sitting with his girlfriend and her daughter when the two got into an argument that became physical, ABC News reports. Barros allegedly pulled a firearm on his girlfriend and threatened to kill her, asking if she'd called the sheriff. The home speaker heard this as a command and proceeded to call the police. Deputies then arrived on the scene, removing Barros' girlfriend and her daughter from the home. A SWAT team and crisis negotiation team also came to the home and were able bring Barros into custody after an extended stand-off.
Tech Q&A
Q: I looked up my name at a people search site. Wow! Anyone can see my age, where I live, names of my relatives and more, for free! Can I remove these very personal details? A: I'm glad you searched for yourself, and I wish more people would. Many people are shocked to learn how much is freely exposed online: name, age, current address, past addresses, voting records, criminal history and so on. It's almost impossible to delete yourself from the internet completely, but you can easily crack down on these people search databases, no lawyer required.
Beginners Guide to learn about Content Based Recommender Engine
One of the most surprising part about Recommender Systems is, 'we summon to its suggestions / advice every other day, without even realizing that'. Let me show you some examples. Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn are among the most used websites on Internet today. Let us see how they use recommender systems. Facebook: Suggests us to make more friends using'People You May Know' section Similarly LinkedIn suggests you to connect with people you may know and YouTube suggests you relevant videos based on your previous browsing history.
Machine learning versus AI: what's the difference?
Thanks to the likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook, the terms artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have become much more widespread than ever before. They are often used interchangeably and promise all sorts from smarter home appliances to robots taking our jobs. But while AI and machine learning are very much related, they are not quite the same thing. AI is a branch of computer science attempting to build machines capable of intelligent behaviour, while Stanford University defines machine learning as "the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed". You need AI researchers to build the smart machines, but you need machine learning experts to make them truly intelligent.