Google is rolling out a flurry of products in Indonesia. Chief among the new additions are YouTube Go and Google Assistant. The announcements (made at its second annual Google for Indonesia event) tie into the web giant's plan to get its apps to the "next billion" internet users. Until now, this strategy has mainly focused on India. But, it seemed inevitable that Google would expand its reach to more emerging (mobile-first) countries.

Amazon's Echo Dot is the most cost-effective way to add voice-activated control to your smart home. There's an Alexa skill for just about every smart-home platform, DIY or custom installed, and second-generation Echo Dot's cost just $50 each. I have six deployed in my own house, connected to a Vivint Smart Home system. The Vaux speaker dock changes that and delivers a bonus: A rechargeable battery that lets you take Alexa all over your house--and out onto the porch, too. The Vaux costs $50, so it and an Echo Dot still cost less than Amazon's own portable Alexa solution, the Amazon Tap. The Vaux's speaker not only sounds better than the Tap, it doesn't force you to press a button to get Alexa's attention like the Tap does.

Fintech is a lucrative yet quite saturated market. In order to stay competitive, businesses should keep track of the emerging trends and be able to capitalize on them before their competitors do. Artificial intelligence is currently among the most promising fintech trends. Leading financial brands such as Capital One, MasterCard, as well as hundreds of startups have set the pace for the adoption of virtual financial advisors. If you want to stay ahead of your competition or simply explore the opportunities for AI in fintech, then this article is for you.

Learn more about how to implement AI at the Artificial Intelligence Conference, September 17 - 20, San Francisco, CA. It has been seven years since Apple unveiled Siri, and three since Jeff Bezos, inspired by Star Trek, introduced Alexa. But the idea of conversational interfaces powered by artificial intelligence has been around for decades. In 1966, MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum introduced ELIZA--generally seen as the prototype for today's conversational AI. Decades later, in a WIRED story, Andrew Leonard proclaimed that "Bots are hot," further speculating they would soon be able to "find me the best price on that CD, get flowers for my mom [and] keep me posted on the latest developments in Mozambique."

Apple has been building data centers powered by renewable energy across the US for some time, now, with facilities in North Carolina, Arizona and Reno. The tech company plans to build it's latest data center -- a 400,000 square foot facitlity -- in Waukee, Iowa by 2020. Construction should begin early next year with the resulting center aimed at supporting users of Apple's online services in North America. "Our new data center in Iowa will help serve millions of people across North America who use Siri, iMessage, Apple Music and other Apple services -- all powered by renewable energy," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement. Apple says that the center will add 550 construction and operations jobs in the Des Moines area.

AI-powered virtual assistants are dedicated pieces of software that implement machine learning and natural language processing to communicate with users. AI-powered virtual assistants can directly help your sales team close more deals by providing them information during a sales call. By analyzing browsing and purchasing patterns, interests, and other relevant demographics, you can qualify prospects and show your sales team where each prospect is located within the buyer's journey. Although developing and perfecting an AI-powered virtual assistant takes time, you can increase your sales conversion rates if you implement it correctly.

In the days before white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Bumble had already been in the process of strengthening its anti-racism efforts, partly in response to an attack the Daily Stormer had waged on the company, encouraging its readers to harass the staff of Bumble in order to protest the company's public support of women's empowerment. Bumble bans any user who disrespects their customer service team, figuring that a guy who harasses women who work for Bumble would probably harass women who use Bumble. After the neo-Nazi attack, Bumble contacted the Anti-Defamation League for help identifying hate symbols and rooting out users who include them in their Bumble profiles. Now, the employees who respond to user reports have the ADL's glossary of hate symbols as a guide to telltale signs of hate-group membership, and any profile with language from the glossary will get flagged as potentially problematic. The platform has also added the Confederate flag to its list of prohibited images.

In the name of convenience, Amazon and Walmart are pushing people to shop by just talking to a digital assistant. Shopping by voice means giving orders to the Alexa assistant on Amazon's Echo speaker and other devices, even if your hands are tied up with dinner or dirty diapers. And next month, Walmart will start offering voice shopping, too, with the Google Assistant on the rival Home speaker. FILE - This file photo provided by Amazon shows models of the Amazon Echo Show. With Echo Show, Amazon has given its voice-enabled Echo speaker a touch screen and video-calling capabilities as it competes with Google's efforts at bringing'smarts' to the home. Amazon has been ramping up efforts to get more people to shop using the Alexa voice assistant on Echo speakers and other Amazon devices.

Bumble, the "women-first dating app," recently swiped right on a $450 million acquisition offer, Forbes reported this week. Tinder also ranks first in terms of revenue in the lifestyle category on Google Play and Apple's App Store. "For me, all the dating apps are so flawed that I feel like I need to try my luck on all of them for the greatest chance of luck," an active user of both Tinder and Bumble told me. Google Play does have a Dating category whereas App Store does not.

Advisors wondering how Amazon will enter wealth management should look to its cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services, which is pitching the natural language processing, machine-learning brain behind its voice interactive service to wirehouses, broker-dealers and robo advisors. All Financial Planning content is archived after seven days.