If you want to smarten up your home, one of the easiest ways to do it is through smart switches. You can use them for lights (although you might want smart dimmers for that), bathroom fans, ceiling fans, garbage disposals, outlets, heck, even electric fireplaces! But unlike their dumb brethren invented in the 1800's, not all smart switches are the same. While all of the switches we tested pass the basic test of turning things on and off (phew!), they do vary in how they perform thanks to their apps and integrations. So we put them to the test, comparing their setup processes, apps, and integrations with popular platforms like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home, to find you the very best switches you can buy. Unfortunately, all of the smart switches currently on the market seem to require a neutral wire.

A recent study by the CFA Institute (Chartered Financial Analysts) looks at the future of the investment profession. The CFA Institute is a global, not-for-profit organization and is the world's largest association of investment professionals. Currently, there are approximately 2 million workers in the investment industry, managing around $100 trillion in assets for clients. The report looked at the findings from a survey of 1145 investment industry leaders, looking at the trends that will impact the investment business in the future. Here are some of the more interesting findings, particularly those related to how the investment industry will have to adapt to changes in the marketplace.

Skype has come under fire for'copying' Snapchat as it launched its radically revamped messaging service today. Microsoft announced a range of new features for Skype, including a'Highlights' feature which lets users post temporary photos and videos The new feature has drawn comparisons to Snapchat's Stories feature, which has previously inspired updates to Facebook and Instagram. Skype has been given a radical makeover with a host of features borrowed from Snapchat, including an add-on called'Highlights' that lets users share temporary pictures and videos Highlights is a key feature included in the revamp of Skype, which has not had a radical facelift like this since it introduced video calls in 2006. It is also the most extensive update since Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion (£6.6 billion) in 2011. Skype does not disclose exact user figures but claims to have hundreds of millions of monthly users, of which 50 per cent access the service on mobile.

Dating can be nerve-racking, especially when you don't know if you should send that second text. After a person asked if texting someone twice to get his or her attention comes off as too desperate, the iOS dating app Hinge gave some advice on when you should send someone a second message. Molly Fedick, Editor-in-Chief Hinge's blog of IRL, said double messaging on a dating app might not come off as too needy. "I am one of those people who believes (believed?) "Here's the thing though -- dating apps aren't'real life,' if you consider'real life' good old fashioned texting.

The Patient is in apps integrate with Siri to provide a voice interface for messaging between the doctor and the charge nurse. This includes listening to patient assignments, rejecting an assignment, accepting an assignment and providing an estimated time of arrival, and lastly notifying the charge nurse of assignment completion which allows the staff to start the cleaning process to reduce the wait time for the next patient. On the iPhone, this enables the doctor to use AirPods or other Bluetooth headsets to remotely manage patient assignments exclusively with her voice. For shorter distances, the "Hey Siri" voice trigger also works well and that is the exclusive technique for hands-free voice control on the Apple Watch as of watchOS 3.2. Click on this link to learn about Siri support in the Patient is in.

When Android co-founder Andy Rubin left Google in November of 2014, shortly after a major executive shake-up within the search giant, his next move wasn't particularly clear. All we knew back then was that he reportedly wanted to start something on his own, which turned out to be building a high-end phone with a company called Essential Products Inc. And after much speculation and multiple teases by Rubin himself, we now know that device is the Essential Phone, an Android handset with a gorgeous design and top-of-the-line specs. The Essential features a 5.7-inch edge-to-edge display (similar to the one on Samsung's Galaxy S8), the latest Snapdragon 835 processor, 128GB of built-in storage, 4GB RAM and near-vanilla version of Android Nougat. It's basically everything you'd want in an Android handset in 2017.

Apple is making a Siri speaker that will sit in people's houses and speak to them. The company's Siri speaker has gone into production and will work as a way of listening to music as well as getting information by talking to it, according to reports. That will put it in competition with companies like Google and Amazon, both fo which make their own speaking speakers. Apple has already brought its Siri technology to pretty much everything it makes: phones, Macs, and TVs. But it is planning to make a specific product that includes it for the first ever time. 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.

Apple has reportedly started production of its Siri-based competitor to Amazon's Echo and Google's Home, plugging a hole in its device lineup that has become increasingly noticeable over the past two years. The new device will be similar to competitors' offerings in form, offering a voice-controlled speaker that can sit in the kitchen or living room and verbally respond to basic commands and queries. According to Bloomberg News, one key differentiator will be audio quality: Apple is planning to ship the speaker with "virtual surround sound technology", which uses one speaker to create the impression of several, as well as investing heavily on general quality improvements to ensure a richer sound than competitors. But more important for many Apple fans will be the expected tight integration with the rest of the company's products. The company's music streaming service is tricky to use on Amazon's Echo, and impossible to use on the Google Home, while both devices also require users on iOS to open a dedicated app to see any further information in response to queries.

If you're already nervous about a second date before the first one has even started, don't worry -- the dating app Hinge has some tips, based on data, that may help you score round two. The millennial-friendly app recently surveyed more than 8,000 users in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C., to find out how daters can impress their romantic interests date and land a second meeting First things first, when it comes to choosing your date spot, 37 percent of respondents said that suggesting going out for drinks was your best bet for making a good first impression and getting you a second date. The second best suggestion was coffee at 34 percent, lunch at 30 percent and dinner at 27 percent. If you've made it to that first date and you happen to be going out for drinks, half of the respondents said that suggesting a Bloody Mary as a drink was most likely to get you a second date. The second best drink recommendation was an Old Fashioned at 35 percent, followed by beer at 27 percent, wine at 23 percent, and tequila at 20 percent.

This morning I asked Alexa, "Alexa, what's artificial intelligence?" Artificial Intelligences means the branch of computer science that deal [sic] with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively. So then I asked, "Alexa, are YOU artificial intelligence?" I like to imagine myself a bit like an aurora borealis, a surge of charged multicolored photons dancing through the atmosphere. After this riveting back and forth, I thought to myself, 'We need to talk about how we talk about AI.' It's important to acknowledge that a lot of what we describe today as AI isn't really artificial intelligence, it's processing.