You can use Google's Home to cast Spotify (and other streaming music services) to your sound system with Chromecast using voice commands. The instructions for how to do this provided by both Google and Spotify assume you have either a Chromecast-equipped TV or Chromecast Audio. You can use the base Chromecast to cast both audio and video. Here's how to do it. If it's a new Chromecast, set it up using the Google Home app on a mobile device or laptop.

Google Home has picked some cool high-profile features over the past few weeks, including support for multiple accounts and access to millions of recipes, but a new feature that has flown in under the radar might be even more useful. Instead of paying top dollar on a bulky white noise machine for you or your newborn baby, your Google Home can now fill your room with soothing ambient sounds. There are 15 in all, ranging from a crackling fireplace to a babbling brook. And since they'll most often be used when you're already tired and stressed out, Google has made it super easy to operate. If you say, "OK Google, help me relax," your Google Home will play a random ambient noise for the next hour (or until you tell it to stop).

When I give talks on data strategy and AI strategy, I talk about data being the new oil. And, data being the fuel (oil) that is fueling the AI machine. I also talk about how to value data, since it is perhaps the most valuable modern business asset, yet is not yet accurately accounted for. Check out the slide below that I present as part of my 40 minute talk. It compares the largest companies (by market cap) from 2006 vs. 20016.

Artificial Intelligence must be the most overused word these days! You will be hard put to find any edition of a newspaper on any day, which does not have at least one reference to AI. Yet interestingly, this is the Second Coming of the technology that is vaguely defined as human-like intelligence displayed by machines and was first mooted in the US at a conference in 1956. Computers were soon winning at checkers, solving word problems in algebra, proving logical theorems and speaking English. The originators of the AI idea including its Bhishma Pitamaha, Marvin Minsky, claimed that Machines would be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a Man can do.

You can save $30 when you bring Alexa home through May 13. (Photo: Amazon) If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. Our picks and opinions are independent from any business incentives. If you've been toying with the idea of trying out smart home technology, this is the perfect opportunity. The Amazon Echo is one of the top smart home devices on the market whether you're just starting out or you've already starting living the smart home life. Amazon rarely drops the price of their flagship voice assistant, but right now the Echo is $30 off and will remain on sale until May 13. When I got mine last year, I was unsure I'd even want to use it.

Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos owes a thank you to consumers between the ages of 17 and 36 for the incredible lead its Echo device has in the voice-enabled speaker market. While using devices like the Echo or Apple's (AAPL) voice assistant Siri is still not the norm in the U.S. in 2017, their popularity is growing, according to a new study from eMarketer. When looking specifically at voice-enabled speakers that can provide everyday help by telling you the weather forecast or the day's top headlines, Amazon's Echo claims 70.6% of the market, followed by Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Home, which claims just 23.8% of the market. The remaining 5.6% of the pie is shared by smaller players, such as Lenovo, LG, Harmon Kardon, and Mattel. Apple and Alphabet are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio.

Harman Kardon's Invoke speaker, the Microsoft Cortana-powered answer to the Google Home and Amazon Echo, will ship this fall according to a preview page with the first official images of the tabletop device. Though pricing hasn't yet been revealed, Harman Kardon said that the Invoke will perform three major tasks: make and receive calls with Skype, control popular music services like Microsoft Groove, and "get things done" with Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant. Microsoft said it would team up last year with Harman Kardon as part of a new Internet of Things initiative powered by Cortana. Though the initial partnership was expected inside connected cars, it appears both companies will leap into homes first. Harman was showing off the new Invoke on a preview page on its website that's since be unpublished, inviting potential buyers to sign up.

It appears a lot more Americans are getting acquainted with Alexa. The Echo is the best way to add Alexa to your life, and you can get access to all sorts of Alexa-exclusive deals once you have one. The number of Americans using voice-enabled speakers like Amazon Echo at least once a month more than doubled from last year, says a forecast from research firm eMarketer. More than one-quarter of smartphone owners in the U.S., 60.5 million Americans, will use a virtual assistant like Alexa, Apple's Siri, or Microsoft's Cortana at least once a month. "Consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the technology, which is driving engagement," said Martín Utreras, eMarketer's vice president of forecasting, in a statement.

If last year was all about the rise of Alexa and Google Assistant, 2017 might be when Cortana and Siri have time to shine. Apple is reportedly due to launch its oft-rumored connected speaker at its WWDC conference next month, but Microsoft has been quite open about its plan to expand its AI assistant beyond mobile and the desktop. In December, it teamed up with audio specialist Harman Kardon to begin building the first in a wider line of connected speakers. However, details have been scarce. Now, thanks to a (now pulled) landing page on the Samsung-owned company's website, we have a name -- Invoke -- and a better understanding of what it will offer.

Project 1: Movie Recommendations For this project, you'll receive provide data about movies and users which will be used to train the model and generate recommendations for users about which movies they would like to watch, using the collaborative filtering technique. The data set for this project contains information on customers who received a Home Equity Line of Credit. The target variable is a flag. If the value is a "1" then the person defaulted on the loan. If the value is a "0" then the person repaid the loan.