The recent Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards 2017 offered a valuable opportunity to learn how global insurers are leveraging digital technologies to transform themselves into everyday insurers. The innovations we saw are built on exponentially expanding digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), big data, analytics, and blockchain, and are being applied across the entire insurance value chain, from product development to claims. As customers come to expect increasingly personalized, on-demand service, insurers must evolve to meet their expectations. To that end, leading insurers are embracing new technologies to shape innovative business models and client value proposition. I strongly believe that those who will innovate at scale will be in a position to weather disruption and transform into everyday insurers.

It's 2050 and the world revolves around you. From the contents of your fridge to room temperature, digital assistants ensure your home runs smoothly. Your screens know your taste and show channels you want to see as you enter the room. Your car is driverless and your favourite barman may just be an Android. Predictions for an AI-dominated future are increasingly common, but Antoine Blondeau has experience in reading, and arguably manipulating, the runes, he helped develop technology that evolved into predictive texting and Apple's Siri.

If you're in the market for a smart speaker but don't fancy shelling out the full retail price for one, Amazon and Google might be able to help. Today, both the Amazon Echo and Google Home have been given price cuts that have taken them below the £100 mark. For a limited time only, the Amazon Echo costs £99.99 from Amazon, while Argos is offering it for £99. Meanwhile, the Google Home is £99 at Argos and John Lewis. That means you'll save up to £50 on an Echo and and £30 on Google's smart speaker.

In a bid to take on Amazon, Google has joined forces with Walmart to widen its'Express' programme. The collaboration will allow users to order hundreds of thousands of items through Google Assistant - a voice-activated smart assistant. Google Express will include Walmart from late September in the US, although it is unclear if it will be available in further countries at a later date. In a bid to take on Amazon Prime, Google has joined forces with Walmart to create a new'Express' programme. Google Express allows you to shop at a variety of popular stores including Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods Market on the app, the Express website, or by voice.

Under a new partnership with Google, Walmart will allow shoppers to make purchases through the voice-activated device Google Home, the Google Express app or its website. In late September, Walmart will become the latest retailer to join Google Express. Now Google will be able to order your Walmart purchases for you. Starting next month, shoppers will be able to order items from detergent to orange juice from Google Express. Walmart, the world's largest retailer, and Google, the world's most popular search engine, are teaming up to challenge Amazon's growing dominance in online commerce.

For Amazon Echo owners in the UK, the arrival of Music Unlimited provided the likes of Apple and Spotify with some music needed competition. The company immediately made it the default music service on the smart speaker, allowing users to instantly queue music using their voice once they'd signed up. Understandably, Amazon is keen to differentiate its service from its more popular rivals, so it's banking on Alexa "activities," which have today arrived in the UK. Activities are basically Amazon-built voice controls that make it easier to find music for a specific event or setting. Users have apparently requested ways to find a perfect meditation playlist, or music that matches the theme of a party or a workout and the company is only too keen to oblige.

Artificial intelligence is about more than just a voice assistant on your phone, and Huawei's promising its own AI will do a lot more. Huawei has big plans for artificial intelligence, something it has made very clear several times over the past year, and on September 2 it's going to reveal the first product built around its AI technology. In a series of teasers posted to its social media channels, it notes the date and tells us to, "expect the unexpected." Does this mean Huawei's own voice assistant is here, ready to challenge Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung's Bixby? Possibly, but Huawei has also hinted any assistant duties will be just a small part of what its AI is capable of. In a tweet from the end of July, Huawei asked what AI meant to us, and in an image said it should be, "more than just a voice assistant."

It brings the last gasp of eclipse talk (for a few years, anyway), as well as our first close look at the SNES Classic Edition. Oh, and don't forget, check Engadget for all of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 news starting at 11 AM ET. Take that, Amazon Prime.Walmart has a new partner to help take on Amazon: Google The latest attempt by Walmart to get a leg up in online sales is a partnership with Google on two fronts. Also, in late September, Walmart will join the Google Express lineup, allowing for online shopping and fast delivery in supported areas. Meanwhile, Google Express has free delivery for orders above each store's minimum.

Google has announced that it's partnering with retailer Walmart for its Google Home smart speaker. Soon, Google Home users will be able to shop online with voice commands using Google Assistant. "When it comes to voice shopping, we want to make it as easy as possible for our customers. That's why it makes sense for us to team up with Google," Walmart said in a blog post. "They've made significant investments in natural language processing and artificial intelligence to deliver a powerful voice shopping experience. We know this means being compared side-by-side with other retailers, and we think that's the way it should be."

Today, many companies use big data to make super relevant recommendations and growth revenue. Among a variety of recommendation algorithms, data scientists need to choose the best one according a business's limitations and requirements. To simplify this task, the Statsbot team has prepared an overview of the main existing recommendation system algorithms. Collaborative filtering (CF) and its modifications is one of the most commonly used recommendation algorithms. Even data scientist beginners can use it to build their personal movie recommender system, for example, for a resume project.