In an interview with India's Gadgets360, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, dropped the first hints for its long-rumored smart assistant speaker that'll reportedly be powered by Siri. SEE ALSO: Apple's Siri-based, Alexa-killing speaker hub could be coming soon Despite refusing to talk about the Echo and Google Home, Schiller didn't shy away from talking about voice-based devices as a whole. While he says Apple is heavily invested in Siri, Schiller talked up both the advantages and disadvantages of having a display. Stating the obvious, Schiller described situations where a screen isn't necessary and voice controls are better -- like when you're driving and can't fiddle with your phone or dashboard, or when you want to control your music from across the room without getting up. "I think voice assistants are incredibly powerful, their intelligence is going to grow, they're gonna do more for us, but the role of the screen is gonna remain very important to all of this," Schiller said.

Amazon may soon combine its Echo home speakers and Kindle tablets into a single device that will feature a touchscreen and video calling, the Wall Street Journal reported. Few technical details are available about the hybrid Echo, but as the Journal reports, the device, which is expected to be announced as soon as Tuesday, will have a 7-inch touchscreen that can visually display data like answers to Alexa questions and purchasing information. The Echo touchscreen speaker is slated to cost more than $200 and potentially could start shipping by next month. The news confirms leaks last week that hinted at a hybrid home clock-like Echo device. While Amazon has yet to release official images or details, last week's rumors line up with the basic details mentioned in the Journal's report.

Ever wished your Amazon Echo was more than just a smart speaker? Well, you may soon get that wish. The Amazon Echo is finally on sale (Photo: Reviewed.com) According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is preparing a new Amazon Echo, complete with a 7-inch touchscreen and video camera for video calling. The Journal says that an announcement could happen as early as Tuesday, with the new device going on sale as soon as next month.

I spoke with Michael Johnston, Lead Inventive Scientist at Interactions, about frequently asked questions about AI and Machine Learning as they apply to customer care. How do you define Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning? Artificial Intelligence refers to the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. Put another way, AI technologies are algorithms that attempt to mimic things that humans do. Machine Learning, on the other hand, is the science and engineering of giving computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed -- algorithms that learn from data.

Mother's Day is this week, and we've compiled a list of tech gadgets you could gift this year. Apple released a list of suggestions for Mother's Day a month ago that included the iPad Pro and Apple Watch. Amazon and Best Buy recently listed tech gifts you can give out this year, including sales on the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Amazon released a list of gifts "for the mom who loves tech time." The list includes the Fire HD 8 Tablet, Kindle and other gadgets.

Users of the dating website Guardian Soulmates have received explicit emails following a data breach. The email addresses and Soulmates usernames were exposed by a third-party service provider, according to Guardian News and Media (GNM), which has run the online dating service since 2004. GNM said: "We can confirm we have received 27 inquiries from our members which show evidence of their email addresses used for their Soulmates account having been exposed. Our ongoing investigations point to a human error by one of our third-party technology providers, which led to an exposure of an extract of data." The problem, which has now been fixed, made it possible to find Soulmates members' publicly available online dating profiles via the leaked data.

In a world of artificial intelligence; the race to the voice user interface is occurring in our homes. With Apple rumored to be building an Amazon Echo competitor with a screen; Microsoft is ready to roll-out its Google Home competitor as well. Coming in the Fall of 2017; this will be a sleek Cortana powered device; Harman Kardon announced called "Invoke": At the heart of Invoke is Cortana, your personal digital assistant, helping you stay on top of what's important. Enhance every moment with captivating sound, voice control your music and smart home, make and receive hands-free calls with Skype, get answers to your questions, and more*. It seems as if the cylindrical smart speaker is the new consumer device; to test the waters of artificial intelligence that showcases new advances in speech recognition and human-centric design of personal assistants.

Well, it looks like Amazon's touchscreen Echo is real after all. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is expected to unveil the device as early as Tuesday (that's tomorrow). As last week's leaks indicate, it'll have a 7-inch display with a camera on top and a speaker underneath. It'll function much like the Echo does today, but with a few new features thrown in. One such function is apparently the ability to make internet-based telephone calls.

In the competition among voice-assistant devices, Amazon's Echo gadgets are taking the lead. Amazon is set to control 70 percent of the voice-enabled speaker device market this year, a forecast from eMarketer released Monday predicted. Amazon's Echo devices forecast leaves other voice-assistant devices behind, including Google Home. Google Home is expected to control 23.8 percent of the market while the remaining amount will divided among smaller players, including Lenovo, LG, Harmon Kardon and Mattel. Read: Google Home vs. Amazon Echo: Which Device Has More Answers?

For the umpteenth time, Dell Technologies has reiterated that PCs are important to the company, and it won't quit the market. PCs are the engine that keep enterprises chugging, he said. Instead, Dell spent time educating attendees about the new Dell Technologies and its products. It's been less than a year since the US$67 billion Dell-EMC merger was finalized, and a lot of focus was on answering burning questions about the company's future. Dell did say the company would offer the PC-as-a-service worldwide by the end of the year, with more details about the program to be shared on Tuesday.