Even worse was Google's first attempt at responding to press inquiries. The company had the audacity to say: "This isn't an ad; the beauty in the Assistant is that it invites our partners to be our guest and share their tales." To me, this means that any partner that wants to work with Google can show up in my living room. Being hassled by advertisers while using Home isn't a "feature" that Google has ever talked about before. The backlash was swift; Google responded quickly.

Artificial intelligence, which uses algorithms and rules-based logic to automate a wide variety of tasks within many verticals, is hot. It occupies the top spot in 2017 tech trend lists from such notable companies as Ericsson and Gartner. Cognitive systems and AI adoption across a broad range of industries are likely to drive worldwide revenues from nearly $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020, according to IDC. Automated customer service agents is one of the key AI areas that attracted investment last year, the research firm noted. "From better purchase recommendations, to smarter customer service that predicts what a consumer is actually trying to do, AI promises to fundamentally transform entire businesses and industries," said Scott Horn, CMO at customer engagement solution provider [24]7.

When Whitney Wolfe founded Bumble, the popular swipe-based dating app where women make the first move, she wasn't out to start a dating app revolution--she just wanted to create a way to bring accountability to the online dating realm. But the app's major boom has shown that the dating space needed a different approach. Now, as the company is in its second year, Bumble is expanding the platform to allow different kinds of connections instead of just romantic ones. Wolfe outlined plans for the app's future at South by Southwest, including many new features that are just around the corner. The idea for Bumble was born after Wolfe's messy departure from Tinder, which has a reputation of being more hookup-focused than relationship-focused. On Tinder and other sites, it's common for women to receive aggressive messages and (ahem) unsolicited photos from their matches, which might drive users away.

An owner of an esports bar in Toronto says that his establishment has been getting some pretty odd calls recently, and he's pointing the blame at Siri. You can use Alexa in Amazon's app now, and it's really smart Alvin Acyapan, co-owner of the bar Meltdown Toronto, says that if you ask Siri to locate a sex worker in the Toronto area, it will suggest their bar. Hi @AppleSupport, could you please explain why #siri is saying that people can find prostitutes at our place? The bar also posted images of Siri's response to Reddit, where they went into a little bit more detail. "We've been getting calls about it for a few months now. Thought it was just a prank or that my number is somehow similar to an actual brothel," Acyapan wrote on Reddit.

At this moment there are a lot of new technologies that could have a massive impact on eCommerce. This is why Managers are having a difficult time to place the correct bet. For this reason, we have investigated Managers and Directors to navigate future eCommerce trends. We asked more than 60 carefully chosen managers from all around Europe. First, we asked them about their eCommerce investments last year.

Scanning for audible security cues is a skill we'll have to acquire in the near future--and as VUIs are becoming a more and more common interface in our daily lives, the sooner, the better. In the future, VUIs will be able to be used in situations where a human-less GUI could feel impersonal. For example, you could interact with a friendly VUI when confirming a large bank transfer or have your blood-test results read to you via a health app. But in order to interact with these products and reveal sensitive information to them, they first need to gain our trust.

The age of the bot has begun. We just have barely begun to notice. It's only been 10 years, and smartphones have fundamentally changed our world, the bot revolution will come quicker, and have an even greater impact on us. The bots cometh in all shapes and sizes, hardware and software, automations and AI and robot fried and foe. But most likely our most common interaction with them in the very near future will be in the form of messenger/personal assistant and customer service bots.

Apple's Siri may not be the most capable voice assistant, or the most beloved. In the race to dominate the next generation of interfaces, though, Siri had one key advantage: a cushy home on hundreds of millions of iPhones. Now, however, Amazon has snuck Alexa onto iOS--making this look more and more like a blowout. Amazon's shopping app, already a top destination, now becomes a Trojan Horse for Amazon's most promising product in years. That puts iPhone and iPad owners just two taps away--one to open the Amazon app, the next to activate the microphone--from a voice assistant that doesn't just rival Siri, but surpasses it in significant ways.

Ghosting is scourge in the world of dating apps, but will it ever die? One app is giving it their best shot. You've probably heard of the high-end, exclusive dating app The League. Today they're launching a new feature for their paid members that they believe is going stop ghosting and cut out the stress of waiting for a reply that never comes. But, wait, how will knowing someone has seen your message end ghosting?

The former gives you smart control of dimming just one color (white, obviously) and the latter lets you "sync your lights with your music, TV or games, or control via your smartphone, switch, wearables or other smart accessories," Philips explains in its press release. By plugging it into smaller lights often used in bedrooms, you can set the Hue Candle to emit melatonin-enhancing warm light in the evening, and more energetic blue colors in the morning, for instance. The bulbs can pump out the equivalent of 40 watts and a color range from 2200k to 6500k, ranging from warm white to cool daylight. You can also set it up to take voice commands from your Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Home device or fit it into almost any smart home system. If you have an eclectic mix of light fixtures, the new bulbs should help you get more fully automated.