"By the way, Disney's live action Beauty and The Beast opens today," it says, amid your daily info dump. "In this version of the story, Belle is the inventor instead of Maurice. That rings truer if you ask me. For some more movie fun, ask me something about Belle." It isn't too unique -- Rokus, Xboxes and even some Panasonic TVs have displayed ads for awhile -- but given that advertising is one of Google's biggest moneymakers, this could become more widespread.

Amazon's digital assistant just landed on iOS, and it's giving Siri a run for its money. You can now talk to Alexa via Amazon's official shopping app. The update dropped Thursday for many users, and it provides answers to serious questions ("what is a black hole?"), along with terrible jokes ("Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide") and, of course, shopping suggestions. Amazon says it'll be rolling out to everyone over the next week.

Home, as you likely know by now, is Google's Echo-like AI voice helper that uses Google Assistant instead of Amazon's Alexa. Given that it just launched recently, it has limited capabilities compared to the rival device, but it does use Google's massive and sophisticated search engine -- for better or for worse. Up until now, you could only access Assistant via Home, Google's Allo chat app and Pixel phones, but the search giant recently announced that it would roll out to other recent Android phones as well. T-Mobile carriers will pay $26 down and $26 a month for two years for a total $650 price, while AT&T will let buyers have it via the Next phone trade-up program for $24 a month over 30 months. However, AT&T is also throwing in a second LG G6, assuming you add an additional line on your Next program, and giving buyers the option to pick up an LG Watch Sport for $50.

Machine learning, task automation and robotics are already widely used in business. These and other AI technologies are about to multiply, and we look at how organizations can best take advantage of them. Businesses are scrambling to use artificial intelligence and trying to work out how best to put digital assistants to work. Consumers are wondering what impact these new technologies will have on their everyday lives. From business to leisure, we interact with AI when we use an app to turn on a light bulb, talk to Google Home or Amazon Alexa, or write better emails.

Samsung's'make or break' Galaxy S8 smartphone will have a smart assistant called Bixby to take on Apple's Siri, the firm has accidentally revealed on its own website. An Italian page found on the Samsung website clearly states'comandi vocali con Bixby', which means'voice commands with Bixby' when translated into English. Bixby is believed to be central to Samsung's plan for the S8, with the handset even having a dedicated button for the assistant. Samsung's Galaxy S7: The latest version of its flagship phone will come in two sizes, both with curved screens. An Italian page found on the Samsung website clearly states'comandi vocali con Bixby', which means'voice commands with Bixby' when translated into English. Bixby could be used for a wide variety of functions in a similar way to Apple's Siri.

I like to decorate for Halloween, including various talking skeletons that I've set up over the years,

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The future of an AI-dominated landscape is approaching fast, even accelerating. Some might say it is already here: Voice recognition applications as demonstrated by Apple's Siri, Google's Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's low-latency Alexa are clear examples of AI in use today. Google is the leader of the pack when it comes to AI: search, translation, self-driving car technology, traffic predictions, and even picking the best photos from your vacation and making a video for you. Meanwhile Microsoft, IBM, Amazon and others are not far behind. My own company works with AI on a smaller scale, applying big data to content marketing applications.

Every self-respecting hipster in America will soon be eating this Moneyish - Features, essays...

I'm a huge fan of the original "Alien" franchise, largely because of Sigourney Weaver's performance and the crucial part technology plays in its lore. Not only does this tech allow humans to traverse immense distances to reach alien-infested worlds, but it provides them with androids: perfect robotic assistants so advanced that it's extremely difficult to distinguish them from human crew. In fact, they're superior to their human companions in many aspects, from their superhuman strength to their refined motor skills. As a part of promoting the upcoming sci-fi horror film "Alien: Covenant," (in theaters May 19), 21st Century Fox unit FOX, 1.34% Twentieth Century Fox released its branded short film "Meet Walter," starring Michael Fassbender. It introduces Walter, the latest synthetic android, with intelligence powered by AMD's AMD, -0.85% Ryzen and Radeon processors and manufactured by the film's fictional corporation, Weyland-Yutani.