Starbucks Corp. will begin letting customers order via voice on their iPhones and Amazon.com Inc.'s Alexa system, a bid to bolster its tech capabilities even as the rapid evolution brings headaches to the coffee chain. The new capability works with the barista feature on the Starbucks' app, which relies on artificial intelligence to interact with customers. Customers can talk with the software in the same way they would order coffee at a store, Starbucks said in a statement Monday. "The use of mobile order and pay continues to accelerate," Chief Operating Officer Kevin Johnson said in an interview last week.

The good: Long battery life, Good camera with a wide range of controls, Easy to grip without a case The bad: Includes excessive apps, Not water and dust resistant, No virtual assistant at launch Who should buy: Android fans looking for a great large phone with long battery life. When Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 last September, Android fans looking for a big-screened smartphone were left with few choices aside from Google's Pixel XL. Enter Huawei's Mate 9, which launched in the U.S. in early January. Huawei's device will also be the first smartphone to include Amazon's Alexa voice assistant built-in, which will be added through a software update promised to arrive during the first quarter of this year. With Alexa, Mate 9 will be capable of handling many of the same tasks as the Amazon Echo.

Machine learning has long powered many products we interact with daily–from "intelligent" assistants like Apple's Siri and Google Now, to recommendation engines like Amazon's that suggest new products to buy, to the ad ranking systems used by Google and Facebook. More recently, machine learning has entered the public consciousness because of advances in "deep learning"–these include AlphaGo's defeat of Go grandmaster Lee Sedol and impressive new products around image recognition and machine translation. In this series, we'll give an introduction to some powerful but generally applicable techniques in machine learning. These include deep learning but also more traditional methods that are often all the modern business needs. After reading the articles in the series, you should have the knowledge necessary to embark on concrete machine learning experiments in a variety of areas on your own.

Starbucks is about to make it even easier to order and pay for your coffee. The coffee chain is testing a new feature within its iOS app and a skill for Amazon Alexa devices, both of which let customers place orders with just their voice. The new voice-ordering features are an extension of Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay, which lets you order and pay for items before arriving at the store. At this point, the new My Starbucks barista feature within the company's iOS app will only be available to 1,000 customers nationwide. The feature leverages artificial intelligence to let you speak or text what you want, just as if you were talking to a barista in the store.

It's a brand new year, and by most reliable indicators – the latest demos at CES 2017, the buzz on all the tech blogs and even the pre-roll ads interrupting my binge watching of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – it looks like 2017 will be the year that voice interaction reaches mainstream adoption. Voice interaction – the ability to speak to your devices, and have them understand and act upon whatever you're asking them – was everywhere this year. Device manufacturers of all shapes and sizes heavily integrated voice capabilities into their offerings at CES 2017, with Amazon's Alexa stealing the show as their AI platform of choice. The rapid proliferation of voice interaction capabilities in our individual digital ecosystems raises critical questions for any designer whose work plays a role in the customer experience. It's becoming clear that voice interaction will soon become an expected offering as either an alternative, or even a full replacement to, traditional visual interfaces.

Siri will have some Super Bowl features to help you keep up with game, Apple announced Monday. Siri will provide users with player stats, sports trivia before and during the big game Feb. 5 between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. Siri will also provide football insights including team rosters, player comparisons, historical stats, season records and other information, Apple said. Siri can also help you find where to watch the game and remind you to get avocados for your guacamole. Apple gave examples of what to ask Siri on the big day.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can diagnose illnesses, fight parking tickets, and now, AI is being to find humans love. Dating app Hinge is currently testing a virtual assistant called'Audrey' that will act as the user's wing woman – it talks to their matches and sets up a date. The technology is currently in beta, but Hinge is said to offer the service for $99 a month in bid to'say goodbye to matching, messaging and scheduling'. Dating app Hinge is currently testing a virtual assistant called'Audrey' that will act as the user's wing woman – it talks to their matches and sets up a date. Audrey was designed to chat with a users matches and setup a date between the two.

In the Marvel universe, billionaire Tony Stark/Iron Man has Jarvis, a personal AI to anticipate his needs and streamline his life. When I mention this to Collie Brown, founder and CEO of Arghon, a personal AI company, he gives a knowing smile. A moment before he described his AI product as a "life assistant." "There's the Watsons of the world, geared towards large scale data and the like," Brown said. "Arghon's about you, what's happening in your life from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Our goal is to manage what happens in between that."

Starbucks is continuing its efforts to stay on top of technological trends by adding new voice-ordering functions to its iOS app and Amazon's Alexa digital assistant. Called "My Starbucks barista" on iOS, the service is being rolled out to select customers today as an extension of the company's Mobile Order and Pay feature, which lets users send and pay for an order ahead of time. At the same time, the company is launching a Starbucks Reorder Skill to the Alexa platform. My Starbucks barista was previously announced at the company's Investor Day in December, and uses an AI-powered messaging interface like many existing chatbots. You'll be able to speak your order, and customize your food and drink to your personal preferences, according to Starbucks.