To keep up in the AI race against Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, Apple is working on an enhanced version of Siri for its iPhone 8 launch, Digitimes reported Tuesday. Supply chain sources suggest Apple is responding to increased competition among smart assistants after the Amazon Echo and Google Home assistants gained popularity. The sources say Apple's next iPhone lineup is expected to feature a better version of Siri. In an effort to boost Siri's capabilities Apple acquired Australian start-up Turi last August for $200 million. Turi lets developers create apps with machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Machine learning is the subfield of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed (Arthur Samuel, 1959).[1] Evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computational learning theory in artificial intelligence,[2] machine learning explores the study and construction of algorithms that can learn from and make predictions on data[3] – such algorithms overcome following strictly static program instructions by making data driven predictions or decisions,[4]:2 through building a model from sample inputs. Machine learning is employed in a range of computing tasks where designing and programming explicit algorithms is infeasible; example applications include spam filtering, detection of network intruders or malicious insiders working towards a data breach,[5] optical character recognition (OCR),[6] search engines and computer vision. Machine learning is closely related to (and often overlaps with) computational statistics, which also focuses in prediction-making through the use of computers. It has strong ties to mathematical optimization, which delivers methods, theory and application domains to the field. Machine learning is sometimes conflated with data mining,[7] where the latter subfield focuses more on exploratory data analysis and is known as unsupervised learning.[4]:vii[8]

Amazon quietly added a new option to the wake words on Amazon Echo devices that will make the dreams of every Star Trek fan come true. If Echo users open the Settings area of the Alexa app they should see a fresh wake word option: Computer. Yes, soon everyone can live the dream of saying, "Computer, what are the current environmental conditions of this Class M planet?"--though I can't promise Alexa will come up with an appropriate response. If you don't see the option in the Alexa app yet, it should appear in the coming days.

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Samsung's Galaxy S8 will come in two sizes, have an almost bezel-less, edge-to-edge "infinity" display and an iris scanner, the Guardian has learned. The Galaxy S8 will be announced in late March and go on sale on or around 21 April, later than the originally planned launch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February due to knock-on effects of the Note 7 fiasco. The two variants will have screens in the 5in to 6in region, with the devices having the same or smaller proportions of previous versions of Samsung's flagship smartphone but with larger displays, according to several well placed sources talking to the Guardian. The S7 was available with either a 5.1in and 5.5in screen. The two smartphones are codenamed Dream and Dream 2, representing the smaller and larger Galaxy S8 respectively, according to two sources.

Familiarize yourself with the AI technologies available today and prepare for adoption -- or face the inevitability of disruption. These days it seems like you can't open a newspaper (OK, web browser) without coming across an article on artificial intelligence (AI). 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. Publicized breakthroughs -- like Google AlphaGo's unprecedented victories over human Go champions -- have heralded the promise of a new golden age for AI.

People walking around with tablet computers, talking to the thin air and waiting for information...this was my kitchen on Monday night. But twenty years ago, the only place you could find such wonders was as part of the future envisioned by the creators of Star Trek: The Next Generation. With the activation word "Computer," Picard (the greatest starship captain ever) and his crew could access and command their ship's LCARS system. Now, if you own an Amazon Echo device, you can bring that bit of the future back to your kitchen. Hot." Doesn't get you an instant cup of tea. Find your device in the list and select it. Scroll down a bit until you find the Wake Word setting. Select Computer from the menu, click Done, and you're good to go. It might take a couple of minutes for the change to propagate down to your Echo. Now, the next time you want to find out what the weather is, order a fresh supply of paper towels, or listen to an audio book, you can bark "Computer!" in your best fake accent and have your Echo respond. It's a little Easter Egg for those sci-fi nerds among us; but it's one that's greatly appreciated. Just don't expect anything to appear when you say "Computer.

Does this mean we're one step close to transporters and phasers? File photo shows an Amazon Echo, one of the hot tech products of 2016. Amazon updated the wake words for Alexa, its digital voice assistant made popular by the Echo home speaker. Instead of tapping the speaker to wake Alexa, owners can use specific words to get Alexa's attention, including Alexa, Echo and Amazon. Add one more to the list: Computer.

Every year, with the introduction of new social platforms and apps, brands face increased challenges of reaching their target customers. In addition to pivoting to keep up with changes to existing platforms, digital marketers have to create new strategies around emerging digital marketing trends. Luckily, along with new social media networks, technology advances enable the development of tools and software to improve digital marketing efforts. Industry leaders are seeing the opportunities and benefits of emerging trends for social media and content marketing. Here, we have identified what we think will be the 7 biggest trends to impact digital marketing for 2017.

Amazon is enabling lots of other manufacturers to build their own hardware that taps its cloud-based digital assistant, Alexa. That's a smart strategy if Amazon's objective is to make Alexa ubiquitous in the smart home and home entertainment markets. But the online retailer should also be careful not to allow too many subpar products like Jam Audio's Jam Voice to be associated with the Alexa brand. Even after Jam Audio slashed the Jam Voice's asking price from $79.99 to $59.99 in the wake of the $129 Google Home and Amazon's own $49.99 Echo Dot, the Jam Voice is merely a so-so product. And in a market where the competition is so good, being only so-so is a big no-no.