Virtually any data science experiment that uses a new machine learning algorithm requires testing across different scenarios. Simulated data allows one to do this in a controlled and systematic way that is usually not possible with real data. A convenient way to implement and re-use data simulation in Azure Machine Learning (AML) Studio is through a custom R module. Custom R modules combine the convenience of having an R script packaged inside a drag and drop module, with the flexibility of custom code where the user has the freedom of adding and removing functionality parameters, seen as module inputs in the AML Studio GUI, as needed. A custom R module has identical behavior to native AML Studio modules.

The Galaxy S8 with Bixby will be the successor to last year's the S7 handsets. NEW YORK--Ahead of the March 29 launch of its next flagship smartphone, Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 will have a new voice-driven digital assistant named Bixby, molded by artificial intelligence. S8 owners will be able to summon Bixby on the phone at the press of a button. Samsung revealed some general details on Bixby in a blog posted Monday by InJong Rhee, the company's executive vice president and head of R&D, for software and services. Rhee did not mention in his post whether Samsung will leverage the conversational-based voice technology developed by Viv Labs, a startup Samsung bought in October.

Watch out Siri, there is a new virtual assistant in town. Samsung has unveiled its intelligent interface that will live in the firm's highly-anticipated Galaxy S8 smartphone set to launch next week. Unlike the other AI assistants on the market, Bixby is specifically design to'make using your phone even more seamless and intuitive'. Users can make apps Bixby-enabled, which will let Bixby support almost every task that the application is capable of performing using the conventional interface. Any task a human user can do via touch commands, the AI will have the ability to do as well.

Individuals in Toronto looking for escorts keep finding themselves at an eSports bar thanks to a quirk in Siri's algorithm. It's unclear why the mix up is occurring but the owners of Meltdown eSports Bar in Toronto's Little Italy have been getting late night calls for escorts. Meltdown is an eSports bar, where customers eat drink and watch or play eSport video games. One of the owners, Alvin Acyapan, who gets business calls to his cell phone, told The Star that since the bar opened in November, he's been getting calls from people looking for prostitutes. Prostitution was outlawed in Canada in 2014.

Ahead of next week's announcement of the Galaxy S8, Samsung has introduced the world to Bixby, its own entry into the increasingly crowded AI landscape. Samsung is a bit late to the AI race led by Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, but it has a bit of a different strategy. Instead of wowing us with encyclopedic knowledge, Samsung is putting Bixby at the center of the Galaxy experience. It's calling it an intelligent interface, rather than an assistant, and it will work across the phone and any "Bixby-enabled" apps to reduce the number of taps we need to make. Rather than adding summoning functionality into the home button, Samsung has built a dedicated button on the side of the S8 (seen in the picture above) to "make it feel easier and more comfortable to give commands."

Do you ever find yourself in this situation of having to speak to a personal assistant? The second I hear the words personal assistant, I immediately think wow this company must be important. Personal assistants have an association with very high up, powerful people within an organization. Or does having a personal assistant just seem more professional and established? The answer could be either, but the one thing I do know is that personal assistants are becoming easier to come by than ever before.

My mother waited two months for her Amazon Echo to arrive. Then, she waited again -- leaving it in the box until I came to help her install it. Any device that requires vocal instructions makes my mother skeptical. She has bad memories of Siri. "She could not understand me," my mom told me.

Amazon touts Alexa, Google has its Assistant, Microsoft has Cortana. But at Adobe, an often overlooked player in this contest, it's all about Sensei. Launched last fall, Sensei is a series of AI services and a voice-powered virtual assistant being added to Creative Cloud (formerly Creative Suite) apps and services like Photoshop and Premiere. Some Sensei services are already available, like the ability to change a facial expression with Face Aware Editing in Photoshop, while others, like the ability to control Photoshop with your voice, are still prototypes. Sensei will be able to talk you through how to edit photos and videos like a pro because Adobe has tracked millions of photo and video editing sessions.

A digital assistant that lets you do everything with voice commands instead of poking, swiping, and tapping at your phone. It's a bold, unproven promise that Samsung says it's bringing to its next smartphone, the Galaxy S8. The new assistant is called Bixby, a sequel of sorts to S Voice, the voice-control app Samsung launched years ago but has since hidden on recent devices. In a blog post announcing Bixby, Samsung says the assistant will debut on still-unannounced Galaxy S8 and activate with a dedicated button. Samsung promises Bixby will let you control everything on your phone and Bixby-powered apps with your voice.

"Instead of humans learning how the machine interacts with the world (a reflection of the abilities of designers), it is the machine that needs to learn and adapt to us," Samsung senior vice president InJong Rhee wrote in a blog post. "The interface must be natural and intuitive enough to flatten the learning curve regardless of the number of functions being added. With this new approach, Samsung has employed artificial intelligence, reinforcing deep learning concepts to the core of our user interface designs." Yes, that all reads a bit like a buzzword salad, but there's definitely a need for a different sort of virtual assistant. Siri has mostly been a disappointment, and Google Assistant is still getting off the ground. The big problem for Samsung is that, historically, it hasn't been known for innovating with software as much as it has with hardware.