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Microsoft's Cortana virtual assistant is getting a facelift on iOS and Android aimed at making it more useful for users, and also bringing a bit of brightness to what's currently a rather dour interface. The app's biggest change is the launch of a button that lets users quickly choose between a suite of common actions, like viewing their calendar at a glance, checking reminders, or getting a weather forecast. The app itself looks friendlier, with a purple gradient background replacing a stark black, white, and blue color scheme. On top of that, Microsoft also announced on Thursday that the iOS and Android versions of Cortana are coming to the U.K., so that Brits will be able to use the virtual assistant. Microsoft has been slow to expand Cortana's geographic reach until the assistant has been set up to work with local social norms and other expectations.

Samsung's next-generation Galaxy smartphone appears to be poised to beat Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 to the punch now that Bloomberg has corroborated much of SamMobile's report saying the Galaxy S8 will be a bezel-free device with a wraparound display featuring an in-screen Home button. The phone should be unveiled in February 2018 and launch in March. That way, the Samsung device should enjoy a six-month lead over the iPhone 8's expected fall arrival. However, the Korean giant is considering scrapping plans for a dual-camera on the Galaxy S8 due to "higher manufacturing costs", one of the sources told the news gathering organization. "Samsung will create an all-screen front for the Galaxy S8 smartphones coming out next year and scrap the physical Home button," people with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

IOT is rapidly developing from a telecoms connected to "everything" to a new generation of services that are starting to connect markets with new capabilities. Two major polarizations are the consumer-IOT and the Industrial-IOT. On the consumer side, the products of Amazon Echo Alexa, Google Home and a plethora of other connected home and lifestyle IOT consumer products are flooding the market. The Industrial IOT perhaps born for the Industry4.0

Every major technology company is obsessed with voice control right now. From Amazon's Alexa speakers to Google's new Pixel phones -- almost everything has an assistant which you can strike a conversation with. Not wanting to be left out, Microsoft is still hard at work on Cortana for Windows 10 and various mobile operating systems. Today, the company has announced a "fresh" and "simplified look" for the iOS and Android apps which lean heavily on the color purple. The apps are faster than before, and a new Quick Actions section puts your most common requests front and center, such as reminders, meetings and weather summaries.

Under, behind and inside many of the apps we use every day, a revolution is underway. It's a revolution that started decades ago but today is empowering companies to deliver better, smarter services with greater ease and on broader scales than ever before. At Singularity University's inaugural Global Summit, Neil Jacobstein, chair of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, provided a primer showing how artificial intelligence literally transforms everything it touches. First of all, it's critical to define the scope of artificial intelligence (AI), which can be categorized into four areas: techniques in pattern recognition, software agency (that is, software that acts like real users), an exponential technology that is accelerating other exponential technologies, and a vision of a future superhuman intelligence (that fortunately hasn't happened yet). Anyone who has seen a science fiction film is likely familiar with this last area, but it's the other three areas where AI is making huge strides at a revolutionary pace.

I had tried every dating site and app out there with varying degrees of success, and I was totally over them. I was tired of the "first date" and even more tired of never going on a second date. Then a friend told me about yet another app -- Bumble. This one sounded different: The girl has to message the guy first, and she only has 24 hours to do it after you match, or the connection disappears forever. It doesn't hurt to try, right?

Cortana is the star of a big new Windows 10 Insider Preview build. Microsoft says that voice control of your PC was one its "top requests," so the latest update now lets you shutdown, restart, lock or sleep your system using the voice assistant. You can also use natural language to play music on two apps (iHeartRadio and TuneIn) by saying "Play Drake on iHeartRadio," for instance. Once the music starts, you can use your voice to control playback and volume. If you request a song or genre without specifying the app, it'll remember the last one you used and play it from that. It also lets you find a track name from any music app by saying, "hey Cortana, what song is playing?"

Amazon is teaming up with semiconductor and voice solutions provider Conexant to bring Alexa to even more devices, the companies announced Thursday. The companies plan to expand the market of voice enabled digital assistants powered by Amazon's Alexa with the creation of the AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit for smart home appliances. The kit is designed to connect to a Raspberry Pi, a small, credit-card sized computer which can be used in electronics projects. This will allow third-party manufacturers and developers to create Alexa-enabled devices to enable virtual assistance in products. The solution can be used to enable voice commands in home devices, such as smart speakers, thermostats, smart light bulbs and smart TVs, Conexant says.

The app's domination of the mobile world is about to be challenged as new ways of interacting and controlling things arrive with the Internet of Things (IoT), which will entice us away from the app interface we are currently so familiar with. Because the majority of innovation in the mobile arena is not happening inside smartphones, but in the things that communicate with them, according to analyst firm Gartner. In just two years, it forecasts that 25 percent of new mobile apps, for example, will talk to IoT devices. "The post-app era means that there will be more data and code in the cloud and less on the device, thanks to the continuous improvement of cellular network performance," explained Gartner vice president David Willis, author of the report. In the future, mobile technology will offer pervasive services to any person or thing, 24/7.