Not long ago, a startup founder in San Francisco was trying to organise a meeting with someone visiting from Europe, and setting a time required dozens of e-mails back and forth. The European arrived with a bottle of wine for the founder's personal assistant, Clara, as a gesture of thanks for putting up with the scheduling hassle. But the assistant could not accept the gift. Clara is a software service from a startup of the same name that helps schedule meetings via e-mail. It is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), with some human supervision.

Amid a flurry of major news for Amazon's Alexa, the company today shared plans to beef up the Alexa Skills Kit with a library of hundreds of built-in commands within the next few weeks. "Intents" are used to understand the most basic commands from users. Earlier this year, Alexa only had 15 intents and slot types -- for commands like "Stop," "Cancel," or city names. Amazon offered few details about the kinds of intents and slot types coming, though Prasad told Backchannel today that people should expect book, video, and local business slot types. The news was announced by Amazon Echo evangelist David Isbitski in a blog post today and addressed by Alexa vice president Rohit Prasad in an Alexa State of the Union address delivered at the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.

Microsoft to turn millions of PCs and tablets into smart'home hubs' to take on Amazon's Echo and Google's Home Google's $130 Home speaker went on sale earlier this month Amazon's Alexa has been a huge hit with 5.1m sold Both can do everything from control lights to answer questions Microsoft plans to take them on with a new Home Hub app for Windows PCs Google's $130 Home speaker went on sale earlier this month Amazon's Alexa has been a huge hit with 5.1m sold The app will turn the millions of Windows PCs, laptops and tablets already in homes into a'home hub' that can do everything from control lights to answer questions. Has YOUR Google account been hacked? Researchers say... Apple goes Red for World AIDS day as firm is revealed to... Britain traded with the Middle East 1,300 years ago: Bitumen... The original human ancestor'Lucy' was a tree climbing... Has YOUR Google account been hacked? Researchers say... Apple goes Red for World AIDS day as firm is revealed to... Britain traded with the Middle East 1,300 years ago: Bitumen...

Samsung is expected to release its first major smartphone since it recalled the Galaxy Note 7 sometime in early 2017. The phone, which will presumably called the Galaxy S8, is rumored to include a brand new design and a smarter digital assistant, among other new additions. Tech pundits and investors will be eyeing this launch closely as Samsung looks to recover lost ground from the Note 7 fiasco. Here's a look at what to expect based on the rumors and reports that have emerged so far. In years past, Samsung has unveiled its new Galaxy smartphones in February or March during Mobile World Congress, an annual tech conference in Barcelona.

Apple Inc. will allow its artificial intelligence teams to publish research papers for the first time, marking a significant change in strategy that could help accelerate the iPhone maker's advances in deep learning. When Apple introduced its Siri virtual assistant in 2011, the company appeared to have a head start over many of its nearest competitors. But it has lost ground since then to the likes of Alphabet Inc.'s Google Assistant and Amazon.com Researchers say among the reasons Apple has failed to keep pace is its unwillingness to allow its AI engineers to publish scientific papers, stymieing its ability to feed off wider advances in the field. So you can sleep an extra five minutes.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp Says Going Public Is'A Possibility' Chatbots and other assorted bots are clearly on their way to becoming our eternal BFFs. Every day we are talking more and more to some sort of machine learning AI, demanding answers or pithy conversation. The next step in bot technology and customization appears to be coming from the very company that pioneered the technology, way back in the 1990s. Today NoHold is launching its Quickstart platform, called Albert. Albert is your new best friend.

Google's not new to the hardware game, but with its "made by" range, the company is making a concerted effort to marry its smart software and the gear we run it on. We've already tried the Pixel phones, Daydream View VR headset, Chromecast Ultra and Google Home, but until now, there was one made by Google gadget we'd yet to test, and it's the one that arguably ties all the rest together: Google's aptly named "WiFi" router. If you're looking for a router that mixes smart design with simple features and solid performance, Google WiFi is a solid choice. However, users who like to get their hands dirty may prefer the control and flexibility of more conventional products. For the rest of us, Google WiFi will likely eliminate some key pain points and provide an easy transition to the connected home. Google WiFi builds on the idea of OnHub.

Companies that advertise on podcasts hope they can align their brand with a hit show, but increasingly some marketers are plunking down even more cash to make their own audio programs instead. The latest brand to try its hand at a sponsored, or "branded" podcast? Tinder, the dating app owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp subsidiary Match Group Inc. The new show is called "DTR," short for "define the relationship" (the anxiety-inducing conversation where two millennials mutually agree on the degree to which things are casual or serious). The six-part series, hosted by journalist and "This American Life" music supervisor Jane Marie, covers various topics surrounding dating in the digital age, like how to best construct an online profile or the precarious transfer of nude photographs.

Productivity and work-life balance are constantly at the forefront of our minds when it comes to the Monday to Friday life. Everyone wants to work less, while being more productive. Luckily, this is completely plausible with the help of the advancements in technology, enterprise productivity apps, and new AI startups that are completely changing the way we can efficiently balance work and home life. Let's look at the 7 artificial intelligence startups that can help us reach a better work life balance: Something we could all use a little more of is to relax and distress. This is one of the most difficult things to do when we're so focused on finishing our work days, cleaning the house, getting a workout in, taking care of the kids, etc.

Leading tech companies ship AI free within their products (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant), powering our phones and the rapidly growing home personal assistant market. Indeed, they are becoming increasingly good at answering our questions, making us smarter. Teaching not rote facts and figures, but instead teaching students the paths to find this knowledge on their own. Teaching students -- as we do with computers through AI -- how to learn. We are stuck with centuries old methodologies, where schools and teachers act like the gateway to knowledge, but at a time when students can access all they want by simply asking Alexa.