The retail giant's Alexa voice assistant aims to revolutionize the shopping experience, but recently delivered a big surprise to one six-year-old's parents. Dallas, Tx. resident Megan Neitzel, recently received the Echo Dot as a holiday gift from her in-laws. However, Neitzel was surprised when she received a confirmation email for cookies and a dollhouse that had been ordered. According to Neitzel, the device had not been hooked up for long, and while she overheard her kids telling Alexa Knock-Knock jokes, the cost of the items on the invoice was no laughing matter. "It was a $170 Kidcraft dollhouse and 64 ounces, four pounds, of cookies," she told Foxnews.com.

Shogazer, one of many brainchildren to emerge out of high-tech British creative agency Happy Finish's global studios, has been dubbed the "shazam of shoes" after a test run by various news outlets. Powered by artificial intelligence, the app is capable of identifying kicks and gives you the lowdown of who made them, how much they cost, any background information and where you can score a pair. Using a process known as "transfer learning" – a subsection of machine learning which focuses on storing specific knowledge to be tapped for solving other objectives – shoegazer doesn't just display information on specific shoes, but can actually show you what you would look like wearing them with an in-store link to an interactive mirror. For shoe brands, the app is a good indication of where AI can fit within a marketing creative. Since shoes often leave a subcultural footprint, offering further context for consumers to sift through increases their willingness to dive in and buy into the trend of interactivity within advertising.

It seems like every other day, a new device gains Amazon Alexa integration. Now Amazon's voice assistant can also control Whirlpool's new washer-dryer pair, and Alexa will come to the rest of Whirlpool's smart appliances later this year. The company is launching 21 new Wi-Fi-connected appliances that will respond to your voice with help from Alexa. For instance, if you're in the middle of mixing cookie dough and want to preheat the oven, you can just holler at Alexa to do it for you. Ask Alexa to set the refrigerator to party mode so you'll have tons of ice at the ready.

Amazon and Whirlpool are hoping homeowners will pay for the luxury of not having to run down the stairs to pause a load of laundry or sprint to the kitchen to check on dinner. Whirlpool announced on Tuesday that its new home appliances will be compatible with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. This means these appliances will be designed to respond to voice requests for tasks like pausing and starting a load of laundry, asking for the time remaining on a wash cycle, adjusting the cooking mode on a smart oven, and turning on maximum cool settings for refrigerators among other commands. In addition to owning a Whirlpool appliance that supports the tech, users will need to have an Amazon Alexa-enabled device (Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV, etc.) nearby to listen up for commands. Whirlpool hasn't revealed exactly which models will work with Alexa, but did say they will debut early this year along with the Whirlpool skill for Alexa. Skills are like apps; they're add-ons that enable Alexa to perform various tasks and communicate with different products and third-party services.

Before you can knock off for the night. However, there's one thing left to do: read your child a bedtime story. In Mattel's world, you might not have to pick up a book, or even put on voices for their favorite characters. That's because it's working on an Echo-style speaker with an assistant called Aristotle. It's built specifically for kids, offering games, facts and soothing sounds on demand.

Hyundai is giving you another way to shout orders at its connected Blue Link cars shortly after it revealed an Amazon Alexa partnership. The company is teaming with Google, letting you give commands to Sante Fe, Sonata or other compatible models via its voice-controlled Assistant. Using a Google Home device, you'll be able to say "OK Google, start my Sante Fe and set the temperature to 72 degrees," or "ask Blue Link to lock my car," to give just a couple examples. Voice-controlled devices like Alexa make a certain amount of sense with connected cars, letting you do certain actions a bit quicker than using a smartphone app. Automakers like Ford, BMW and Hyundai all released "skills" for Echo devices, and Google's Assistant works in a similar way.

The "willing suspension of disbelief" is the idea that the audience (readers, viewers, content consumers) is willing to suspend judgment about the implausibility of the narrative for the quality of the audience's own enjoyment. We do it all the time. Two-dimensional video on our screens is smaller than life and flat and not in real time, but we ignore those facts and immerse ourselves in the stories as if they were real. We have also learned the "conventions" of each medium. While we watch a movie or a video, we don't yell to the characters on the screen "Duck!" or "Look out!" when something is about to happen to them.

Fancy the subtle tap-based controls of Apple's AirPods, but want something that's not quite so conspicuous (or conspicuously targeted at iPhone owners)? It's introducing its second set of wireless earbuds, the M-2, and they promise a taste of AirPod-like control in a subtler design. You only have to tap an earbud to pause your music or answer a call -- no reaching for your phone or fiddling with buttons. It's not as sophisticated as the AirPods (you won't be talking to Siri as easily), but the simplicity remains a big deal. The M-2s are also more ergonomic than their cylindrical ancestors.

The world of voice-controlled computing, nay, voice-controlled living, seemed like it was still a few years away from being mainstream. Amazon's Alexa platform, however, has made it easy for companies to bolt-on the technology to their existing products. Case in point, Dish has announced that you'll soon be able to pair your Hopper DVR with the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot in order to change channels just by speaking. The innovation won't be arriving for a little while, but Dish feels confident that the option will arrive in the first half of the year. So long as your Hopper is connected to the internet, you can use natural voice commands to go to individual channels or bring up movies on-demand by saying "go to AMC" or "Find Game of Thrones."

The term AI is being bandied about in all forms of media, but do many people actually understand how Artificial Intelligence is now becoming part of the consumer-electronics landscape in some of the most everyday products – almost making smart technology seem old hat by comparison. The reality is that in order for AI to function, you need smart devices to metaphorically'join the dots' to create an AI solution that works for you in your environment. Probably the most recognised mainstream AI product to come to market is the Amazon Echo, which is expected to sell three million units in 2016, with forecasts of 10m for 2017. You'll know the product – it's that black cylinder with a blue pulsating light on top, promoted through those awful adverts where some chap asks Alexa to add tennis balls and bananas to his shopping list. In essence, Amazon Echo and its sibling Dot – which has no speaker but effectively does the same thing – are intended to be your assistant, connecting all your smart devices.