Since the final episode of hit sitcom Friends first aired in 2004, many fans have clung to the hope of a reunion. Earlier this year, the show's co-creator Marta Kauffman quashed that idea emphatically: "There will never be a Friends reunion movie," she told E! News. Could she be any clearer? But for those still mourning the gang, there is some sort of hope. A team of researchers at the University of Leeds seeks to immortalize popular characters as digital avatars that you might eventually chat with in the way you talk to Siri, Alexa or a similar virtual assistant. As spotted by Prosthetic Knowledge, the team is building a series of algorithms that can recognize and track individual characters and capture their body language, facial expressions and voice.

Google has made minimal forays into real-world retail shops thus far. There's a good reason for that: the company has long been more focused on software than hardware. That's slowly changing over time, but Google went all-in on its own hardware brand when it announced the new Pixel smartphones, Google Home, Daydream VR headset and Google WiFi router earlier this month. For most consumers, buying hardware sight-unseen is still a tough proposition, so Google is finally making it easier for consumers to check out all its new gadgets -- in New York City, at least. The company's pop-up retail location opened its doors this morning, and while it wasn't exactly an iPhone-level stampede, there were a couple dozen people waiting to get in when it opened.

The Amazon Echo Dot has been upgraded and now sells for 50. We've scoured the web to find you the best deals on good products. All you'll have to do is say the magic word. You can dim your kitchen lights if you're feeling dramatic, set your bedroom temperature to a balmy 70 degrees, switch on your sprinkler system to keep those pesky kids off your lawn, and more with Amazon's digital assistant. If you're looking to branch into the smart home world, grab one of the new 2nd Gen. Echo Dots today.

This post is authored by Sachin Chouksey, Principal Software Engineering Manager, and Darwin Schweitzer, Senior Program Manager, at Microsoft. Building analytics solutions can consume a lot of time. Customers who wish to build intelligent solutions on Microsoft's advanced analytics platform today, for instance, need to navigate through a multitude of options, thanks to the broad array of services available as part of the Cortana Intelligence Suite. This buffet of options could present a learning curve for newer customers who may not be sure where to start, or what the optimal architecture might be, or how to glue different services together. To address the above challenge, we offer Cortana Intelligence Solutions, a set of pre-built solutions that are based on commonly encountered design patterns and which customers can quickly deploy and test.

Erik Mueller is Director of Intelligent Assistants at Capital One. He won the AAAI Feigenbaum Prize with the Watson Team. He has ten patents on artificial intelligence and is the author of four books in the field. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in computer science from UCLA and an S.B. in computer science from MIT.

It's home to Google Assistant, the new conversational assistant that Google plans to bring to many more of its consumer products. The first sign that Allo is a bit smarter than the standard messaging app is through a feature called Smart Replies. Even more impressive, Google has combined this feature with its photo recognition abilities, so the app is able to suggest responses to photos that are shared within your conversation. Things that Google can do "natively" like conversions, simple Google searches and translations will appear directly in your chat while other queries will surface links to Google results.

BRISBANE, Australia – A man charged in the death of a New Zealand tourist who plummeted from his apartment balcony after the two began arguing during a date was found not guilty of murder on Thursday. Tinder date found NOT GUILTY of killing Warriena Wright after she plunged 14 floors to her death https://t.co/WCKOHWnAT1 A Queensland state Supreme Court jury also acquitted Gable Tostee, 30, of the lesser offense of manslaughter in the death of 26-year-old Warriena Wright, who fell from Tostee's balcony in 2014 after the two met through the dating app Tinder. He had faced a life sentence if convicted. Prosecutors did not allege that Tostee threw Wright to her death, but had argued she was so scared of Tostee that she fell 14 floors while trying to escape from his apartment balcony in the city of Gold Coast.

A record 889 people under 18 fell victim to sex crimes and other offenses perpetrated via social networking services from January to June, the National Police Agency said Thursday. The number is 33 higher than the tally from July to December last year, marking the highest level since data on a half-year basis became available in 2008. As a breeding ground for sex crimes, Twitter and other largely unregulated SNS sites overtook dating sites, which are bound by regulations including a minimum age rule of 18, analysts said. Of the total, 348, or 40 percent, fell prey to indecent acts, 268 to child pornography and 225 to prostitution. Eight children, including some as young as 11, were raped, and 13 abducted.

Now that the Amazon Echo has reached the UK, thousands of Brits are getting to grips with the cylindrical speaker's smart assistant, Alexa. Companies like Just Eat and Sky have created app-like "Skills" for the Echo, allowing owners to re-order their last takeaway and receive news updates, but Amazon's own integrations have been lacking compared to those available in the US. To celebrate availability of the Echo Dot, the retailer today confirmed that a number of new features are available on UK Echos, including Alexa voice shopping and ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). With Alexa voice shopping, Prime subscribers can talk to their Echo to order products and check the status of their delivery. Amazon says "order paper towels," "order dog food" and "buy some LEGO" are some good examples of what you can ask Alexa to find.

An Australian man has been acquitted of the murder of a New Zealand woman during their first Tinder date. Gable Tostee, 30, was charged after Warriena Wright, 26, fell from his balcony in Queensland's Gold Coast in August 2014. Prosecutors argued that she was so intimidated that she tried to escape by climbing to a lower floor, but fell. After four days of deliberation, the jury found him not guilty of murder and manslaughter. Defence lawyer Nick Dore said outside the court that his client was "relieved this matter is now behind him and he's looking forward to moving on with his life".