The aftermath of the U.S. presidential election has already seen familial, marital and even platonic relationships put under strain -- and this extends to the realm of online dating. But, one man thinks he has a solution for the latter. David Goss in February 2016 founded TrumpSingles.com, "One female friend of mine went on a date. When the man started talking about Hillary, she told him that she's a Republican. He looked at her in the face, stared at her for a good few minutes and then got up and stormed out without paying," says Goss, who's also a Trump supporter.

LG's Music Flow speakers are based on Google Cast (now "Chromecast built-in") and on its site, LG specifically shows a home with a multi-room setup. Yet, while both Sonos and B&O products work with Google Home and Google Chromecast Multiroom, so far, LG's Google-specific models do not. However, it looks like that's changing soon: An LG representative said on the company's product forums that both Google Multiroom and Home support are coming "before the end of February. Music Flow owners were starting to get a bit testy about the Chromecast features missing from the device, especially after Sony unveiled Google Multiroom support for its X77 speakers. That level of fanaticism over speaker features may have taken LG by surprise, so it decided to integrate both Home and Multiroom support and release it in a new update.

In 2016, Vizio was big on building Google Cast support (the underpinnings of Chromecast) into its TVs, home theater displays, soundbars, and wireless speakers via the SmartCast line. Vizio owners can now verbally order Google Home to play music from Spotify on the living room speakers, or start binge-watching Netflix's The Crown in the den. The new functionality is available now on Vizio's SmartCast E-, M-, and P-Series televisions and home theater displays, as well as the company's home theater sound bars and wireless speakers. Home integration allows for a variety of voice controls for anyone who owns Google's smart speaker and a Vizio SmartCast device. You can, for example, adjust the volume, start or stop playing music, as well as skip or repeat a music track.

If you're in the market, you'll have plenty to choose from. Some look like descendants of Honda's Asimo--shiny white bots with heads, eyes, arms, and legs. Ubtech's Lynx has elbows, knees, and hands, which it can use to teach you yoga poses, of all things, while Hanson Robotics' Sophia bot approaches Ex Machina-levels of believability. Others, like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home, have no form. They come baked into simple speakers and desktop appliances. It seems most robot helpers take one of these two shapes: humanoid or monolithic.

The key takeaways from the AI Frontiers Conference, held on January 11–12, include "the central role that AI/ML [Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning] capabilities are playing within Internet/technology companies, emergence of voice/virtual assistants" and the significant capabilities of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) in these domains, Baird's Colin Sebastian said in a report. The AI Frontiers Conference focused on applications of deep learning, analyst Sebastian mentioned. Presentations by Alphabet highlighted how Google was using neural networks to "innovate and improve products, including Search, Ads, Photos, Translate, Gmail, Maps, Cloud, voice recognition, self-driving cars and robotics, among others." The teams or projects using deep learning have increased to 4,000, from 200 in early 2014, Sebastian noted.

Few industries can expect to remain untouched by the artificial intelligence revolution with automakers, healthcare giants and big banks all embracing AI technology. Consumers are now beginning to experience a whole new way of online shopping thanks to the launch of AI-powered digital assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Home. Frank Palermo, executive vice president of global digital solutions at VirtusaPolaris, a provider of IT consulting and outsourcing services, believes the invention of dynamic AI solutions is a game changer for online retailers and consumers alike. "Responsive retail has peaked – the next step for the industry is predictive commerce," he says. "As AI assistants and machines begin to take over more of our purchasing decisions, retailers will have to become far, far smarter about their use of data to stay ahead of the pack."

Voice-controlled gizmos are quickly taking over our digital lives, but an annoyance is coming with them: Why can't I personalize their wake words? There's a third-party program that aims to solve this problem for Cortana on Windows 10. MyCortana by the Sourceforge users LazyGuyz lets you change the "Hey, Cortana" wake word on your PC to anything you want. If you're a Star Trek fan you might prefer a simple command like "computer" or "dammit, Jim." A political junkie might like a Trumpism such as "hey, failing pile of garbage."

Bankers are in a state of shock Not what they signed up for Buried in'busy' unable to cope with "change" Future is more frightening than the present The goal needs to be more than just great reports … need great experiences. Of our 10 Retail Banking Trends and Predictions, all are supported by data and analytics beyond what is used today. The consumer is in control. The ability to choose what, when, and how to transact. The mobile device makes location and context more important than ever. Banking no longer needs to be an independent activity, but can be integrated into everything we do in our daily lives.

The situation for Android TV looked grim 15 month ago. Google had just released a new version of its Chromecast streaming dongle, which relies on a phone, tablet, or laptop to control what's playing on the TV. At the time, Mario Queiroz, Google's vice president of product management, suggested that this mode of viewing was key to the future of television. Meanwhile, Android TV, Google's other operating system for televisions and set-top boxes, seemed lost. Google apps and features that had shipped on other platforms were no-shows on Android TV, and the company didn't even bother announcing the retail launch of Xiaomi's Mi Box, last year's only new Android TV streaming box.

E-mail may have been the Internet's first "killer app," but keeping up with it has become sheer murder. The volume of e-mail defies comprehension: by one count, 32 billion messages a day were sent in 2010, a figure that does not include the roughly 90 percent of e-mails that are spam. A growing number of products and research efforts aim to ensure that e-mail overload doesn't cancel out the productivity-enhancing benefits of IT. Google's Gmail "Priority Inbox" is an early effort in this direction. The feature adds a special icon to messages it judges to be important, allowing users to tend to them first.