Microsoft is developing a last-gasp'iPhone killer' in its bid to take on Apple and Google. Its current Windows Phone devices have failed to attract buyers - but the firm thinks it has one last chance at success. The firm hopes its'Surface Phone' could become as popular as the Surface tablet. Its current Windows Phone devices have failed to attract buyers - but Microsoft thinks it has one last chance at success. 'We need some sort of spiritual equivalent on the phone side, that doesn't just feel like a phone for people who love Windows,' Microsoft's CMO Chris Capossela said.

Six months after Microsoft announced plans to bring Cortana to iOS, the digital concierge has officially started beta testing on Apple's platform. The software company has selected 2,000 iPhone users to participate in the testing of Cortana, which combines features from Siri and Google Now into one package. Six months after Microsoft announced plans to bring Cortana to iOS, the digital concierge has officially started beta testing on Apple's platform. The software company has selected 2,000 iPhone users to participate in the testing of Cortana, which combines features from Siri and Google Now into one package. There are two ways to use Cortana: you can use voice commands, or you can type out your commands in the Start Menu.

A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley. Artificial Intelligence, disguised as helpful digital assistants and self-driving vehicles, is gaining a foothold – and it could one day spell the end for mankind. This is according to Stephen Hawking who has warned that humanity faces an uncertain future as technology learns to think for itself and adapt to its environment. A group of scientists and entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking (pictured), have signed an open letter promising to ensure AI research benefits humanity. Google has set up an ethics board to oversee its work in artificial intelligence.

Forget HAL, the computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey," or JARVIS, the robotic butler of fictional billionaire Tony Stark. With a voice command like this, a homeowner can activate a Bluetooth-controlled lock through Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant, August Home, the smart-lock maker, announced Thursday. The team up between August and Amazon is another step in expanding how "smart" a home can become at a reasonable price. Though gadgets to control, for instance, a house's lights, thermostat, and audio system, have been around for decades, they could only be operated at first through personal computers and control pads, and eventually tablets and smartphones. Amazon popularized the voice control of smart homes when it released Alexa in 2014.

"You no longer need an Alexa-enabled device to test your skills. Developers worldwide can use Echosim.io to experience Alexa." Alexa originated as the voice behind the increasingly popular Amazon Echo and has developed since into a powerful platform for voice-activated commands. In Echo form, Alexa can access music streaming services, control lighting and heat, order pizza, or answer simple, Googlable questions. The potential is also there for Alexa to do a lot more. With the help of some coding knowledge, customers can create their own custom commands Alexa can respond to – a big strength of the platform that means updates and improvements will be regularly created and added. Developer attraction could also be an edge for Amazon's Echo as rival tech companies like Google come out with their own versions.

Some of the people behind Siri, the voice of the iPhone's virtual assistant app, have developed a savvier bot called Viv. Viv reportedly can order a pizza with your favorite toppings, hail a taxi ride to the dentist, or order flowers for your mom by drawing on data from other web services, such as FTD, Uber, and GrubHub, with little typing, clicking, or further input from you. Instead of pre-programming scripted responses to anticipated questions, as is common with Siri and other services, Viv's artificial intelligence will let her learn her users' preferences over time, say company executives. "Tell Viv what you want and it will orchestrate this massive network of services that will take care of it," Dag Kittlaus, Viv's chief executive, told the Guardian. The bot, which The Washington Post called "one of the most highly anticipated technologies expected to come out of a start-up this year," will make its first public appearance at a conference on Monday.

Nobody calls C3PO creepy, eerie, or spooky. But humanoid doppleganger social robots like Nadine are being found unsettling by many, both because of their appearance and also due to ethical issues connected to the ways they may be used. Nadine is a social robot made in the likeness of creator Professor Nadia Thalmann from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore). Nadine is programmed with intelligent "assistant" software similar to Siri (the Apple computer program that works as an intelligent personal assistant) and Siri's Microsoft counterpart Cortana. Nadine, however, also expresses a version of moods and emotions with the ability to remember the people she has met before as well as conversations.

Mark Zuckerberg wants to build an artificially-intelligent assistant that will control his home and eventually provide assistance with his work, he announced in a Facebook post on Sunday. The project, which Mr. Zuckerberg likened to Jarvis, the robotic butler used by Tony Stark in the "Iron Man" films, would begin with existing Internet of Things devices, which allow users to control the temperature, lights, and other electronic devices while away from home. "I'm going to start by exploring what technology is already out there. Then I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our home -- music, lights, temperature and so on," he wrote on the social media site. "I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. I'll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's room that I need to check on when I'm not with her," he added, referring to his newborn daughter.

We've built computers that can outplay the finest chess grandmasters in the world, virtual personal assistants that can schedule tasks and control our homes, and algorithms that can predict with increasing accuracy what we'll want to watch, read, or listen to next. But true artificial intelligence – a computer that can solve a wide range of problems through reason, planning, abstraction, and learning – hasn't come about yet. There are machines that are better than humans at specific tasks, but no machine that's as good as or better than a human at thinking. We're getting close to that point, though, Google chairman Eric Schmidt argued in an op-ed for the BBC on Saturday. Mr. Schmidt says artificial intelligence (AI) research has been steadily building since the term was first coined in 1955, and that scientists have made a few big breakthroughs in the past several years.

Facebook has finally pulled the curtains back on M, a new service on its Messenger app that acts more like a private concierge than most other digital assistants on the market. A few hundred users in San Francisco are currently testing the feature, which some compare to Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, or Google Now. But what sets M apart is the level of utility, provided by a combination of both artificial intelligence and human employees. "Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments, and way more," said David Marcus, Facebook's vice president of messaging products.