NEW YORK: Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox' -- a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers -- connecting them to the internet," T.J. Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilise the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said. With the refrigerators, stored groceries can be monitored using internal cameras and object recognition technology.

Ritika Gunnar is vice president of offering management, data and analytics at IBM. She has also served as a software engineer and as vice president for information integration and governance in IBM's platform analytics group. In this exclusive interview with SearchCloudApplications, she discusses the evolution of the data science industry and the skills that developers must possess to flourish in a data-driven world. How can you speed deployment and boost ROI? It's not easier said than done. Learn the latest techniques allowing companies to eliminate barriers between development, testing and deployment.

Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox', a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers, connecting them to the internet," T J Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilise the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said. With the refrigerators, stored groceries can be monitored using internal cameras and object recognition technology.

Apple haters have always made the case that the company's massive success is as much the product of marketing and salesmanship as it is any kind of technical innovation. Whatever else Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was, he was the consummate salesman. Maybe the original iPhone could have sold itself back in 2007, but Jobs' legendary introductory event definitely helped. But the world has changed. As smartphone innovation seems to have plateaued, the tech giants of the world, notably Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, have doubled down on machine learning and artificial intelligence -- the trendy technology that's making for smarter, more personalized apps and devices.

Apple haters have always made the case that the company's massive success is as much the product of marketing and salesmanship as it is any kind of technical innovation. Whatever else Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was, he was the consummate salesman. Maybe the original iPhone could have sold itself back in 2007, but Jobs' legendary introductory event definitely helped. But the world has changed. As smartphone innovation seems to have plateaued, the tech giants of the world, notably Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, have doubled down on machine learning and artificial intelligence -- the trendy technology that's making for smarter, more personalized apps and devices.

Apple's Siri upgrades will let you dictate LinkedIn messages, verbally search for shoe photos on Pinterest, and hail an Uber, hands-free. When Apple unveils its new iPhone Wednesday, it's expected to push hard on software improvements available for its next mobile operating system, iOS 10, available for current iPhones and a predicted new iPhone model. The iPhone's voice-activated digital assistant Siri will be a key part of this upgrade, say tech analysts and developers. Siri, primarily used for voice commands to dial phone numbers, set reminders and get traffic information, has been opened to third-party developers after five years of existence. Apple, via a spokeswoman, said app developers are creating "completely new ways for users to interact" within apps.

With the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning, companies are going to great lengths to understand human behavior. Between virtual assistants and platforms that predict our needs, humans barely have to lift a finger to get what they need done. One person who has seriously contributed to building out products that streamline our life is Eric Colson. At Innovate! and Celebrate 2016 in September, you'll have the chance to hear him speak about everything from machine learning to shopping. Eric Colston is currently the chief algorithm officer at Stitch Fix, a women's clothing retail website that prides itself on providing personalized shopping experiences to everyone that click on their link.

So do Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft -- and each is working to make its voice assistant your personal Einstein of choice. Amazon recently enhanced its efforts by nabbing an AI expert from eBay, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Hassan Sawaf is now Amazon's director of artificial intelligence, focusing on "the user experience for users of Amazon's search capability across all products and businesses," according to Sawaf's LinkedIn page. The Journal was one of the first to spot Sawaf's updated responsibilities on LinkedIn. "eBay has wide and deep capabilities in AI across the technology organization, and recently completed two acquisitions ... that contribute tech and talent to our AI and machine learning/machine translation capabilities," an eBay spokeswoman said in an email.

Intelligence is generally considered an exclusively human attribute, but we're fast approaching an age where machines will be considered intelligent as well. If this is indeed the case, it's only natural that machines will also develop a genuine personality. Many of them, such as Siri from Apple and Amazon's Alexa and Echo, already have names and voices. There's also Watson from IBM, a "cognitive assistant" that can read 40 million medical documents in 15 seconds and "understand, reason, and learn." Named after IBM's founder, Watson may soon eclipse all of us in knowledge as it continues to learn.

From picking our favorite restaurants to predicting weather and correcting global food shortages, artificial intelligence is already augmenting everyday life. Firmly rooted in the realm of science fiction, artificial intelligence (AI) has often felt external – something happening out there. In reality, AI is a huge part of our everyday lives. We just don't recognize it.Bank alerts of suspected fraudulent charges, smartphone notifications to exercise, Siri or Cortana's ability to recognize voices – are all examples of AI. "Artificial intelligence is basically where machines make sense, learn, interface with the external world, without human beings having to specifically program it," said Nidhi Chappell, director of machine learning at Intel. AI improves lives in many other areas too.