Apple Inc. acquired artificial intelligence startup Turi Inc. for about 200 million, according to people familiar with the situation, in the latest deal by the iPhone maker to accumulate advanced computing capabilities for its products and services. Turi helps developers create and manage software and services that use a form of AI called machine learning. It also has systems that let companies to build recommendation engines, detect fraud, analyze customer usage patterns and better target potential users, according to the Seattle-based startup's website. Apple could use this to more rapidly integrate the technology with future products. Apple's move Friday is part of a broader battle among Google, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com

Back in December, I wrote a detailed piece about the potential for artificial intelligence streamlining the real estate industry through automation. Eight months on, and there is increasing evidence of just how big an impact there could be for machine learning in real estate. The most recent evidence, launched in mid-July, is TouchAssist, created by Touch Commerce, which promises to "enable brands to offer intelligent automated conversations leading consumers to self-serve on digital channels". The idea is to create a'smart' virtual assistant (or'chat bot') which can answer customer queries or book in property viewings, whilst simultaneously gathering analytical and KPI data. Wherever the bot fails to answer a customer question, a human customer operator steps in, and the machine continues to listen in and learn more answers.

A version of this essay was originally published at Tech.pinions, a website dedicated to informed opinions, insight and perspective on the tech industry. There has been a lot of talk recently about advancements in the smart home arena, especially about new ways to control smart home devices. I have heard Amazon's Echo referred to as a smart home device, and just this week, web service IFTTT announced new partnerships that are intended to allow smart home devices to connect in an automated fashion to other devices and services. However, what we're still missing when it comes to the smart home is a true smart home assistant -- a counterpart, if you will, to the smart assistants that come baked into every modern smartphone operating system. This post dives into what that means in practice, and who might be best positioned to deliver on this vision.

A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley, according to Professor Stephen Hawking. 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. The world-renowned professor has warned robots could evolve faster than humans and their goals will be unpredictable. Professor Stephen Hawking (pictured) claimed AI would be difficult to stop if the appropriate safeguards are not in place. During a talk in Cannes, Google's chairman Eric Schmidt said AI will be developed for the benefit of humanity and there will be systems in place in case anything goes awry. 'We've all seen those movies,' he said.

One-to-one customer engagement enabled by machine learning yields a 13 percent reduction in bounce rate and a 33 percent average order value improvement at Marmot. A recent study from Gallup shed light on just how valuable it is to invest in customer engagement. Fully engaged customers, defined as those who have had a measurable reaction, connection, or experience with your brand, represent a 23 percent share of wallet, profitability, revenue, and relationship growth premium compared to average shoppers. By contrast, the study found that disengaged customers -- those who have no emotional connection to your brand -- represent a 13 percent discount in those same measures. It's no surprise that customer engagement and loyalty applications have been hot in retail, particularly e-commerce, where customer data is easier to gather and easier to analyze than in any other channel.

Imagine a world where bots are ubiquitous… a world where nearly every online interaction takes place with a Siri, Alexa, Cortana or some soon-to-be-named artificial being. Here, banking is a breeze, as a customer service bot can quickly extrapolate your banking preferences from your online search history. In this world, your cupboards and refrigerator are always full, because your groceries are reordered every week automatically, based on consumption data. But in such a world, where bots provide the ultimate convenience of a futuristic lifestyle, is there still room for human help? At the most recent F8 Conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made some bold claims about a bot's place in the future of commerce.

The market is a massive, irrational, and fluid amalgamation of all information available in the public domain, at least according to the efficient market hypothesis. The famous quote, that "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent," holds significance, because it illustrates the perpetual struggle that we face in trying to understand its inner machinations. The market is both a byproduct of human innovation, as well as a microcosm of the world we live in. Just as we can't definitively know how the market will move, we can't definitively know how the choices we make will affect the world we live in. Therein lays the real challenge, in which we take everything we think we know and make an analytical decision, because afterward all that is left is to wait and see if it was the right call.

Apps like Tinder were designed to make the process of dating quicker and more efficient, by only matching people with other who are interested in them to save people from rejection. But new evidence suggests the apps have created a different kind of problem – men play Tinder like a game, swiping right to everyone just to see who has'liked' them. This can be frustrating for women, who are pickier about who they match with, since men they are paired with are less likely to reply to their messages, a new study has found. Evidence shows people on Tinder are not motivated enough to speak to someone they match with. Both men and women are unlikely to message even after mutually liking another profile, a new study has found.

He is better known for wrestling with the mysterious forces that shape our universe and the existential threat posed by technology. But physicist Stephen Hawking now fears greed could be the undoing of the human race. The University of Cambridge professor has warned that the unequal divide of wealth between individuals and countries is one of the most divisive issues of our time. He claims envy and isolationism is being bred by the way money is currently shared and this may have contributed to the result of the European Union Brexit referendum result in Britain. Professor Stephen Hawking (pictured) has warned the sense of inequality that drove the Brexit vote was driven by the way wealth is viewed and shared in many parts of the world.

It has generated a mixed reception from users and sparked controversy over the way it collects data from personal computers, but Microsoft's latest operating system is about to get more expensive. The software giant has been offering Windows 10 to users for free over the past year, but the free download period is now due to end in just a few hours. From tomorrow Windows 10 will cost between 99.99- 189.99 ( 119- 200) to download, depending on the version you buy. Microsoft has also introduced a smart assistant, similar to Siri, called Cortana. To use Cortana, users simply type a question into a search box on the taskbar, or can even verbally ask a question into the computer's microphone The company has been pushing hard to encourage users to upgrade to the new operating system.