There's been a lot written the past couple days about Microsoft acquiring LinkedIn, the business focused social network. The business rationale is focused on Microsoft combining its Office products together with the information available on LinkedIn to create new services for its users. For example, as you head into a meeting that's on your Outlook calendar, Microsoft's Cortana (its digital assistant) can provide you background on each of the attendees that it has gleaned from their LinkedIn profiles. Another example used is the potential opportunity to embed Office tools into the LinkedIn platform to make collaboration on Word documents, spreadsheets, Powerpoint presentations, and so on, easier. On another front, Facebook has recently announced partnerships with POS solution providers to gain access to transaction data which it is combining with location services to understand what stores a shopper goes to and creating a link between Facebook advertising and products purchased.

Do you remember JARVIS, the computerized personal assistant who helps Tony Stark manage his complex super hero affairs in the Iron Man movies? With the rise of conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) like Google Home or Amazon Echo, or the smartphone-based Viv, Siri, Cortana, etc., similar JARVIS-like services may be available in the not-so-distant future. Yet to date, the impact of conversational technology – and popular discussion about its use – often remain limited to modern conveniences like ordering household supplies or receiving restaurant recommendations, reminders and hands-free directions. While it's helpful for everyday tasks, the technology that underlies these services can be put to more ambitious uses. Indeed, it can amplify existing impacts and overcome significant technical barriers to unlocking commercial, educational and connectivity services for the next four billion emerging mobile users in developing markets – people who will soon access the internet for the first time.

Qloo Inc. closed a 4.5 million Series A round of venture funding to support the growth of its cultural recommendation engine. Investors included: Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio; Starwood Hotels founder Barry Sternlicht; Pierre Lagrange of GLG Partners; and Adriaan Ligtenberg's AllMobile Fund, along with other individual angel investors. According to the startup's co-founder and CEO Alex Elias, New York City-based Qloo combs through proprietary and open source data online to learn about consumers' preferences, and how their tastes correlate across eight major categories: music, film, television, dining, nightlife, fashion, books and travel. The cultural correlations can sometimes surprise marketers. Tomorrow, the Cleveland Cavaliers will face off against the Golden State Warriors in game 6 of the NBA Finals in Ohio.

Apple's Siri made a big splash when the wisecracking digital assistant debuted on the iPhonefive years ago. But as other tech giants jockey to build intelligent "chat bots" and voice-controlled home systems capable of more challenging artificial-intelligence feats, Siri at times no longer seems cutting edge. On Monday, Apple is expected to demonstrate an upgrade to Siri's smarts as it kicks off its annual software conference. It's a potentially momentous time for the company; sales of its flagship iPhone are slowing, and AI is emerging as a key tech battleground. Apple, Google, Facebook and others are racing to create digital services that consumers will find indispensable for shopping, chatting, controlling other appliances and simply getting through their daily lives. And while Siri has gained new abilities over the years, some experts believe Apple still lags in the AI race, hindered in part by its unwillingness to pry too deeply into your personal information.

Chatbots can order flowers for you on Facebook. An intelligent assistant can schedule a meeting. Now, a new update for your iPhone will be packed with new automations to make our lives easier and maybe even reduce stress, and it won't cost you a cent when it debuts this fall (unless you need to get a new iPhone). This week at a developer conference in California, Apple announced iOS 10 and focused mostly on how to make your phone "think differently" by thinking for you and saving time. There are some brilliant new updates, but here are the ones that impressed me the most and offer the most automation.

In the age-old tech struggle between open and controlled systems, Apple has realized that when it comes to artificial intelligence, it needs to edge toward open. The computer giant has announced it will be opening up its digital assistant Siri to third-party apps and at the same time has put out an API to its artificial intelligence technology. Realistically, the company has been given little choice: Amazon's Alexa has taken off, in large part due to it opening up to other companies, and Google's artificial intelligence systems have streaked ahead of Apple and Siri because when it comes to such a complex and wide-ranging interplay of information and action, broader is better. Where Siri was once a wonder – it worked where other systems didn't – it risks becoming an also-ran, with only Apple fanbois crowding round it in excitement at the latest nerd joke. Not that Apple is taking the news well.

Apple announced today that it will be opening up Siri to third-party developers through an API, giving outside apps the ability to activate from Siri's voice commands, and potentially endowing Siri with a wide range of new skills and datasets. The move follows similar announcements by Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, all of which are betting that voice commands and chatbots will be one of the next big computing paradigms. When Steve Jobs introduced Siri to the world five years ago, it felt like a revelatory advancement. Sure, there had been digital assistants before, but not one you speak to naturally or carry around in your pocket. In the time since, however, this kind of conversational AI proliferated out to lots of devices, with big offerings from most of Apple's major competitors.

In the age-old tech struggle between open and controlled systems, Apple has realized that when it comes to artificial intelligence, it needs to edge toward open. The computer giant has announced it will be opening up its digital assistant Siri to third-party apps and at the same time has put out an API to its artificial intelligence technology. Realistically, the company has been given little choice: Amazon's Alexa has taken off, in large part due to it opening up to other companies, and Google's artificial intelligence systems have streaked ahead of Apple and Siri because when it comes to such a complex and wide-ranging interplay of information and action, broader is better. Where Siri was once a wonder – it worked where other systems didn't – it risks becoming an also-ran, with only Apple fanbois crowding round it in excitement at the latest nerd joke. Not that Apple is taking the news well.

As more information continues to pour in about what happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, here's what we know about the shooter, Omar Mateen. The logo of Jack'd, an online dating and chat app for gay men. According to some reports, Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used the app to message men in the months prior to the shooting. SAN FRANCISCO -- The CEO of Jack'd, a Tinder-like gay chat and dating app, says he hasn't been contacted by law enforcement since reports surfaced late Monday Orlando shooter Omar Mateen might have been using the app for at least a year. The service also hasn't been able to substantiate Mateen had been a member, said Hector Camacho, CEO of Jack'd parent company Online Buddies. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mateen, 29, had messaged at least one regular Pulse patron sporadically over the past year using the Jack'd app.

In the meantime, Apple can keep its rivals at bay by leveraging the greatest advantage it enjoys today: its leading position across multiple consumer-device categories. Amazon may have a nifty set-top TV box--but if you already have an iPhone, you might prefer the Apple TV. Google's virtual assistant software may be more powerful than Siri--but if Siri already lives on three of your devices, why switch to Google when it's time to buy a fourth? Skype might have its advantages over FaceTime, but your grandmother has the latter pre-installed on her iPad. In other words, Apple can prop up its software by putting it front and center on all the platforms it already has, and making sure they all talk to each other--and no one else.