I've been connecting VideoGuides, WebTVs, TiVos, DVRs, Apple TVs, gaming consoles, speakers, and amps together since before the web existed. Amazon's Alexa line of products will soon get new home automation skills thanks to the release of an API by the company. While the gear has changed over the years, one constant has always remained: switching between devices has always been a bit of a pain. When the first Philips Pronto came out in 1998 or so, I snapped it up. It was more than $500, but even so, it was worth it because it unified all those remote controls.

A simple "G" on the back of the Pixel lets you know it's made by Google. Having spent the better part of the past month using Google's Pixel XL smartphone, I still think Google made one of the best phones of the year. I have zero hesitation recommending either Pixel phone to a friend, family member, or a complete stranger when asked. In fact, my recommendations as of right now are the iPhone 7 Plus or Pixel XL. The Pixel's camera takes crisp photos and is incredibly fast.

Popular dating app Tinder is rolling out a new update that allows people to choose their gender beyond just the binary options of male and female. In a blog post Tuesday, the company said: "Starting today, no matter how you identify, you can express your authentic self on Tinder." Users who want to use this option can go do so by updating their profile, which now has a "More" button under the "I Am" option. Choosing "More" will allow you to type the descriptor that best fits your gender identity. You can also choose to display your gender in your profile as well as appear in searches specific to your gender identity.

A man uses the dating app Tinder in New Delhi in 2015. A man uses the dating app Tinder in New Delhi in 2015. The dating app Tinder has made a change that it hopes will make the experience more inclusive for transgender and gender non-conforming people. Previously, users had to identify either as a man or a woman. Now, the company says people can now select a gender description from a much wider array of options.

Google is letting users peek into some of its most experimental artificial intelligence projects. The company unveiled a new website Tuesday called A.I. Experiments that showcases Google's artificial intelligence research through web apps that anyone can test out. The projects include a game that guesses what you're drawing, a camera app that recognizes objects you put in front of it and a music app that plays "duets" with you. SEE ALSO: 7 reasons Google's Assistant stomps Siri Google says the goal of the site is to make some of its machine learning technology more accessible to people who are interested in artificial intelligence but don't have the technical know-how to parse academic papers, where this type of research is typically published. Instead, the site offers hands-on demos that allow you to interact with projects created by Google researchers that show off their AI technology. A project called "Quick, Draw!" for example, is a game that tasks you with drawing an object -- like a ceiling fan or flower or bicycle -- in a limited amount of time while the app tries to guess what you're drawing.

The online retailer plans to add deals every five minutes from now until December 22nd. Amazon, the sleeping giant as other retailers unveiled their Black Friday plans, is back with a vengeance, rolling out a slew of rock-bottom deals on television sets. While not every deal has been detailed, the company has put out a list of some items customers can expect to see discounted at various points over the 35 days. Other deals include a Denon Heos 1 speaker for $99.99 and Sennheiser's HD 598 Cs Closed Back Headphones for $99.95, both roughly $100 off. Hyundai is how owners can now use Amazon's Echo home connectivity system in conjunction with their cars (Photo: Hyundai) As has already been seen at other retailers, Amazon will be giving its own devices some hefty discounts.

Embeddings are ubiquitous in machine learning, appearing in recommender systems, NLP, and many other applications. Researchers and developers often need to explore the properties of a specific embedding, and one way to analyze embeddings is to visualize them. We present the Embedding Projector, a tool for interactive visualization and interpretation of embeddings.

Sundar Pichai is huddling with five Google staffers in a room next to his office that's known--appropriately enough--as "Sundar's Huddle." The employees are members of the Google Photos team, and they're here this morning to update Pichai on something they've been working on for months. The group has barely begun its presentation when Pichai starts peppering them with questions, opinions, and advice. For half an hour, the discussion careens from subject to subject: the power of artificial intelligence, the value of integrating Google Photos with other products such as Google Drive, the importance of creating an emotional bond with the users of an app. After the team shows Pichai a rough cut of a promotional video, his feedback is unguarded and heartfelt: "That's awesome!" Google's bearded, 44-year-old CEO is, unmistakably, in his element. "Nothing makes me happier than a product review in which I can sit with the team and they're showing me something they're building," Pichai had told me a few days earlier. "Being able to react to it and think through, 'When users get this, what will their feedback be?' I'm always on a quest to do that better and do more of it."

A startup that originally launched as an AI-powered virtual assistant, Mezi, has pivoted to focus on travel only. There's little to do online that's more annoying than booking flights, hotels and everything else you need just to take a break, or be somewhere for work. Mezi's newly designed app allows users to find and book flights and hotels and make restaurant reservations wherever they want to travel by simply typing a bit about what they're looking for into a messaging-style interface, or chatbot. Rather than relying on AI from the likes of IBM Watson or other providers, Mezi has built its own deep learning and natural language processing systems to make its app able to converse with users, and to filter out three options that meet their needs each time they make a request. Travel apps, from big players like Kayak and Google to growing startups like Hitlist or Skyscanner, already help users plan trips or find great deals on flights, hotels and more.

USA TODAY'S Ed Baig compares Google Home to the Amazon Echo. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. USA TODAY'S Ed Baig compares Google Home to the Amazon Echo.