We decided to ask our married couples about the content of the first message their partner sent them online, and the answers were pretty surprising. In fact, 35% of married women actually contacted their current partner first, serving as inspiration for women who are still on the fence when it comes to making the first move.

Google today introduced its own personal digital assistant called, aptly, the Google Assistant. It's based on existing technology, including Google Now. The assistant will power Google's upcoming Amazon Echo competitor, Google Home. Speaking at the beginning of the keynote at the Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai described the technology as "a conversational assistant" that can carry on "an ongoing two-way dialogue." "We want to be there for our users asking them, 'How can I help?'"

The Alphabet Inc. division unveiled a new mobile messaging application Wednesday called Allo containing a digital personal assistant, based on AI technology that powers other Google services like Inbox. At its I/O developer conference near its Silicon Valley headquarters, the company also showed off a voice-based search device called Google Home that uses the same assistant technology to answer questions when people are in their houses, a potentially potent rival to Amazon.com Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the goal is to develop an "on-going two-way dialog with Google" and build billions of people their own "individual Google." The CEO sees the Google digital assistant as an "ambient experience that extends across devices." Google became one of the world's most valuable companies by making a search engine that sucks in billions of queries people type into web browsers on PCs and phones.

While Apple (AAPL) has Siri, its AI-based digital assistant for iPhones, it has yet to introduce a home hub device. Amazon, though, has sold an estimated 3 million Echo home hubs. "Credit to the team at Amazon for creating a lot of excitement in this space," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in his I/O keynote speech Wednesday. Google Home, designed for music streaming and other entertainment, features built-in search capabilities. The "virtual agent" answers simple questions and carries out basic tasks.

Despite spinning off an Alphabet-soup of divisions, the Google mothership remains a sprawling company, so it's unsurprising that its annual developer's conference covers a continent of territory. In a two-hour-long keynote, the company took the audience on a tour of its upcoming tools and technologies. Here's a quick trip through what you missed. And don't forget to check out our in-depth analysis: A glimpse inside Google's VR Daydream, One Android to rule them all? A global on-line paper-airplane game and, to quote one our live-bloggers, "video of lots of happy people doing weird things" leading up to the event set the tone, and as usual began with a recap of how Google's evolved and how well it's doing.

LAS VEGAS--Cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are the keys to delivering richer, more sophisticated shopping experiences, eBay Chief Product Officer RJ Pittman said during a presentation Tuesday here at the Shoptalk 2016 retail conference. "I've yet to see great, personalized shopping experiences at scale," Pittman said. "We think there's huge opportunities to move forward through AI, machine learning and predictive modeling." Pittman cited the potential commerce benefits to be gained from AI technologies like natural language understanding, which enables software systems to understand human speech as it is spoken. For example, by processing the information in a shopper statement like "Going with my wife on a camping trip in Tahoe next month, need a tent," eBay would automatically suggest a tent large enough for two people that's also appropriate for Tahoe's altitude and average temperatures in June.

Google usually picks desserts including Marshmallow and Gingerbread. "Please don't call it Namey McNameface," says Burke.

A sneak peak of what the future holds for Android, Google's artificial intelligence pursuits, and virutal reality. Google announces messaging app Allo at I/O developer conference in Mountain View, Calif. Google debuted its new messaging app to rival Facebook Messenger at I/O, its annual software developers conference. The messaging app has a twist: It's not just for chatting with friends and family. You can ask Google questions the way you would a digital assistant such as Siri.

Google Home will take on Amazon Echo when the voice-activated device launches later this year. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google officially entered the voice-activated digital assistant race Wednesday with Google Home. The small device will compete directly with Amazon's popular Echo and should be available to consumers later this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced at the search company's annual developers conference. The move had been anticipated, as Google looks to put its mark on a coming age of artificial intelligence in which machines learn to interpret and answer human queries by leveraging the speed and scope of cloud competing. Project lead Mario Querioz held the device in his palm, revealing a design that was shorter and wider than Amazon's cylindrical Echo, which is powered by Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa.

Google has revealed a new smart AI assistant and will build it into everything from a new smart listening speaker to a new messaging app. The firm is aiming squarely at Amazon's Echo with the Home speaker, and WhatsApp and Snapchat with the Allo app. Sundar Pichai took to the stage at a giant outdoor amphitheatre holding 7,000 next to Google's Silicon Valley HQ to unveil the Google Assistant and Google Home speaker, alongside a new version of Android and a virtual reality headsets for mobile phones. Mario Queiroz showed off the new Google speaker, called Google Home, that will be released later this year. The tech giant is reportedly working on an update to its current entry-level Cardboard, and is expected to release a headset this year.