Amazon just made its second-generation Echo Dot official. For those who are still hesitant, here's a rundown on why this hands-free, voice-controlled device would come in handy. Much like its predecessor, the new Echo Dot sports the same puck-like form factor. Also, the device still has the ability to add Alexa to existing speakers, according to The Verge. What's different is the addition of more buttons on top of the device and the completely redesigned voice processor. Amazon has also decided to make two color variants for the device: pearl and carbon.

The choppy, cybernetic voices of digital assistants like Siri may not sound so mechanical for much longer, thanks to a significant breakthrough in using artificial intelligence to generate realistic human speech. In a new paper, scientists at Google-owned AI shop DeepMind have unveiled WaveNet, a neural network that generates audio waveforms by predicting and adapting to its own output in real-time. The result is dramatically more natural-sounding computerized speech, which the researchers say reduces the perceived gap between human and computer voices speaking both English and Chinese by over 50 percent. The system's predictive model is a far cry from the synthesized speech systems used by "digital assistant" apps like Siri. Instead of using a "concatenative" speech system that pieces together from a library of speech fragments recorded by one speaker (in Siri's case, voice actress Susan Bennett), WaveNet is trained on a massive database, then generates raw waveforms one audio sample at time using what's known as an "autoregressive" model--meaning each individual frame of the waveform is predicted based on the frames that preceded it. The neural net was developed from a similar model called PixelCNN, which does the same for computer vision by predicting images one pixel at a time.

After accidentally announcing a new 50 Echo Dot on Twitter yesterday, Amazon has confirmed the device this morning, alongside a white Echo and UK launch . But even better than the lower price (down from the 90 previous model) is the fact that anyone, not just existing Echo users, can snap it up. Previously, you had to order the Dot using Alexa from an Echo or Fire TV. Just like before, the new Echo Dot can bring Amazon's Alexa voice assistant to any speaker with a 3.5mm aux cable. The company claims the second-gen model is a bit sleeker than before, though it looks pretty similar to the original from photos. It includes a faster speech processor, which takes better advantage of its seven far-field microphones for voice recognition.

Amazon is making it easier to outfit your entire home with Alexa-enabled devices. The company announced a second-generation Echo Dot on Wednesday that costs just 50. The new Dot can be pre-ordered now--and by anyone, not just Prime members who already own the Fire TV or original Echo--but will not start shipping in the U.S. until October 20. Amazon says the new Dot, which essentially brings the Amazon Echo's voice controls to existing speakers and sound systems, has a new "sleek and compact design"--though the puck-shaped device was already pretty diminutive. The new Dot also comes in a new white option if black doesn't work in your home.

The new version comes as Amazon announced that it will now be making its voice controlled speaker and digital assistant available in the United Kingdom and German for the first time. The new version of the Dot is more powerful than before and contains the same seven microphone array that the Echo, making it a more fully-fledged companion to the Echo. Amazon's digital assistant Alexa now has over 3,000 "skills," the equivalent of voice-controlled apps. The new products will begin shipping in the coming weeks in the United Kingdom, Amazon said.

Artificial intelligence is gaining steam, from the Amazon Echo to Google's assistant. So why is AI catching on now? And what does it mean for the tool's future? "It's been a lot of baby steps building over the last 20 years," Charles Jolley, founder of the smart personal assistant Ozlo, said in an interview on Mashable's Biz Please podcast. Jolley joined Mashable business editor Jason Abbruzzese and me to talk about the future of AI, how AI has been depicted in science fiction and why almost all personal assistants seem to be female.

Amazon is to start selling its voice controlled speaker the Amazon Echo in the UK and Germany. Amazon Echo is a cylindrical, voice-controlled speaker which also increasingly functions as a smart home digital assistant. Triggered by someone saying the name Alexa (or Amazon, or Echo) it can play music you ask for from services like Amazon Music and Spotify, or play audio books from Audible. When it detects the wake word, Echo's light ring turns blue and begins streaming the request to the cloud: the spoken request is sent to Amazon Web Services to process it and respond, using a neural network-based speech recognition system to recognise what is being asked for. The device can respond to questions such as "Alexa, will it rain tomorrow?",

Amazon has confirmed its virtual assistant Echo speakers are coming to the UK, Germany and Austria. Until now, the company sold its voice-controlled devices only in the US. The machines can answer questions, control other internet-connected devices, build shopping lists and link in to dozens of third-party services including Spotify, Uber and BBC News. Experts say they appeal to early adopters' sense of curiosity but tend to be a harder sell to others. "[Echo's] been relatively successful in the US because it is so easy to use," said Jessica Ekholm from the Gartner consultancy.

Amazon has finally brought its voice-controlled smart speaker to the UK after it first launched in the US more than two years ago. The speaker will land on 28 September, with pre-orders going live later today. The cylindrical speaker, which is also coming to Germany, uses Amazon's personal voice assistant called Alexa, which is similar to Apple's Siri. The Echo will cost 149.99 ( 179.99) and will also be available for Prime customers at a reduced rate of 99 ( 129.99) for a limited time. The cylindrical speaker, which is also coming to Germany, uses Amazon's personal voice assistant called Alexa, which is similar to Apple's Siri Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled smart speaker that works alongside a smartphone app.

By 2021, robots will have eliminated 6% of all jobs in the US, starting with customer service representatives and eventually truck and taxi drivers. That's just one cheery takeaway from a report released by market research company Forrester this week. These robots, or intelligent agents, represent a set of AI-powered systems that can understand human behavior and make decisions on our behalf. Current technologies in this field include virtual assistants like Alexa, Cortana, Siri and Google Now as well as chatbots and automated robotic systems. For now, they are quite simple, but over the next five years they will become much better at making decisions on our behalf in more complex scenarios, which will enable mass adoption of breakthroughs like self-driving cars.