I am working with a team of students from Imperial University on a project, one of the things they want to implement is a Recommendation engine for their new Cortana Intelligence Service. We had a interesting call today about some of their initial ideas and suggestions and I introduced them to the Azure Machine Learning Recommendations API. The recommendation engine is actually utilised by Microsoft Channel 9 online learning resource. So when you watch a video on channel 9 the recommendations are coming from a model built by this service. The model has been learning Channel 9 usage data back dated to July of 2014.

Shortly after being purchased by Apple, two of Siri's founders left the company to begin creating yet another AI assistant. It's called Viv, and The Washington Post reports that it'll be unveiled to the world on Monday. Viv is essentially meant to be Siri, but good. It's an AI assistant that you speak to, but the difference here is that Viv is supposed to be able to handle complex requests and actually carry them out. The idea is that you could ask Viv to book you dinner and a movie, and it would just go ahead and do it.

You've probably heard about bots a lot lately, how they are here to make our lives easier and replace apps. Bots made a splash at Facebook's developer conference in April and now, despite being around since the beginnings of the Internet, they are getting their time in the spotlight. Let this primer take you through everything you need to know about bots and why they matter now. Imagine texting a number to order pizza and having it delivered without ever talking to a real human -- that's what bots are all about. Specifically, a bot is an application that performs an automated task, such as setting an alarm, telling you the weather or searching online.

Viv is planned as an open system -- more like the original Siri prior to being purchased by Apple in 2010 -- and currently features links to apps and services like Uber, FTD, SeatGuru and GrubHub. The example in the article describes ordering a pizza from Domino's without so much as making a phone call or opening an app. Viv can understand everything necessary like selecting toppings or picking a pizza place on its own, or as directed by natural conversation. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and other tech giants are already trying to integrate AI into our daily lives, but Viv's plan is to bypass app stores, device limitations or a messenger window. According to the Post, Google and Facebook have already tried to acquire it, and if its debut during TechCrunch Disrupt next week is everything promised, there will probably be other attempts soon.

Depending on who you ask, online dating apps have made finding the perfect romantic match easier or more difficult than ever. That's why YouTube personality Davey Wavey teamed up with singer-songwriter Steve Grand to break down the "rules" of navigating Grindr and Surge, among other social apps. Some tips: don't include a picture of a tree, or any other object that's not yourself. Don't include a picture that contradicts the message of your profile. Most importantly, the profile picture should be recent.

This column is a little cheerful, slightly analytical, both confident and tentative and just a tiny bit angry. At least that's what IBM's Watson thinks. Last week, IBM revealed that its Jeopardy-winning supercomputer has a new capability. It's called Watson Tone Analyzer. You can use it like spell check, except instead of checking your spelling, it checks the "tone" of your writing.

A recent hot topic in recommender systems today that published work from academic researches have appeared in recent years is to incorporate user context is the "context-aware recommender system". There are more published work in this area but I've come across the following which may be useful to readers here: Towards time-dependant recommendation based on implicit feedback. Context-aware preference model based on a study of difference between real and supposed situation data.

Sam Yagan, the Vice-Chair of the Match Group, which owns Match, Tinder, OK Cupid and Plenty of Fish, explains, on #TalkingTech. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Sam Yagan, the Vice-Chair of the Match Group, which owns Match, Tinder, OK Cupid and Plenty of Fish, explains, on #TalkingTech.

Siri, Cortana, Google and Alexa go about their business differently in responding to Ed Baig's questions. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Siri, Cortana, Google and Alexa go about their business differently in responding to Ed Baig's questions.

BEVERLY HILLS -- Sam Yagan's goal: to go out on a date with you. As the Vice Chair of the Match Group, which owns many of the top used dating apps, including Tinder, Match, OK Cupid and Plenty of Fish, Yagan looks to bring the apps to the next level. That is, feedback about your dates. "The data will be transformative," Yagan told USA TODAY, in an exclusive #TalkingTech video and audio interview here. "As we get to kind of go on that date with you, and be part of your life as you carry the apps with you, we will learn a lot more, and do a better job of matching you up." "Well, the first step is actually knowing that you went out on the date," he says.