While most other recommender systems have a small pool of possible candidates (like 100,000 film titles on a movie review site), Pinterest has to recommend from a catalog of more than 4 billion ideas. To make it happen, we built Pixie, a flexible, graph-based system for making personalized recommendations in real-time.

When Google Home first launched in late 2016, there weren't a lot of compatible devices--especially compared to the popular Amazon Echo. Nowadays, though, Google has expanded its smart home family with devices like the Google Nest Mini (second-generation) and the Google Nest Hub Max. The list of supported devices is growing rapidly to include top brands and categories like lights, locks, thermostats, plugs, and switches. With plenty of options to choose from, it can be hard to know which products are the right ones for you, or which works best with your favorite platform. These are the Google Assistant-compatible devices for every type of smart home gadget.

We have progressed from the development stage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology into widespread implementation across industries. This advanced technology is everywhere, but most people don't know they interact with it daily. From virtual personal assistants like Siri and Alexa to the recommended shows that Netflix serves up based on viewing habits, ML powers these tools we've become so accustomed to using -- even if we don't stop to think about how it happens. AI is computer science that is focused on the capabilities of machines to imitate intelligent human behavior. AI allows computers to process large amounts of information and data and provide a computer-generated conclusion.

Then left, another left, then left again. That's the typical movement your thumb might go through if you're trying to find "the one" on any dating app. In some circles, it's becoming more common to hear friends say they met their significant other via dating apps Tinder, Bumble or Hinge, but what about Spotify? For two emerging artists, the music-streaming service helped them connect, and fast forward, they're getting married. The lovebirds are trying to find out who's responsible.

There is no way of knowing what will fascinate the social media users. In yet another example, a new form of tweet involving types of dating apps that could exist is going viral on the micro-blogging site. In the tweets, people are explaining varied situations and coming up with witty dating app names for the same. Many are dropping their suggestions on this tweet format and a little search led us to Twitter user Sumaira Shaikh, who's probably the one to start this trend. On October 31 Shaikh tweeted, "A Dating App only for introverts where they talk awkwardly, it's called Mumble!!!" and soon others came up with their own creative versions.

Over the last several months, I've been focusing on the planning, execution and post-event activities for the recently concluded HR Technology Conference, which, by all accounts, was our largest and most successful event ever. It's only in the last week or two that I've had a chance to reflect on the conference--and on the year overall--thinking about the technologies and trends that have mattered the most in 2019 and speculating on what might dominate the conversations in 2020. Here's my semi-scientific look at what was important to the HR-tech community this year, and what we will probably spend more time on in 2020. AI in HR tech was probably the No. 1 tech topic and trend in 2019. There were about 500 exhibitors at HR Tech, and I bet easily over 100 of them are developing, deploying, or at least discussing, how AI is driving their technology offerings.

Imagine a world where self driving cars are the only cars on the market, where humanoids can identify human emotions and respond to them, where robots can perform surgery, where Siri can respond to a rant with empathetic advice. Now picture the infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in your life who will be young adults in a world where all of this is the norm. As I sat in my room, I contemplated how drastically different the world as we know it will be, due to emerging technologies. One such technology is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the crazy thing is, we are already in the "Age of AI." Why not take a knack at explaining a daunting topic like AI to my 5 year old sister?

Amazon's new Alexa Echo Buds earphones, released yesterday in the U.S., may be hiding a'track workout' function that could be announced soon. The Echo earbuds are priced at £119 ($129.99) Among notable features, including integration with Alexa Amazon's voice assistant, tech enthusiasts now believe the buds have the capability to track fitness workouts. This may set them apart from competitors as one of the first to build the tracking technology into earbuds. The Echo Buds are voice activated, allowing users to execute several commands.

Alexa, can you hear me? Researchers have discovered a way to jam Amazon's voice assistant Alexa from responding to commands. "It was easier to exploit than we expected," says Juncheng Li at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. He and his colleagues created an audio clip that prevents Amazon's system from responding to the "Alexa" command word if it is played as you are speaking. Li says he expects that similar attacks would work against other voice assistants too.

Another way Microsoft is integrating Cortana in Outlook is by automatically managing your calendar and commitments. At the beginning of every day, Cortana will pop up inside Outlook with a "daily brief" that gives you a quick rundown of everything happening on that day. This includes any meetings or events scheduled in your calendar and any contextual insights in emails it thinks you might want to respond to or follow up with. Customers will also be able to mention or email Cortana directly to set up meetings with colleagues. Cortana's new natural conversational features announced earlier this year are also still in the works and will be launching in the coming months.