As good as devices like the Amazon Echo have become at relaying information verbally, there are still some tasks that are better accomplished using a touchscreen. That's perhaps why Amazon in June released the $229.99 Echo Show, which includes a 7-inch touchscreen placed above a speaker. But the convenience of having a tablet-sized screen also introduced trade-offs -- the Echo Show is bulkier, pricier, and generally less attractive compared to the $99.99 cylindrical Echo. Echo Spot, Amazon hopes to solve some of those issues.

Facebook plans to develop a fleet of drone s powered by sunlight that will fly for months at a time, communicating with each other through lasers and extending internet connectivity to the ground below. The company called the first test, in June 2016, a success after it flew above the Arizona desert for 1 hour and 36 minutes, three times longer than planned. The second test occurred on May 22, Martin Luis Gomez, Facebook's director of aeronautical platforms, said in a blog post. The aircraft flew for an hour and 46 minutes before landing near Yuma, Arizona, with only "a few minor, easily-repairable dings," he said.

It's the first time Alexa, the virtual assistant powering Amazon's Echo devices, doesn't depend solely on verbal input. I can't glance at my nightstand without Alexa feeding me news headlines, recommending music videos, or encouraging me to try its other features. As such, it's possible to place a video call, audio call, or send an audio message just by asking Alexa. Amazon is positioning the Show as more than just a Skype machine by making it compatible with smart home products like baby monitors and security cameras.

The new partnership comes as its members increasingly use artificial intelligence to compete with one another in categories such as consumer electronics and business productivity software. It appears to be aimed, at least in part, at dispelling and defusing public concerns about artificial intelligence, a phrase that often inspires both rational and irrational fears. The rational ones include the prospect of economic dislocation and loss of jobs, while irrational ones--or at least premature ones--embrace science-fiction scenarios, in which robots rule the earth or society confronts the so-called singularity.

Still, Mark Geistfeld, Sheila Lubetsky Birnbaum Professor of Civil Litigation at The New York University School of Law, believes Apple and similar firms have a responsibility to explore ways to cut down on distracted driving. One such technological solution might be for smartphone makers to disable or limit a device's functionality when it's traveling at driving speeds. Jennifer H. Arlen, Norma Z. Paige Professor of Law at The New York University School of Law, says that makes texting-while-driving cases a "very good place for liability imposed directly on the person who misuses [a phone], and perhaps criminal statutes that enhance the penalties on people who have serious accidents while texting and driving." Apple calls its system CarPlay, for Android devices there's Android Auto.