In the run up to Dreamforce 2021 in September, Salesforce announced new capabilities for Einstein Automate as well as new AI-driven workflows and RPA capabilities for Service Cloud . Prior to Dreamforce 2021, I had a chance to talk with Clara Shih, CEO of Service Cloud at Salesforce, about how the cloud-based software company sees automation and AI transforming, and actually humanizing, customer service. The following is a transcript of our interview, edited for readability. So let's talk automation, AI, RPA and how that relates to the Service Cloud and how that's kind of changing how organizations approach their interactions with their customers. Because I know that automation is a large part of many organization's digital transformation processes.

KODA advising CTO John Suit discusses the skills and languages that are important for developers who want to build software and systems for modern robots.

How does Amazon help Alexa understand what people mean and not just what they say? And, we couldn't be talking about Alexa, smart home tech, and AI at a better time. During this week's Amazon Devices event, the company made a host of smart home announcements, including a new batch of Echo smart speakers, which will include Amazon's new custom AZ1 Neural Edge processor. In August this year, I had a chance to speak with Evan Welbourne, senior manager of applied science for Alexa Smart Home at Amazon, about everything from how the company is using AI and ML to improve Alexa's understanding of what people say, Amazon's approach to data privacy, the unique ways people are interacting with Alexa around COVID-19, and where he sees the future of voice and smart tech going in the future. The following is an transcript of our conversation edited for readability. Bill Detwiler: So before we talk about maybe IoT, we talk about Alexa, and kind of what's happening with the COVID pandemic, as people are working more from home, and as they may have questions that they're asking about Alexa, about the pandemic, let's talk about kind of just your role there at Amazon, and what you're doing with Alexa, especially with AI and ML. So I lead machine learning for Alexa Smart Home. And what that sort of means generally is that we try to find ways to use machine learning to make Smart Home more useful and easier to use for everybody that uses smart home. It's always a challenge because we've got the early adopters who are tech savvy, they've been using smart home for years, and that's kind of one customer segment. But we've also got the people who are brand new to smart home these days, people who have no background in smart home, they're just unboxing their first light, they may not be that tech savvy.

Thanks to its high bandwidth, low latency, and the ability to support higher end-point densities, 5G will allow companies to collect more data, analyze the data more quickly, make better predictions, and rapidly take action. I spoke with Bill Menezes, Sr. Principal Analyst with Gartner, about how 5G will affect data analytics and IoT technology. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation. Bill Detwiler: So Bill, tell me a little bit about how you see 5G affecting IoT technology, maybe, in the near term. Is it going to have much effect at all as we look at maybe one, two years into the future?

At CES 2020 in Las Vegas, TechRepublic's Bill Detwiler spoke with CNET and CBS News' Dan Patterson about the various technologies featured at the electronics show. The following is an edited transcript of the interview. Now with CNET and CBS News, to talk a little bit about the tech we've seen this week. Dan, you cover a lot of privacy and security, and it's always an important issue, especially at CES, as we talk about technology blending into everyday objects. What have you seen here at the show that brings to light those issues of data privacy, data security? Dan Patterson: Well, what's really interesting to watch is this evolution of CES itself.

These six enterprise tech trends defined 2019As we kick off another year, ZDNet's global team of editors has put together a list of five tech trends that will have a significant impact on the enterprise in 2020. The effects could be negative or positive, but will undoubtedly be substantial. Our panel of editors includes -- TechRepublic's Bill Detwiler, Larry Dignan, Chris Duckett, and Steve Ranger. Take a look back at best of the decade: ZDNet's top enterprise CEOs of the 2010s The PC was supposed to die a decade ago. Instead, this happened A decade of malware: Top botnets of the 2010s A decade of hacking: The most notable cyber-security events of the 2010s Device of the decade: Why did it take nine years for the iPad to get its own operating system?

CES 2020, which is held January 7 - January 10 in Las Vegas, is expected to be one of the leading technology events of the year. More than 4,500 companies from across the globe are participating in the four-day event and introducing thousands of new, innovative products. Keep checking this article for all of our CES 2020 coverage, which will include photos of the best and the weirdest tech, interviews with industry experts, Bill Detwiler's Cracking Open live demo from the CNET stage, and much more. We will update this article when new content about CES publishes. LG to unveil latest displays for airplanes and automobiles at CES 2020 LG is bringing OLED screens to homes, hotels, offices, autos, and jetliners.

TechRepublic Managing Editor Bill Detwiler spoke with Panasonic's Faisal Pandit about how Panasonic has been in the sensor and data business for decades, and it's using that experience to build a data-focused IoT business. The following is an edited transcript of the interview. Bill Detwiler: How do you see IoT evolving in the next year? Maybe you start with where we kind of are from your perspective in IoT, and what Panasonic is looking at, and what do you see coming in the next year? Faisal Pandit: A lot of people think IoT is a new thing.