While Alexa was once simply a woman's name, it has become widely associated with Amazon, since the tech giant launched a smart assistant with the same name back in 2014. Not only is the AI-powered system named Alexa, it is also the default'wake word' used to alert Amazon devices that an instruction or question will follow. This has led to women named Alexa becoming the butt of recurring jokes in which their name is shouted, followed by a command. Unbeknown to many Alexa users, a sneaky trick lets you change your smart assistant's name, and even voice. However, there is a catch - as it stands, you can only choose from a few Amazon-sanctioned alternatives.

We may not have flying cars, but we could soon have'talking' ones. Elon Musk teased an upcoming Tesla feature that combines external speakers and artificial intelligence, enabling vehicles to'speak' to pedestrians. And the eccentric billionaire said that as well as conversing with pedestrians, drivers could be able to emit a fart noise from the speakers as well. Musk shared a clip of the technology on his personal Twitter page, which highlights a Model 3 driving through the streets and speakers playing'Well don't just stand there staring. 'Teslas will soon talk to people if you want,' he said in the tweet on Saturday. Musk shared a clip of the technology on his personal Twitter page, which highlights a Model 3 driving through the streets and speakers playing'Well don't just stand there staring.

BBC Breakfast presenters Dan Walker and Louise Minchin were left in fits of giggles today as they listened to a whale being taught to mimic human speech. The hosts laughed with each other on this morning's programme as they heard how Wikie, a 16-year-old female orca has learnt to count to three. There was much amusement at the sounds of the numbers, which emerge through her blowhole as parrot-like squawks, shrill whistles or raspberries. Wikie is also said to have learnt how to say English words such as'hello' and'bye bye' and'Amy' – her trainer's name. Minchin said: 'Every time you hear it, you just can't help yourself can you?' Walker added: 'I don't know what it is about that noise, but it just does me every time.'

Finally, everything that I've ever wanted out of DIY engineering culture, virtual reality, and the internet have been delivered with the VR Robot Tank, which makes fart noises and quotes the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Kindergarten Cop. Freddy Kilo breaks down how he built his VR Robot Tank in a recent YouTube post. It's assembled on top of a gold chassis with tank treads, powered by two Raspberry Pi 2s, and controlled with an Xbox 360 controller. Two cameras are mounted onto a dual servo rig that can move up and down and left and right. Video from those cameras is streamed to an Android phone, where the feeds are played side-by-side in browser windows.