Some people are definitely ending up on the naughty list this Christmas. Erotic audio platform BLOOM now lets users'sext' with Father Christmas himself. To celebrate the festive season, users of the bizarre AI chat service will now be able to speak with a'hot Santa' or his'naughty elf'. The AI will not only send flirty texts but even create unique audio messages in the voice of the Christmas characters. So if you're feeling frisky this festive season, you can now live out your fantasy from the comfort of your own phone.

Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, can transform into Santa Claus especially for this festive season, the tech giant has revealed. Users can say'Alexa, enable Hey Santa' to hear him tell a story, sing a song, crack a joke, set a timer and more, as if he's speaking down the phone from the North Pole. The fun festive feature is sure to be particularly exciting for youngsters who want proof that Father Christmas exists in the run-up to the big day. Users can also ask Alexa a range of Christmas-themed questions such as'Alexa, where is Santa?' or'Alexa, how many days until Christmas?', The new Alexa feature lets families interact with Santa over the festive season, as if he's speaking down the phone from the North Pole'We've introduced Santa, a new personality for Alexa that will bring Christmas cheer for the whole family,' Amazon said.

It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you have clicked on Add to Basket. T-800, eat your endoskeleton lubricant pump out: I'm talking about the new wave of e-commerce virtual assistants. It seems that you are not the only one to have noticed that responding to the "Do you need help?" popup while shopping online was about as productive as telling Eliza about your mother in 1992.

The festive season is here and the search engine giant Google has started its countdown for the Christmas celebrations in full swing. The company unveiled a doodle Monday, featuring three colourful, interactive slides that show two penguins and their parrot friends getting in the holiday spirit. The first slide harks back to the old days of wired telephones, and shows a telephonic conversation between the penguins in the snow and the parrots in warmer regions. The second illustration shows other holiday elements, with one of the penguins packing luggage for upcoming travel and the other reading a holiday message on a postcard. The third illustration expresses the mood that goes with the festive celebration, by showing all the friends in one frame -- a perfect picture of celebrating festivity and displaying the essence of togetherness.

Winter is here, and so are a whole host of flashy new gifts waiting to be covered in gaudy wrapping paper. In the run-up to the festive season, comprising Christmas, Hannukah and Thanksgiving, companies are advertising the innovative technologies that they've been working on in preparation for the retail frenzy of the winter months. So, what innovative technology will we be unwrapping at the end of the year? Next month will reveal exactly which company has produced the most popular, consumer-friendly headsets. It's not a question of whether VR headsets will be a popular gift idea, it's a question of which particular brand will come out on top.