It can be tiring calling on Amazon's virtual assistant for every command to turn on a variety of smart home devices in succession. But did you know you can set up Alexa routines and create a single voice command that triggers a series of different actions? To design routines, you need to use the Alexa app. Once you make one, you can use an Alexa speaker, smart display, or another smart home device with built-in Alexa to trigger a routine. You can also schedule routines, or trigger them via third-party smart home devices, by dismissing alarms, or with Echo buttons.

Whether you realize it or not, artificial intelligence is a driving force in the beauty industry at the moment. Utilizing machine learning, brands are able to not only recommend products to customers but also track how those products are working. However, nowhere is the tech more viable than at the dermatologist's office, where it could prove to be a powerful diagnostic tool in the hands of experts (and okay, maybe on a Snapchat filter that turns you into an 85-year-old version of yourself, too). Before we dive into the possibilities that artificial intelligence could have for derms, it's first important to understand what it is. For some time, algorithms--the most basic form of A.I.--have made it possible for brands to offer "customized" products for your skin's needs.

An increasing number of software coding tasks are being handed off to AI functions, especially in ... [ ] the low-code & no-code arenas. What software needs now is more AI. This is the universal mantra that every software application development and data platform company will beat out relentlessly throughout 2020. The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Machine Learning (ML) processes that feed it and make it smarter has driven every software industry specialist to look for avenues where it can surgically enhance its products and services with additional layers of automated intelligence. Low-code software company Appian has clearly been drinking from the same AI Kool-Aid pot as everybody else; the company's latest platform release features a range of AI assists designed to make low code software development a more intelligently abetted process.

Add some smarts to your home lighting system today with Amazon deals on a few essential lighting items. First is a two-pack of Wemo dimmer switches; usually $80 apiece, you can get the pair for $100. The Wemo dimmer switches give you control over your lights from anywhere, hub-free. Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, you'll be able to use your voice to adjust lighting conditions. You can also create schedules, dim lights, and set Night Mode to keep lights low as it gets dark.

Today's a good day to smarten up your outlets at a steal of a price. B&H Photo and Video is offering a two-pack of the Keewifi kisslink Wi-Fi smart plug mini for $20. This plug usually sells for $20 each. Simply insert these plugs into your existing outlet and follow the set-up instructions on your smartphone using Tuya's Smart apps for Android and iOS. These plugs don't require a hub, which makes it easy to set them up without added cost.

Ever since the debut of Cortana within Windows 10, Microsoft has tried to inject Windows with artificial intelligence. Now it's getting even more serious with a new API, called Windows ML, that will tap your CPU or GPU to make Windows and its apps even smarter. Windows ML will debut within the "next major update to Windows 10," presumably the "Redstone 4" update set to be released to hardware partners this month. Since it's an API, every developer who writes apps for Windows will be able to take advantage of the new AI capabilities. In the future, Microsoft said, Windows ML might even take advantage of an entirely new chip: a machine vision or visual processing chip designed by a subsidiary of Intel, called Movidius.

Ever since, the tech industry has been training its machines to make them even better at amassing knowledge and answering questions. And it's worked, at least up to a point. Just don't expect artificial intelligence to spit out a literary analysis of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" any time soon. Research teams at Microsoft and Chinese tech company Alibaba reached what they described as a milestone earlier this month when their AI systems outperformed the estimated human score on a reading comprehension test. It was the latest demonstration of rapid advances that have improved search engines and voice assistants and that are finding broader applications in health care and other fields.

Ever since, the tech industry has been training its machines to make them even better at amassing knowledge and answering questions. And it's worked, at least up to a point. Just don't expect artificial intelligence to spit out a literary analysis of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" any time soon. Research teams at Microsoft and Chinese tech company Alibaba reached what they described as a milestone earlier this month when their AI systems outperformed the estimated human score on a reading comprehension test. It was the latest demonstration of rapid advances that have improved search engines and voice assistants and that are finding broader applications in health care and other fields. The answers they got wrong -- and the test itself -- also highlight the limitations of computer intelligence and the difficulty of comparing it directly to human intelligence.

FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, file photo, "Jeopardy!" Seven years after Watson beat two human quizmasters on a Jeopardy! Ever since, the tech industry has been training its machines even harder to make them better at amassing knowledge and answering questions. And it's worked, at least up to a point. Just don't expect artificial intelligence to spit out a literary analysis of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" any time soon. Research teams at Microsoft and Chinese tech company Alibaba reached what they described as a milestone earlier this month when their AI systems outperformed the estimated human score on a reading comprehension test.

Ever since, the tech industry has been training its machines to make them even better at amassing knowledge and answering questions. And it's worked, at least up to a point. Just don't expect artificial intelligence to spit out a literary analysis of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" any time soon. Research teams at Microsoft and Chinese tech company Alibaba reached what they described as a milestone earlier this month when their AI systems outperformed the estimated human score on a reading comprehension test. It was the latest demonstration of rapid advances that have improved search engines and voice assistants and that are finding broader applications in health care and other fields. The answers they got wrong -- and the test itself -- also highlight the limitations of computer intelligence and the difficulty of comparing it directly to human intelligence.