You can now cast Harry Potter spells from your Android phone, thanks to Google and Warner Bros. Pictures, who have teamed up to promote the new movie, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” This clever trick, which Google tells us is part of a wider partnership between the two companies, lets...
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
IBM buys Expert Personal Shopper from Fluid to build out Watson’s conversation skills
IBM has made another acquisition to beef up Watson, a week after it announced a raft of new features and milestones for its artificial intelligence effort: it has acquired a business called Expert Personal Shopper (XPS), a platform, and bot, that holds conversations with people online to...
With NYT’s new The Daily 360, Samsung looks to jumpstart everyday VR
There’s nothing quite so quotidian as getting caught up with the day’s news, which is probably why the New York Times’ new The Daily 360 project has such strong support from Samsung. Samsung is providing Gear 360 cameras and other equipment to Times reporters for capturing 360-degree footage while...
Twitter unveils new options for customer service
Twitter has been expanding the customer service side of its product, with recent additions including a Customer Service settings page for businesses. Today it’s adding a couple more features — namely, an automated welcome message that shows up whenever a customer starts a Direct Message conversation...
Hello launches a voice-enabled Sense bedside sleep tracker for $149
With Alexa and Google Assistant are gunning for control over the general voice-driven experience with technology, that might open doors for some more targeted verticals that are centered around voice. It’s not an unheard of strategy — building services and tools around specific experiences...
Instapaper premium goes free for all users
Following its acquisition by Pinterest in August, Instapaper’s premium version will now be free of charge to all users, the company said today. As part of the acquisition, Instapaper’s team would begin working on Pinterest’s core experience. But the company also said that the app would live on...
Rokid, the assistant that can see, hear and sing raises $50M at $450M valuation
Meet Melody. Despite looking like a giant egg with a TV for a heart, she actually may be the first thing to put a smile on your face this morning. She can recognize you, listen to you, and even sing for you — all the while being a hub for home IoT. The whole package may seem a bit corny, albeit...