Cortana

One of the hottest gift ideas this holiday season are virtual assistants specifically those with a voice user interface (VUI).These handy devices are becoming increasingly common in our daily lives since Siri was first introduced in 2011.

A new study from Juniper Research has found that smart speakers such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, and the Sonos One will be installed in over 70 million US households by 2022, reaching 55% of all homes. Total installed devices will exceed 175 million.

Orange Business Services and Microsoft are collaborating to deliver large-scale, end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that boost the digital processes of companies in the manufacturing sector. Enterprises can use the Orange modular IoT solution, Datavenue, strengthened by Microsoft Azure IoT Suite, to transition to Industry 4.0 and optimise the entire manufacturing value chain.

With the wave of personal assistants, such as Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant, and new start-ups leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics to build personal companions, it’s becoming clear we are moving toward a new voice-controlled relationship with technology.

“We all need the human touch” sang mullet-toting soft rocker Rick Springfield back in 1983, fearing a dystopian future in the year 2016. While last year didn’t bring us to that traumatic point, we ARE truly embedded in a digital economy

Whether it’s faster deliveries or better communication, customers’ expectations are on the rise around the world—and when it comes to the field service industry, this is no different.

According to a new research report from Berg Insight, the number smart homes in Europe and North America reached 17.9 million in 2015.

In October 1989, a Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control toaster was hooked up to the internet and unveiled at the Interop conference in Las Vegas. Nearly ten years after that, the term ‘Internet of Things’ was coined – and has been in widespread usage ever since.