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Want a smarter Alexa, savvier Siri, brainier Google Now or a cleverer Cortana? So do Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft -- and each is working to make its voice assistant your personal Einstein of choice. Amazon recently enhanced its efforts by nabbing an AI expert from eBay, The Wall Street Joual reported Friday. Hassan Sawaf is now Amazon's director of artificial intelligence, focusing on "the user experience for users of Amazon's search capability across all products and businesses," according to Sawaf's LinkedIn page. The Joual was one of the first to spot Sawaf's updated responsibilities on LinkedIn. "eBay has wide and deep capabilities in AI across the technology organization, and r...

Enlarge ImageThe Ecobee3 Smart Thermostat and the Amazon Echo smart speaker. Ecobee Last year, Amazon established the $100 million dollar "Alexa Fund" for developers and manufacturers both large and small. The idea was fairly straightforward -- support people with good ideas on how to put the voice-recognition technology in the Amazon Echo smart speaker to good use. Now, the online mega-retailer is ponying up for its biggest investment yet and joining in on a$35 million-dollar funding round for the makers of the Ecobee smart thermostat. The funding round brings Amazon in with Thomvest and Relay Ventures, and comes several months after the Ecobee3 became the first smart thermostat to sync up ...

Amazon Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery system has been taking some time to get off the ground -- it was aounced in late 2013, and the drone wasn't unveiled until November last year -- but it just got one step closer to the sky. Amazon has aounced that it will be partnering with the UK Govement and the UK Civil Aviation Authority to test the drones for three key areas: operations outside line-of-sight in rural areas; sensor testing for hazard avoidance; and one-person operation of multiple drones. "Using small drones for the delivery of parcels will improve customer experience, create new jobs in a rapidly growing industry, and pioneer new sustainable delivery methods to meet future demand,...

Enlarge ImageAmazonFresh brings the veggies, milk and bread to you. Josh Miller/CNET Amazon will soon expand its fresh food delivery service to customers in the UK, according to the Guardian.The new service could begin delivering fresh food in London starting this month. In February,...