After birthing a virtual assistant that knows a little of everything, SRI International is working on ones that know a lot about just one thing. The nonprofit research center is arguably best known in the tech world for spinning off Siri, whose virtual assistant tech Apple acquired in 2010. SRI also incubated Tempo, an AI-driven calendar app that Salesforce bought last year. Now, SRI believes it can infuse AI into even more settings—shopping, banking, travel, business-to-business applications, and so on—allowing for deeply knowledgeable chatbots that know how to carry a conversation. The goal, says William Mark, SRI's president of information and computing …

Android Wear smartwatches are primed to break free of their smartphone shackles, but the same is not yet true of the upcoming Apple Watch 2, which is slated for release later this year. Apple's engineers haven't been able to solve battery drain problems associated with cellular connectivity, which has forced the company to save the feature for models further down the road, according to a published report.

Ecobee, a maker of smart thermostats for the home, just snagged $35 million in funding from Amazon’s Alexa Fund, Thomvest Ventures, and Relay Ventures. This is the largest single investment yet from the Alexa Fund, which Amazon set up to speed up the creation of software and hardware that works with its Alexa virtual assistant. Ecobee competes with the Google  Nestsmart home thermostats, with one key difference: Its devices work with Amazon Alexa as a sort of hub.

An executive from American Apparel at eTail East 2016 detailed how the brand is using an artificial intelligence and Internet of Things solution in which real-world displays interact with shoppers’ phones to start a purchase-enabled thread with a chatbot. During the session, The Future Of Retail and the Convergence of Customer Centricity, IoT and Omnichannel, the executive also explained that American Apparel wanted to expand its mobile footprint but without having to immediately make an application, so it partnered with Postmates to introduce a delivery service that saw significant early adoption. The retailer’s digital displays are leveraging beacon technology and chatbots to …

San Diego International Airport is preparing to roll out a mobile application that guides travelers from the beginning to the end of their journeys with the help of in-airport beacon technology, streamlining access to relevant information such as taxi wait times and gate changes. A growing number of airports are realizing the value of deploying beacons to their infrastructure, particularly when it comes to minimizing hassle and stress for time-strapped travelers. San Diego International Airport is planning to leverage Spark Compass’s platform and Gimbal’s technology to introduce a customer-facing app that uses beacons to offer multiple utilities to consumers, such …

Fast casual restaurant chain Moe’s Southwest Grill is encouraging diners to use their smartphones to interact with art on display in its locations and launch an augmented reality experience enabling them to play onion drums and watch bees buzz.  Six pieces of art are expected to be in the chain’s 650 locations by the end of year. Customers can open Moe’s new Rockin’ Rewards loyalty application while at a location to engage with the art and bring different ingredients to life. 

McDonald’s attempt to piggyback on the renewed interest in wearables by giving away a free Step-it activity tracker with each Happy Meal encountered an obstacle after it received complaints of the fitness band causing skin irritations, resulting in the item being withdrawn. The fast-food chain delved into the wearables space as it continues its mobile-focused sales initiatives, which have recently included virtual reality iterations and in-restaurant tablet deployments. McDonald’s hoped to ramp up sales of its Happy Meals by giving away Step-it pedometers and adapting to the increasingly mobile-first culture enjoyed by younger consumers, but announced today that it will pull the trackers due to complaints …

If you think you’ve been hearing a lot about virtual reality these days, it’s nothing compared to what’s going on in China. Here in the U.S., VR is very much in the news as hardware like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung’s Gear VR, and others have become mainstream products. But to people who know what’s going on in China, the VR ecosystem there has probably already surpassed that of the U.S. and Europe. And that’s to say nothing of the potential for further explosive growth that’s expected to come soon.

German carmaker Audi is rolling out technology that will allow its vehicles in the United States to communicate with traffic signals, allowing for a more stress-free ride in what it says is the car industry's first commercial use of the nascent technology. Audi of America, which is owned by Volkswagen, said select 2017 Q7 and A4 models built after 1 June 2016 will be equipped with its vehicle-to-infrastructure technology. Known in the industry as "V-to-I", the technology allows traffic signals and other infrastructure to exchange safety and other operational data wirelessly to vehicles over the cloud.

Amazon said it has added new new connected devices and brands to its Dash Replenishment Service (DRS). The DRS is Amazon's approach to a commerce-based Internet of Things. Leveraging sensors built directly into hardware, the DRS platform detects when supplies are running low and then automatically reorders them via Amazon. Amazon said today that GE Appliances, which was one of the first appliance manufacturers to join the DRS, is expanding its portfolio of products that support the program. The company's smart dryers and dishwashers will soon enable automated reordering of dryer fabric softener sheets and dishwasher detergent packs.