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While chat apps have taken over as an all important communication tools, innovation is mostly driven by user experience and the tight competition; Apple in a bid to turn its iMessage app into a viable communication platform, has launched "Business Chat" feature to compete with Facebook Messenger – and perhaps, make iMessage one of the main ways users interact with businesses.

Launching alongside iOS 11, Business Chat will allow users to open iMessage window from Safari, Maps, Spotlight, or Siri, and start a conversation with a business brand.

First spotted in Apple's developer site, the Business chat service was finally unveiled in a session at the company's annual event, Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2017).

Business chat will invariably feature conversations including basic text chats, with support and structure for more complex interactions, like scheduling an appointment.

With the overriding idea that businesses can show-off some of their capabilities, for instance, Apple showed off a conversation where the consumer could actually choose their airline seat, all within the chat app.

The initial business partners include LivePerson, Salesforce, Nuance and Genesys. And the launch version is limited to human-to-human conversations, though Apple may be planning to add chat bots in the future.

Meanwhile Apple has opened it up for developers and businesses to test and create app integration within the Business Chat.

Apple brings Customer Service and Shopping to iMessage with Business Chat



By now you may have heard that drone racing has become a hot new kind of sport. We’ve seen drones available for some time, but beyond recreational flying around or filming with them, it’s been hard to see what purpose they really serve. That’s starting to change with the rise of drone racing. The sport is so fast and exciting that some people have compared it to the infamous “pod racing” footage from Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace.

If calling this kind of activity a “sport” gives you pause, you may want to think again. It may seem like more of an after-school game than anything else, but the reality is that it’s starting to take off in a significant way. ESPN aired some drone racing competitions late last year, and will be showing more drone sports this summer. The worldwide leader in sports is working with the DRL (Drone Racing League) to make the activity available for public consumption. While viewership numbers weren’t particularly impressive last fall, it speaks volumes that ESPN is willing to give it another shot. The smart money seems to be on the idea that as more people hear about the DRL, they’ll want to check it out for themselves.

Along these same lines, it’s also worth mentioning that the sports betting industry is starting to take an interest as well. Major bookmakers are only keeping an eye on drone racing right now, but it appears that if viewership and general enthusiasm increase — which might be inevitable with ESPN’s support—odds on the races will soon follow. People need to be watching a sport for betting to be viable, but the two go hand-in-hand. There is no major sport for which there isn’t also an established market, and this could ultimately help to boost the development of professional drone racing.

The most interesting thing about the rise of drone racing might be that probably wouldn’t be possible at all had it not been for VR. When you think about it, controlling a small drone in any race longer than about a hundred yards just isn’t realistic. That’s exactly what VR has enabled drone racers to do. VR drone racing has been called the next frontier in competitive racing as competitors control their drones from the perspective of real-time VR feeds. It enables the races to be longer, and the courses to be more dynamic. With a first person, VR-based perspective on where your drone is going, you take it virtually anywhere.

What will be interesting is how much this impacts viewership if drone racing becomes a popular spectator sport. TV networks will almost undoubtedly provide feeds from the same cameras that allow the competitors to race, and this will make the action unlike anything else in professional sports. It may also persuade more people to try racing themselves, which could really make VR and drone racing a perfect marriage.

How VR & Drones are Sparking up new Sport



The transition to 64-bit is now in full swing, while 32-bit operating systems and software are still prevalent - Apple has already marked an end to 32-bit apps on iOS devices with iOS 11, and soon will extend the same changes on macOS operating system.

Starting with iOS 11, any attempting to open a 32-bit app will give a message notifying users that the app needs to be updated before it can run on the new software.

And with the next version of macOS after High Sierra, Apple will begin "aggressive" notifications about discontinuation of 32-bit apps support before eventually phasing it out from Mac App Store.

And all new apps submitted to the App Store must be 64-bit, and all apps and app updates submitted must be 64-bit by June 2018.

The obvious advantage of 64-bit includes availability of larger memory, and performance can benefit from the extra storage spaces called registers on processors, making some intense computing tasks to run faster.

Apple had earlier issued warnings that most apps that haven’t been updated since 2015 will likely be rendered inoperable by whatever future version of iOS which pulls the plug on 32-bit apps.

The first iPhone with a 64-bit processor, was iPhone 5s and since it launched in September 2013, developers have had the option to have their apps run in 64-bit mode.

Since then, both end users and developers were given several warnings, before the eventual end, and the company says it will follow the same path for the macOS operating system.

Finally, Apple applies the kill switch on 32-bit with iOS 11



Over the duration of the hugely popular Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2017), one of the high-points was the announcement of peer-to-peer payment feature coming to Apple Pay which is perhaps the fastest and safest way to send money from person to person.

Starting with iOS 11, Apple's upcoming mobile operating system will allow users to send money to each other using only a text message via iMessage.

Apple Pay was launched in 2014, and until now, it support only payment on websites, but with the recent addition of peer-to-peer payments, the payment platform is expanding into an area of payments dominated by PayPal in the US - with its Venmo app processing more than $1bn of payments a month.

The peer-to-peer payment system was necessitated by a scenario whereby you're about out getting drinks or dinner with friends. Then comes the bill, and someone can’t pay their share with the cash in their wallet. Now, What if your cash-strapped friend could send you their share with the phone in their pocket?

And with the link to bank account, debit card, or credit card; whenever you send a payment, it's charged on your account and held onto until your friend claims the transaction. Then, the money moves into your friend’s account. Easy, right?

While there’s been a recent explosion of apps that promise to make sending money easier and take the strain off having to carry cash; to make all this possible, you'd need to not only have the app, but link it with your bank account or debit card.

Albeit, P2P is seen as the gateway to the next generation of payment and personal finance services that could upend traditional consumer banking relationship.

Apple recently held discussions with Visa about creating its own pre-paid cards that would run on the Visa debit network and which would be tied to the new peer-to-peer service.

With the P2P service, users could then add the debit card, which may only come in a digital form, to their Apple Pay digital wallet to use for tap-and-pay purchases at brick-and-mortar stores.

Albeit, the potential of Apple getting its own debit card isn't positive for now, as most bank executives are concerned that Apple having its own card, could potentially be top of the wallet.

Apple Pay is charged at 0.15 percent on bank per transaction in the U.S., and a tiny fracture of debit card purchases.

Apple would likely not charge consumers to use the money-transfer service, which leaves only the use of the Apple debit card tied to it for revenue sources.

A Critical Look at Apple Pay's new peer-to-peer (P2P) payment



The battle line seems to be drawn between Apple and Amazon in the race to conquering the Smart Home ecosystem, and the duo digital assistants: Siri and Alexa is where the battle will be presumably won. Now, Apple is prepping the Siri update and to take the fight fully to Amazon, but how does the current version stack up against the current Smart Home leading AI, Alexa?

While Amazon allow developers to build and publish skills for Alexa using the Alexa Skills Kit, Apple is only playing catch-up with its latest software update. And these skills developed by third-parties come as voice experiences that are added to the capabilities of any Alexa-enabled device (such as the Echo).

Amazon also allow developers to integrate Alexa voice capabilities into their own connected apps by using the Alexa Voice Service (AVS), a cloud-based service that provides APIs to interface with Alexa.

Both Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa all got special features, and serve as respective digital helpers which could auto play music, go shopping, give directions, control smart-home gadgets and offer generally entertainment.

Amazon's Alexa Home Automation feature was launched in 2015, and the company surprisingly moved into the ever-intensifying virtual assistant wars by placing Alexa on the Apple's App Store, and also available from the Google Play and Amazon's own Appstore.

The app is useful to owners of Alexa-enabled devices to control music, manage alarms, and view shopping lists. And as always, the more familiar a virtual assistant becomes, the more likely people will use it wherever.

In the home automation space, Alexa can interact with virtually all the popular smart home devices, and take-out food can be ordered using Alexa; as of May 2017 food ordering using Alexa is supported by Domino's Pizza, Grubhub, Pizza Hut, Seamless, and Wingstop.

For now, Siri is native to Apple products: iPhones (4s and up), iPads (3rd generation and up), iPods (2012 and up), Apple Watch, Apple TV and via the Siri remote.

Apple's home automation system, HomePod was announced at the companies annual event, Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2017), and Apple has promised opening of the system to third-party developers.

Though Siri also enables smart-home control just like Alexa, Amazon's assistant is more versatile, with over 900 "skills" and growing daily.

Smart Home Wars: Apple's Siri vs. Amazon's Alexa



Apple at its ongoing Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2017) introduced ARKit, a new set of APIs to help developers bring Augmented Reality apps to iOS devices. While singing the praises of Pokemon Go, the company expanded on the changes made to it’s App Store, which will provide advanced augmented reality capabilities on iOS.

According to the company, ARKit supports Unreal Engine and Scenekit and will be coming to iPad and iPhone, among other iOS devices.

Before now, Apple’s software wasn’t specifically built to enable stable motion tracking that makes objects appear as actually being placed in real space, which popular third-party apps like Pokémon Go with AR capabilities require.

Apple gave an instance with improved version of Pokémon Go in which the Pokémon wouldn't float anymore.

Touted as the “largest AR platform in the world” - ARKit, will be available across the iOS ecosystem.

However, it remains unclear how Apple wants its developers to use the new AR platform, albeit the company made available demos to show off what ARKit can do, highlighting the marker-less spatial awareness that ARKit has in a tabletop gaming title featuring an airship attack on an enemy outpost.

Apple, nonetheless is playing catch-up with Google, which already has Tango augmented reality platform, though only available on Android devices.

Apple's ARKit to ease deployment of AR apps on iOS platforms



While rumors had it that Apple was poised to announce a smart speaker to take on Amazon Echo at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2017), which rumor turned out true; the company also notched up its hardware offerings with new artificial intelligence capabilities in Macs and iPhones, and allowing third-party apps to tap into that power.

At the highly anticipated event, Apple introduced a smarter, more expressive Siri that can make more accurate predictions about users intent, and then the high point: the unveiling of Siri-powered smart speaker.

Albeit, the company already made its iPhone a smart-home hub, using its HomeKit software, the upcoming HomePod smart speaker is where Siri will eventually become home.

The HomePod represents Apple's first new category of hardware since the Apple Watch, and the attention for smart speakers stems from the perceived possibility that these devices - not smartphones - will become the hubs that power the future smart home, as proven by Amazon, which essentially invented the smart speaker category with its Echo device in late 2014.

And the voice-activated speakers can be used, typically in the living room, to play music, order sushi, or even tell a knock-knock joke, all without leaving the room or to look at a screen or use your hands.

Apple, though may be late to the party, which is already encroached by tech giants like Google, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo and Samsung; all trying to catch up to Amazon. But the big question for the new speaker remains whether Siri will be up to speed to power its dedicated devices.

The HomePod, however won't be home until December; meanwhile Siri's got a catch-up to do with its new tricks now with Apple's next round of software updates.

Apple's HomePod smart speaker steals the show at WWDC 2017



Skype, the video-calling service began rolling out a major upgrade to the app on Thursday, sporting more expressive group chat and messenger-oriented features, which is perhaps, the biggest redesign of Skype in its history, with a new Interface more similar to Snapchat.

While Microsoft acquired the video-calling and chat app in 2011, it has long had a text or messaging function, but it wasn't the main focus.

But given the proliferation and adoption of mainstream chat apps, with slew of innovative features like Apple's iMessage and WhatsApp, though Skype is used by hundreds of millions of people globally, it isn't as hip as its more socially-oriented messaging rivals.

The new Skype update has three basic sections - 'find', 'chat' and 'capture', which is obviously inspired by the onslaught of the more socially-oriented rivals.

With the major highlight as a new feature that goes by the name “Highlights,” in which users can share photos and videos with their “personal network” - a term coined by Skype corporate vice president Amritansh Raghav.

According to Raghav, the personal network is broader than friends and family, and may include, extended contacts like the person teaching you violin over Skype or even someone providing personal counseling via the service.

Albeit, the new highlights feature appears to be copied from Snapchat Stories, a feature that has been making appearances in major messaging platforms including Facebook Messenger.

Skype also incorporates Microsoft's digital assistant, Cortana and Bing search engine; plus other third party chat bots and add-ins, from the likes of BigOven, Giphy, YouTube, and Upworthy.

The roll-out has commenced worldwide, and it's good news for Android users, as they will be the first to have the new Skype, to be followed by Apple's iOS and Mac, before Windows in about 18 months time.

Find, Chat and Capture with the next generation of Skype



The Cognitive Toolkit is an open source toolkit, focused on deep learning and artificial intelligence similar to Google's TensorFlow, which Microsoft released last year. While the initial version was remarkable in terms of speed, the second edition made available on Thursday puts more emphasis on usability with support for Python and Keras neural networking library.

It also includes the addition of Java language bindings for model evaluation and tools that compress trained models to run in real time even on resource-constrained devices including smartphones.

The updated Cognitive Toolkit not only provides a number of new features, but bug fixes too, albeit it isn't entirely backwards compatible due to deprecated and renamed aspects of the toolkit.

With Google's TensorFlow already supporting Keras, means this new release would make it possible for data scientists to easily port their code between two different backends.

Unlike other deep learning toolkit, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit is built to work reliably with massive production data out of the box, and most AI workloads within Microsoft, from Cortana to Bing to the Emotion API in Cognitive Services, were all created using the toolkit.

Originally built for speech recognition systems, Cognitive Toolkit is very good at working with time series data for building recurrent neural nets.

Microsoft, however is battling with a bunch of other programming frameworks backed by other tech giants like Google's TensorFlow, which is perhaps the most popular open source machine learning framework, Amazon's Apache MXNet, and Facebook Caffe2 framework.

With this update, the Cognitive Toolkit’s performance for other kinds of neural nets was not just improved, but also the groundwork for making it easier to extend the system in the long.

What's new in Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit for deep learning?



While phishing has become widespread, most email users are lacking in the knowledge about the sophisticated nature of such attacks, which usually result them falling for hackers antics; but Google is betting its machines won't be tricked as easily.

According to Google, over 50 per cent of messages received in it's email service are spam, many of which are crafted to deceive people.

And as a result Google has got a massive job to protect these users from hackers, and like its earlier phishing detection systems, Google is bringing in AI security to track suspicious messages, which the machines will analyze to make sure it's not a phishing bait.

The AI security system uses machine learning from Google's Safe Browsing, which warns against a page with malware, to detect the likelihood of a malicious message.

And the automated system will close off any breaking-in point, and Gmail will warn about the phishing URLs and links that may lead to compromise.

This is coming on the heels of the recent Google Docs phishing attack which affected about 0.1 per cent of Gmail users, leading to the current Google's OAuth services review.

Google have stated that a delay should be expected in message delivery, as a result of the machine intervention which may account for less than 0.05 percent of messages. But assures that its models adapt more quickly than manual systems, and would get better overtime.

AI Security: Gmail to employ Machine Learning to stop Hackers

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