The Alexa Revolution

In 2018, approximately 100 million voice-controlled devices were installed in homes around the world. The assistants that control them, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are becoming more powerful, with new features being added every day. Voice apps enhance the way users interact with these assistants, whether they are asking for the weather, requesting sports scores, or listening to music. This book will guide you through designing, building, and deploying voice-based apps for Alexa. Inside, you'll meet and learn how to develop your own Skills, the term Amazon has designated voice apps for Alexa. Everything from scratch, so you don't have to worry if you are not a developer, i.e. no previous programming knowledge is required. Once we have mastered the basics, we will delve into the flow of conversation and more advanced concepts.

In 2018, approximately 100 million voice-controlled devices were installed in homes around the world. The assistants that control them, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are becoming more powerful, with new features being added every day. Voice apps enhance the way users interact with these assistants, whether they are asking for the weather, requesting sports scores, or listening to music. This book will guide you through designing, building, and deploying voice-based apps for Alexa. Inside, you'll meet and learn how to develop your own Skills, the term Amazon has designated voice apps for Alexa. Everything from scratch, so you don't have to worry if you are not a developer, i.e. no previous programming knowledge is required. Once we have mastered the basics, we will delve into the flow of conversation and more advanced concepts.

A bold dive into the problematic development (and developers) of "smart wives"--feminized digital assistants who are friendly, sometimes flirty, docile, efficient, occasionally glitchy, and perpetually available. Meet the Smart Wife--at your service, an eclectic collection of feminized AI, robotic, and smart devices. This digital assistant is friendly and sometimes flirty, docile and efficient, occasionally glitchy but perpetually available. She might go by Siri, or Alexa, or inhabit Google Home. She can keep us company, order groceries, vacuum the floor, turn out the lights. A Japanese digital voice assistant--a virtual anime hologram named Hikari Azuma--sends her "master" helpful messages during the day; an American sexbot named Roxxxy takes on other kinds of household chores. In The Smart Wife, Yolande Strengers and Jenny Kennedy examine the emergence of digital devices that carry out "wifework"--domestic responsibilities that have traditionally fallen to (human) wives. They show that the principal prototype for these virtual helpers--designed in male-dominated industries--is the 1950s housewife: white, middle class, heteronormative, and nurturing, with a spick-and-span home. It's time, they say, to give the Smart Wife a reboot.

This groundbreaking book delves into the impact of superstimulus — technological products and behaviors that amplify our natural instincts and desires — on modern society. From social media's effects on mental health to online shopping's disruption of traditional commerce, the rise of superstimuli is driving cultural change and potentially harming overall well-being. Drawing upon scientific research and real-world examples, this book offers a thoughtful examination of the implications of technological superstimuli for both individuals and society at large.

This book gathers the proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Frontiers of Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications (FICTA 2020), held at NIT Surathkal, Karnataka, India, on 4–5 January 2020. In these proceedings, researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners share new ideas and lessons learned in the field of intelligent computing theories with prospective applications in various engineering disciplines. The respective papers cover broad areas of the information and decision sciences, and explore both the theoretical and practical aspects of data-intensive computing, data mining, evolutionary computation, knowledge management and networks, sensor networks, signal processing, wireless networks, protocols and architectures. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for graduate students in various engineering disciplines.

This book is one of the first books that deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries all over the world and has made a significant impact on daily life and healthcare facilities and treatment systems. The book covers the main recent emerging technologies that are related to the COVID-19 crisis. The technologies that are included in this book play a significant role in tackling COVID-19 in the future. The scope of this book is to cover all advanced emerging technologies and artificial intelligence techniques to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

From the contents: Laurie KAPLAN: How funny I must look with my breeches pulled down to my knees: nurses' memoirs and autobiographies from the Great war. - Peter BUITENHUIS: The perversion of motherhood: the trope of the son at the front. - Renate PETERS: The metamorphoses of Judith in literature and art: war by other means. - Lorrie GOLDENSOHN: Towards a non-combatant war poetry: Jarrell, Moore, Bishop.

"Study of the role women played in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. Examines female figures such as the soldaderas of the Mexican Revolution and the milicianas of the Spanish Civil War and the intersection of gender, revolution, and culture in both the Mexican and the Spanish contexts"--Provided by publisher.