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TECHNOLOGY A23
Tuesday 12 April 2016
Why you might soon text robots as often as your friends
BRANDON BAILEY Wolf, a media and tech- This Saturday, April 9, 2016 photo shows the icons for Microsoft’s Skype and Facebook’s Messen-
AP Technology Writer nology consultant. Messag- ger apps on a smartphone in New York.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — ing services are now grow-
The robots are coming ... to ing faster than traditional Associated Press
help run your life, or sell you online social platforms like
stuff, at an online texting Facebook or Twitter, ac- companies so that con- perform tasks like order- a “Taco Bot” that helps
service near you. cording to research by sumers can use Messenger ing flowers in response to Slack users order ahead for
In coming months, people Wolf’s firm, Activate. to check the status of a commands on Messenger, meals at a local outlet.
who use Facebook’s Mes- And experts say messag- clothing purchase from on- using a combination of arti- In Asia, many smartphone
senger app, Microsoft’s ing bots can handle a line retailer Zulily, order car ficial intelligence and input owners are used to playing
Skype and Canada’s Kik wider range of tasks than service from Uber or get a from human overseers. games and buying items
for online chats can expect apps offered by retail- boarding pass from KLM Another messaging service, through messaging ser-
to find new automated as- ers and other consumer Royal Dutch Airlines. Kik, which is popular among vices like WeChat, which
sistants offering information businesses. In part, that’s At those services, auto- U.S. teenagers, opened a claims 700 million active
and services at a variety of because bots can recog- mated chatbots handle new “bot shop” last week. users. One in five WeChat
businesses. These messag- nize a variety of spoken or some interactions, with Kik users can talk to bots users have added bank or
ing “chatbots” are basical- typed phrases, where apps supervision from human that will answer questions credit card information to
ly software that’s capable force you to choose from operators. Similarly, Face- about the weather, show their messaging account
of human-like conversa- options on a drop-down book has been testing a funny videos or help with so they can check balanc-
tion — and of doing some menu. Reaching a chat- digital assistant called “M’’ online shopping. Slack, a es, pay bills or send money
simple jobs once reserved bot can be as simple as — sort of like Apple’s Siri or messaging service used by to friends, according to the
for actual people. Google clicking a link in an online Microsoft’s Cortana — that businesses, has partnered Andreesen Horowitz ven-
and other companies are ad or scanning a boxy bar can answer questions or with Taco Bell to introduce ture capital firm.q
reportedly working on simi- code with a smartphone’s
lar ideas. camera; a special-purpose
In Asia, such software but- app requires a download
lers are already part of the and often a new account
landscape. When Wash- sign-up. “Bots are the new
ington, D.C., attorney Sa- apps,” Microsoft CEO
mantha Guo visited China Satya Nadella said last
recently, Guo said she was month. Microsoft has just
amazed at how extensively announced created new
her friends used bots and programming tools for busi-
similar technology on the nesses to build bots that will
texting service WeChat to interact with customers on
pay for meals, order mov- Skype, the Internet voice,
ie tickets and even send video and messaging ser-
each other gifts. vice Microsoft owns.
“It was mind-blowing,” said Facebook is widely expect-
Guo, 31. U.S. services lag ed to unveil similar tools for
way behind, she added. its Messenger chat service
Online messaging has be- at the company’s annual
come routine for most software conference start-
people, offering more im- ing Tuesday. It’s already
mediacy than email or partnered with a few online
voice calls, said Michael retailers and transportation
How stealthy is Navy’s new
destroyer? It needs reflectors
DAVID SHARP as the behemoth came radar signature with and In this March 21, 2016 file photo, Dave Cleaveland and his son,
Associated Press within a half-mile while re- without reflective material Cody, photograph the USS Zumwalt as it passes Fort Popham
BATH, Maine (AP) — The turning to shipbuilder Bath hoisted on its halyard, he at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine, as it
future USS Zumwalt is so Iron Works. said. The goal was to get a heads to sea for final builder trials.
stealthy that it’ll go to sea “It’s pretty mammoth when better idea of exactly how
with reflective material that it’s that close to you,” Pye stealthy the ship really is, Associated Press
can be hoisted to make it said. Downey said from Wash-
more visible to other ships. Despite its size, the warship ington, D.C.
The Navy destroyer is de- is 50 times harder to detect The reflectors, which look
signed to look like a much than current destroyers like metal cylinders, have
smaller vessel on radar, thanks to its angular shape been used on other war-
and it lived up to its billing and other design features, ships and will be standard
during recent builder trials. and its stealth could im- issue on the Zumwalt and
Lawrence Pye, a lobster- prove even more once test- two sister ships for times
man, told The Associated ing equipment is removed, when stealth becomes a li-
Press that on his radar said Capt. James Downey, ability and they want to be
screen the 610-foot ship program manager. visible on radar, like times
looked like a 40- to 50-foot During sea trials last month, of fog or heavy ship traffic,
fishing boat. He watched the Navy tested Zumwalt’s he said.q
