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It's no wonder titans of tech are locked in an epic battle of the bots, racing furiously to produce the best virtual assistant. Their respective help-bots - Apple's Siri, Google's Assistant, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana - promise consumers one of the most valuable commodities in the world: free time. Thanks to the sudden acceleration of artificial intelligence and advancements in speech recognition and big-data storage, the technology behind virtual assistants is rapidly spreading from phones to cars and homes, and the truly useful helper is approaching fast. The four giants are fighting for the biggest share of a market expected to grow to $12 billion by 2024. "There's a tremendous amount of promise for these agents to help and assist with many different tasks that we face every day," said Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research. "The more the agent can help you with, the more value it holds." The ultimate goal is our own personal genie in a bottle that awakens with a word or touch to liberate us from all our mundane tasks, organize our days and nights, and free us from the stress of lives that have become so terribly busy. But that's not going to happen quite yet. Today, the aid these virtual assistants provide remains limited. Most users of Google Home and Amazon Echo devices - which host Assistant and Alexa, respectively - stream music, play audio books, and control smart-home devices, according to surveys by San Francisco analytics firm VoiceLabs. Still, the virtual agent's foundation in AI means the more it learns about a user's preferences and behaviors, the better job it can do. So while experts predict a handful of firms will dominate in this field - most agree Apple, Google and Amazon will be major players, with Microsoft in a lesser role - they're split on whether consumers will be served best by one bot, or more. "People want one assistant, they don't want two," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research in San Jose. "You want one assistant, to be very readily available wherever you are." However, the various assistants will likely end up somewhat specialized in their expertise, with Google's Assistant, for example, excelling in providing knowledge and managing schedules, and Microsoft's Cortana leading on gaming, said VoiceLabs CEO Adam Marchick. In a few years, many people will use two or three different assistants, Marchick predicted.

Good bye my friend .. i will miss you .. i know this time is hard for you , but its okey .. you know what i'm talking about .. Good bye & Good luck in your life & study

Prime minister announces start of military operation to take back ISIL's last major urban territory in Iraq. Iraq's prime minister has announced the launch of a military assault aimed at taking western Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. Iraqi police and interior ministry forces were expected to start the new phase in their offensive to take control of the entire city by moving on Mosul airport, located on the southern edge of the city, to the west of the Tigris river. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming to Nineveh to liberate the western side of Mosul," Haider al-Abadi said on television. Mosul is ISIL's last major urban territory in Iraq. "Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh [ISIL]." "[Mosul is] flanked from the eastern side by counterterrorism forces, from the south by the Iraqi police, and from the north by the Iraqi military and the po[CENSORED]r mobilisation forces, also known as the Shia militias," he said. He said about 750,000 civilians are still believed to be trapped in the city's west. Aid organisations had feared an exodus of unprecedented proportions before the start of the fighting, which began four months ago with a government push on the east, but a significant majority of residents stayed home. Residents of the west bank have reported difficult living conditions and warned that they were already low on food, with weeks or months of fighting expected to lie ahead. The Iraqi air force had on Saturday dropped leaflets on the west of the city, warning that a ground attack to push ISIL fighters out was imminent.

Antibiotics may be an effective treatment for acute non-complicated appendicitis in children, instead of surgery, a study says. The condition, which causes the appendix — a small organ attached to the large intestine — to become inflamed due to a blockage or infection, affects mainly children and teenagers. Appendicitis is currently treated through an operation to remove the appendix, known as an appendicectomy. “Acute appendicitis is one of the most common general surgical emergencies worldwide and surgery has long been the gold standard of treatment. But it is invasive and costly, not to mention extremely daunting for the child concerned and their family,” said lead researcher Nigel Hall, Associate Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Southampton in Britain. “Our review shows that antibiotics could be an alternative treatment method for children,” Hall noted. For the study, the researchers assessed existing literature published over the past 10 years that included 10 studies reporting on 413 children who received non-operative treatment rather than an appendectomy. The review published in the journal Pediatrics showed that no study reported any safety concern or specific adverse events related to non-surgical treatment, although the rate of recurrent appendicitis was 14 per cent. “When we compared the adult literature to the data in our review it suggested that antibiotic treatment of acute appendicitis is at least as effective in children as in adults. This now needs to be explored more widely,” Hall said.

Hello ed1, You have to follow the model bellow if you need help. and use option edit post .. Model Your Nickname: Your Problem: Screenshot:

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Santa Monica, California-based Gooding and Company recently announced the consignment of what is almost certainly the sexiest car in existence. The 1957 Jaguar XKSS is one of only 16 built and is expected to sell in the neighborhood of $16 million to $18 million. What makes the XKSS capable of vying for and likely winning the above and admittedly highly subjective title? Here are five reasons: 1. Just Look at It Enough said, really. While aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer wasn’t necessarily trying to achieve great beauty with the design of the car (he simply wanted something that punched through the air efficiently while going 170 mph down the Mulsanne Straight), the result is a stunningly beautiful weapons-grade sports car. Squat and pugnacious, in some ways, it’s like an E-type that has been inflated by another 30 psi or so -- it’s brutish where the later E-type was simply elegant and slightly feminine. The clumsy side exhaust, tacked-on windscreen and tail lamps don’t manage to detract from the car’s massive appeal. 2. The Backstory is One for the Ages The XKSS is a thinly veiled version of the multiple Le Mans-winning D-type. With the D-type no longer competitive in first-tier endurance racing, Jaguar was stuck with what was essentially a 120-year supply of obsolete race car. The solution? Make it street legal and sell the car to retail customers. As you would in a world with no plaintiff’s lawyers or safety regulations of any kind. Doors were hastily cut in the alloy bodywork, a makeshift top and windscreen were added and voila, a street car. It seems crazy, but then these were the days when some race cars were actually driven rather than transported to the circuit. Only 16 were built before a fire at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory in Coventry, England, ended things -- until this year, that is, when Jaguar announced that they would build the cars to go with the allocated-but-never-used chassis numbers. 3. Steve McQueen Owned One The King of Cool, Steve McQueen owned the same XKSS twice, and it was in his possession when he passed away in 1980. It now resides in the Petersen Museum. Longtime LA residents remember his wild drives up Mulholland Drive to his house on Solar Avenue. 4. It’s Scary Fast You generally don’t think of cars from the 1950s as particularly fast in the modern sense, but the XKSS was. 0-60 came up in about 5.2 seconds and the quarter-mile was dispatched in less than 14 seconds at 100 mph. With a limited-slip differential, modern tires and a contact patch wider than that of a mountain bike, those numbers would have undoubtedly been even more impressive. 5. It’s Collector-Car Royalty For all of the aforementioned reasons, the XKSS is solidly an eight-figure car. Given the fact that it’s about twice as rare as a Ferrari 250 GTO, dare we say it, at half the price, it even seems a bit of a bargain.

Lack of interest, "Bump" is not used. T/C

Lack of interest, "Bump" is not used. T/C

Lack of interest, "Bump" is not used. T/C

Dell's XPS 13 2-In-1 Brings New Flexibility And Venerable Design Signature To An Ultralight Hybrid Laptop Dell's XPS 13 and 15 line of notebooks have done well for the company, sparked by a reinvention of the product line back in 2015. Since then, its design signature has reached iconic status for Round Rock, with the ultra-thin bezel of its Infinity Edge display and hatched carbon fiber composite palm rest and keyboard area earning the series many awards, including our Editor's Choice on multiple occasions. And as you might expect, Dell has continued to evolve its well-received XPS product offerings, not only as new notebook platform architectures roll out, but the company is also now looking to capitalize on its the XPS design signature with new machine types, cut from the same cloth. Dell upsized the design with the larger XPS 15 and expanded the line for its commercial workstation customers with the Latitude 15 series. However, at CES 2017, Dell unveiled an XPS-infused offering for the hot hybrid, convertible market segment, joining the 2-in-1 fray. The Dell XPS 13 2-In-1 is clearly a variant of the company's XPS 13 13-inch ultrabook product. However, Dell has made some interesting design decisions here that you might not have expected and the results may surprise you. On the mechanical design side of the equation, the XPS 13 2-in-1 of course is outfitted with fully articulating 360-degree swing hinges that allow it to convert into various modes, including full tablet mode. The machine is also now an entirely USB Type-C affair, with no full-sized legacy USB 3 ports, though thankfully Dell was smart enough to include some other IO connectivity. Part of the reason for this is that the XPS 13 2-in-1 is a few millimeters thinner in spots and a touch lighter at 2.7 pounds, even with a touch display, so side edge thickness and real estate is at a premium. Processor Options : 7th Gen Intel Core i7-7Y75 (4MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz) Display : 13.3" FHD (1920x1080) IPS InfinityEdge touch display, 400 nits, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 72% color gamut, anti-reflective, QHD+ (3200 x 1800) display optional, 170°wide viewing angle -85°/ 85°/85°/ 85°, capacitive touchscreen–10-finger touch support Graphics Intel HD Graphics 615 Memory : 8GB LPDDR3 1866MHz (On board) Storage : 256GB PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive Optical : N/A Ethernet : N/A WiFi : Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC + Bluetooth 4.2, Miracast™ capable, Intel® Smart Connect Technology Interface (Left) : Thunderbolt 3/AC Power/Display Port, Battery Gauge Button and indicator, Headset Jack, speaker Interface (Right) : Noble Lock Slot; Power Button, USB-C 3.1, microSD Card Reader, Speaker Interface (Top) : Fingerprint Reader Webcam : Widescreen HD (720p) webcam with dual array digital microphones, IR camera for future Windows Hello capability Operating System : Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Battery : 4-cell Lithium Ion (46 WHr) Dimensions : Height: 0.32-0.54” (8-13.7mm) / Width: 11.98” (304mm) / Depth: 7.8” (199mm) Weight : 2.7pounds (1.29kg) with Touch Display Warranty : 1 Year limited hardware warranty with onsite service after remote diagnosis

President Donald Trump has dropped Washington's commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, backing away from a long-held position of the US and the international community in the Middle East. In a joint press conference on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said he would back a single-state solution if the two sides agreed to it. "Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I'm very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one," Trump told reporters after meeting Netanyahu in Washington. "The United States will encourage a peace and really a great peace deal ... We will be working on it very, very diligently. But it is the parties themselves who must directly negotiate such an agreement," Trump said. A two-state solution - the idea of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side and at peace - has been the bedrock of US and international diplomacy for the past two decades. Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from the White House, said Trump's comments marked "a very dramatic development" in the search for peace in the Middle East. "Now, for the first time upending long-standing US policy, Trump says he is not wedded to a two-state solution, and that's a fundamental change - basically ripping up the long-standing roadmap. "It's going against UN Security Council resolutions; it's going against the agreed position of the international community." Netanyahu said that he wanted to focus on "substance" and not "labels," when asked about his support for a two-state solution. "There are two prerequisites for peace. First, the Palestinians must recognise the Jewish state ... Second, in any peace agreement, Israel must retain the overriding security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River," he said. Trump also said that Washington was working to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. "I would like to see that happen. We are looking at it very very strongly. We are looking at it with great care. Let's see what happens." "I'd like to see you pull back on settlements for a little bit," Trump told Netanyahu on the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. Earlier on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned that there was "no alternative" to a two-state solution to the conflict, after a White House official said peace did not necessarily have to entail Palestinian statehood a day before. "There is no alternative solution for the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis, other than the solution of establishing two states and we should do all that can be done to maintain this," Guterres said during a visit to Cairo on Wednesday. Palestinian officials also issued their warnings to the US against abandoning a two-state solution. "If the Trump administration rejects this policy it would be destroying the chances for peace and undermining American interests, standing and credibility abroad," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said in response to the US official's remarks. "Accommodating the most extreme and irresponsible elements in Israel and in the White House is no way to make responsible foreign policy," she said in a statement.

Russians say Turkish troops should not have been in building while Turks say they were in the same position for 10 days. The Kremlin has said that Turkey had provided Russian forces with the target location for air strikes in Syria that accidentally killed three Turkish soldiers. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Friday that "there should not have been Turkish soldiers within the limits of these coordinates". Besides the three fatalities, 11 soldiers wounded in Thursday's incident, in which Russian forces, trying to target the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, hit a building where the troops were deployed, according to the Turkish army. Russia and Turkey have joined forces against ISIL, also known as ISIS, around Al Bab, where Turkish forces are battling the group on the ground. Al Bab, 30km south of the Syria-Turkey border, is the last remaining significant ISIL stronghold in Syria's north. "The situation is obvious, unfortunately. Our military while launching strikes on terrorists followed coordinates that were given to us by our Turkish partners," Peskov said. Peskov stressed that the "causes of the incident are clear. There is no debate". Asked if this was a mistake by the Turkish intelligence, he said the incident was caused by a communications failure. The Turkish military said it considered the Russian incident an accident. But it reiterated on Friday it had given the coordinates of the building to its Russian counterparts on Wednesday. The Turkish statement said the soldiers had been in the same position for 10 days and that their coordinates had been communicated to Russia's Khmeimim airbase in Syria, and in person to the Russian military attache in Ankara.

Lack of interest, topic locked

lack of interaction T/C

Ali Akbar Velayati, adviser to supreme leader, calls US efforts to halt Iran's missile programme 'worthless fantasies'. Iran has stepped up its war of words with the US, with an influential adviser to the supreme leader threatening the Trump administration with "dark days to come" in case of a military attack on his country. In an exclusive interview to Al Jazeera, Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign-affairs adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said "Washington does not dare carry out its military threats against Iran". "The Americans know very well that Iran and its allies in the region would retaliate very hard, that will make America face dark days to come," he said. In the past week, the US has imposed new sanctions on Iran over a missile test. Velayati said Iran's policies in the Middle East would not change, "therefore [President Donald] Trump and the American administration must get their stuff together and leave this region completely because the people of this region feel alienated by their policies". Velayati said the US effort to make Iran stop its missile programme with military threats amounted to "worthless fantasies". "Without the slightest doubt, I can guarantee you that we will continue to develop our military programmes, and especially our defence missile programme, no matter what and at any cost," he said. "We do not have any worry about the US threats because America for the last 38 years after the Islamic revolution has not been able to do anything." Relations between the US and Iran have deteriorated since Trump took office on January 20, promising a more aggressive line on what he views as Iranian belligerence towards US interests and allies. Last week Michael Flynn, US national security adviser, accused Iran of violating a UN Security Council resolution which calls on Iran not to test missiles capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.

The new NVIDIA SHIELD TV, Wireless Remote, And Game Controller A Hands-On Look At NVIDIA's Updated SHIELD TV NVIDIA announced an updated SHIELD TV bundle back at the Consumer Electronics Show, which offers a host of new features thanks to some fresh hardware and an Android Nougat based OS upgrade. The updated SHIELD TV, however, isn’t totally new. Internally, the device was still packing NVIDIA’s Tegra X1 SoC like the original, which, even after a couple of years on the market, is still an exceptionally strong performer. The new SHIELD TV also has the same memory and base storage configurations, and the SHIELD Remote is similar too. However, NVIDIA significantly shrunk down the chassis by eliminating accommodations for an internal hard drive, and lopped the micro-SD expansion slot off the machine as well, though you still get USB 3 connectivity for storage expansion. NVIDIA did, however, also developed a new wireless controller for the SHIELD that offers exceptional battery life and – among other things – a built in near-field microphone to help leverage its Google Assistant integration that is also now a part of the NVIDIA SHIELD TV experience. New applications, including Amazon Video complete with 4K UHD HDR support, tons of games, and additional streaming capabilities have been brought to the platform as well. Before we dive in and take a more intimate look at the new NVIDIA SHIELD TV, we put a quick video together of the device and its accessories in action. Kick back for a bit with the video below, to see how SHIELD TV handles 4K HDR content, Google Assistant, and gaming. Then, step through the rest of our coverage on the pages ahead to get better acquainted with what we believe is the best multimedia streaming device currently on the market… Processor / RAM NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor with 256-core Maxwell GPU with 3GB RAM Video Features 4K Ultra-HD HDR Ready with 4K playback and capture up to 60 fps (VP9, H265, H264) Audio Features 7.1 and 5.1 surround sound pass through over HDMI High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192kHz over HDMI and USB High-resolution audio upsample to 24-bit/192hHz over USB Storage 16GB Wireless 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi Bluetooth 4.1/BLE Interfaces Gigabit Ethernet HDMI 2.0 Two USB 3.0 (Type A) IR Receiver (compatible with Logitech Harmony) Gaming Features NVIDIA GeForce Now streaming service NVIDIA GameStream Weight and Size Weight: 23oz, H: 6.2in, W: 3.8in H: 1.0in/25mm

Uncertainty has prevailed after Trump accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and criticised China's military buildup. US President Donald Trump has broken the ice with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter that said he looked forward to working with him to develop constructive relations, although the pair haven't spoken directly since Trump took office. Trump also issued belated well-wishes to China for the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in the world's most populous nation. He had been the only US president in recent years not to have issued greetings when the holiday fell on January 28, triggering speculation in China as to whether it was an oversight or an intentional slight. A statement from the White House late on Wednesday said Trump wrote to Xi wishing the Chinese people greetings for the new year and the Lantern Festival that falls on Saturday. "President Trump stated that he looks forward to working with President Xi to develop a constructive relationship that benefits both the United States and China," the statement said. The letter also thanked Xi for his congratulatory letter on Trump's inauguration and wished the Chinese people a prosperous Year of the Rooster, it said. China's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment. Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Beijing's elite Renmin University, said the letter suggested the new US administration wanted to signal the importance it attached to the US-China relationship, without risking being confronted on specific issues. "Trump has sent many messages that makes the world confused, like on the South China Sea and 'One China' policy, so if he makes a phone call President Xi will ask 'what do you mean?'," Wang said. "He wants to avoid this, so he just sends a letter for the first step." Trump and Xi have yet to speak directly since Trump took office on January 20, although they did talk soon after Trump won the US presidential election in November. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing said last week the two countries were remaining "in close touch". Trump has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and currency mani[CENSORED]tion, criticised China's military buildup in the South China Sea, and accused Beijing of doing too little to pressure neighbour North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes.

Palestinian politicians and human rights groups are warning that a new law passed by the Israeli parliament violates international laws and is a step towards Israel annexing the occupied West Bank. The so-called Regulation Law, passed on Monday night, allows for the retroactive legalisation of about 4,000 homes built by Jewish settlers on privately owned Palestinian land. "The law sets a new legal framework that implements the Israeli political interest and puts it above international humanitarian law," Suhad Bishara, a lawyer at the Adalah legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel. The law violates both the right to property and the right to dignity, Bishara said. "The most obvious case here is that it violates property rights, because it basically confiscates private property for the sake of the illegal settlers," she said. "But we cannot avoid the aspect of dignity here, and humiliation, and no value at all for the rights of the Palestinian owners of the land." Before the bill was passed, Israel's attorney general said that it was unconstitutional and that he would not be able to defend it. Along with other rights groups, Adalah is set to file a petition against the law to Israel's Supreme Court later this week, as well as asking for a temporary order not to implement the law until Israel's highest court gives a final decision. According to the Israeli rights group Peace Now, the law will allow for the expropriation of land in more than 50 settlements and outposts. There are 16 cases where demolition orders have already been issued by Israeli authorities, including land in the settlements of Ofra, Eli and Beit El, among others. As a result of the new law, the settlers in these illegal outposts would be allowed to remain in their homes. Palestinian lawmakers in the Knesset denounced the law, calling it a direct challenge to the international community in the wake of December's United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an end to settlement building. "From the political point of view and from the legal point of view, this law should not have been legislated. This is a law that is meant to implement the creeping annexation of Palestinian occupied lands to Israel," "This is a law that is challenging the international community. It's arrogant behaviour by this government, who are not willing to pay attention to what the international community is [saying]. It is about time to hold them responsible for the decisions and laws they are legislating." Gilad Grossman, a spokesperson for the Israeli human rights NGO Yesh Din, said that the law has stripped Palestinian landowners of any chance to reclaim their land. "What it means is that Palestinian landowners can't get their land back, whether they want to or not,"

Volvo is finally getting back to its wagon roots after a few years of pretending U.S. buyers are over wagons. The latest addition to the lineup is the V90 Cross Country, which we have just driven not far from where elves crafted previous generations of Volvo wagons from rocks left over by the glaciers' retreat. Over time, Volvo wagons have become less square, so the latest addition to the marque's lineup shares very little with the last Volvo V90 you might remember from the 1990s. The all-new V90 Cross Country, which will go on sale during the 20th anniversary year of the first Cross Country model, shares much with the S90 sedan now making its way to the States. Besides the addition of a tailgate and some extra windows, the Cross Country sits 2.3 inches higher off the ground than the standard V90 (which will be on a secret menu) for a total of 8.3 inches of ground clearance, in addition to wearing revised front and rear bumpers and fender flares. The wagon borrows its 2.0-liter turbo/supercharged four-cylinder T6 powerplant from the rest of the 90 range with 316 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque on tap, with an eight-speed automatic transmission sending those horses to all four wheels. For now, the T6 will be the only drivetrain option available to buyers -- there is arguably little need for the D5 diesel version in the States -- but we wouldn't be surprised to see a T8 hybrid down the road. With four driving modes to choose from -- Eco, Comfort, Dynamic and Off-Road -- the new wagon has no shortage of settings to play with, even though we suspect stateside buyers will rarely use that last one. Volvo is finally getting back to its wagon roots after a few years of pretending U.S. buyers are over wagons. The latest addition to the lineup is the V90 Cross Country, which we have just driven not far from where elves crafted previous generations of Volvo wagons from rocks left over by the glaciers' retreat. Over time, Volvo wagons have become less square, so the latest addition to the marque's lineup shares very little with the last Volvo V90 you might remember from the 1990s. The all-new V90 Cross Country, which will go on sale during the 20th anniversary year of the first Cross Country model, shares much with the S90 sedan now making its way to the States. Besides the addition of a tailgate and some extra windows, the Cross Country sits 2.3 inches higher off the ground than the standard V90 (which will be on a secret menu) for a total of 8.3 inches of ground clearance, in addition to wearing revised front and rear bumpers and fender flares. The wagon borrows its 2.0-liter turbo/supercharged four-cylinder T6 powerplant from the rest of the 90 range with 316 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque on tap, with an eight-speed automatic transmission sending those horses to all four wheels. For now, the T6 will be the only drivetrain option available to buyers -- there is arguably little need for the D5 diesel version in the States -- but we wouldn't be surprised to see a T8 hybrid down the road. With four driving modes to choose from -- Eco, Comfort, Dynamic and Off-Road -- the new wagon has no shortage of settings to play with, even though we suspect stateside buyers will rarely use that last one. 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country rear