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Google appears to be readying a messenger service armed with Artificial Intelligence

Surprise!  Today’s lead story is about Google, just like it has been for the last week or so. That’s because Google is on a serious tear, what with all the driverless car developments and such. But now the headlines center around Google’s plans to launch a new messenger service armed with artificial intelligence.

According to Wall Street Journal sources, Google is going to integrate chatbots that can answer questions inside a messenger app. Details are scant, but if the Journal has it right, instead of typing a question into Google’s search bar, you would basically send a message to a bot, and it would help you out. You know Facebook and Apple are working on something just like this, but Google appears to have been developing this tech itself, rather than by acquisition.

Perhaps the Google is closer to making Her a reality than we may have previously thought.

Owners of the new Apple TV now have something fun to play around with over the holiday weekend. The streaming set-top box now has access to thousands of 360-degree videos. If that doesn’t sound all that fun, then go check one out — we think you’ll change your mind in a hurry.

The new videos come courtesy of a partnership with Littlstar, a company that provides a platform for videos that will ultimately be played on VR devices like Samsung’s Gear VR and Facebook’s forthcoming Occulus Rift. They’ve made videos for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and Disney, among many others.

Looks like there’s some pretty fun content to check out, and if you don’t have a new Apple TV yet, you can still score the 32GB model with Siri integration and tons of new apps for about $150.

That’s it for DT Daily this week, and next week for that matter. We’re going to take a little holiday break and when we come back, we’ll literally be on a plane to Las Vegas for CES. So hit us up on Monday, January 4th. We’ll be running down all the cool trends we know we’ll be seeing at the world’s biggest tech show this year. Happy Holidays, you guys. We’ll see ya next year.

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Caleb Denison
Digital Trends Editor at Large Caleb Denison is a sought-after writer, speaker, and television correspondent with unmatched…
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