Seattle PI:
Meet Laura, the virtual personal assistant for those of us who cannot afford a human one. Built by researchers at Microsoft Corp., Laura appears as a talking head on a screen. You can speak to her and ask her to handle basic tasks such as booking appointments for meetings or scheduling flights. More compelling, however, is Laura’s ability to make sophisticated decisions about the people in front of her, judging things such as their attire, whether they seem impatient, their importance and their preferred times for appointments.