Report: Apple’s Siri-powered virtual assistant could be announced next week

According to a Bloomberg report, during Apple’s annual developer conference, Apple may announce its rumored Siri-powered smart speaker. If that is the case, the Siri speaker will compete with similar assistants from Google, Amazon, and more. The announcement may be mostly defensive, as Amazon and Google have already had a head start with their devices.

Instagram ads can now link to brands’ Messenger accounts, bots

Brands can now buy Facebook ads to run on Instagram that will link to marketers’ accounts in Messenger. Like Facebook, Instagram allows brands to build relationships with an audience. Messenger is becoming the space where marketers can convert them into customers. Messenger-linked ads can be attached to photo ads, video ads, or carousel ads, and the links can open specific lines of communication. Advertisers buying the ads with Facebook’s Ad Manager will be able to see how many messages, new conversations, and blocks an ad triggered.

Google confirms it’s rolling out new reviews format for hotels

Google is now launching a user feature set around local reviews for hotels.
The new hotel reviews interface added a few features:

• For certain listings, third-party reviews will appear in a carousel
• The review overview section has a fuller interface with stronger colors and reviews by attribute.
• Graphical user interface will be depicted based on type of travel.

Another study shows how featured snippets steal significant traffic from the top organic result

Ahrefs study shows featured snippets have a negative impact on clicks to the first organic search result. After analyzing two million featured snippets, results showed the first organic result shows a significant drop in click-through rate when a featured snippet is present. The study also shows that the presence of a featured snippet means fewer clicks overall for the organic search results. Ahrefs study full results.

Google Launches New AI Investment Platform

According to Axios, Google will be launching a new investment program surrounding Artificial Intelligence. A Google spokesperson declined comment. The program is to be led by engineers and not venture capitalists, and it is designed to provide start-ups with mentorship and potentially incubation space/services. This could be a sign that Google is serious about AI companies and tech.