You can finally use Amazon Alexa for iOS as an (almost) hands-free voice assistant. The tech giant has rolled out voice control to the iOS version of its assistant, so you can simply fire up the app on the iPhone to use it to adjust your smart lights or to start playing music. You can use trigger words to summon Alexa skills, as well as ask the assistant questions about sports, history and pretty much everything you want to. For some queries like weather forecasts and movie times, it also shows on-screen responses with additional details. We said "almost" hands-free, though, because you still need to tap the Alexa button for the app to respond to your spoken commands.

As our dependence on technology builds and the privacy-destroying, brain-hacking consequences of that start to come to light, we are seeing the return of a science-fiction trope: the rise of the robots. A new wave of television shows, films and video games is grappling with the question of what will happen if we develop the technology to create machines in our own image. Westworld posits that if we could develop realistic androids, we would want to rape and murder them for fun. In Blade Runner 2049, they have replaced humans as sex workers and manual labourers. In the recently released video game Detroit: Become Human, androids are nannies, carers and even pop stars, omnipresent in the home and in city life.

A recent Refinery29 piece by lifestyle editor Cait Munro confirms what we seasoned homebodies have always known: Staying at home is cool. That declaration is based on a recent survey from market research firm Mintel that suggests almost three in 10 young millennials (people aged 24-31) prefer drinking at home because it takes too much effort to go out. And they're not alone--55 percent of Americans of all ages would prefer a night in with a glass of rosé over a bar crawl. The survey participants cited everything from wanting to drink in a relaxing environment to a desire to save money as the impetus behind their general aversion to bars and clubs, but the millennials Munro interviewed herself offered another rationale for the shift from the streets to the sheets: online dating. What Munro calls the Netflix-and-Chill factor can be accurately described by this quote from Jenifer Golden, "a self-proclaimed'older millennial' and one half of the duo behind the podcast It's Complicated" who says, "It's the whole dating idea of Netflix and like, I'm going to sit on my couch, watch all of the things that I could possibly watch and drink all my wine from Trader Joe's. Why would I leave my house? I can invite somebody over to hang out with me."

Google's line of smartwatches formerly known as Android Wear, now known as Wear OS, have suffered from sameness and repetition. But there are big changes coming this year. Google's confirmed there will be a revamp of Wear OS watches, starting with at least one product arriving this fall, maybe even up to three. Will it be Google's own Pixel watch to join the Pixel 3 phone and Google's growing line of self-made products like Google Home, Daydream View, Google Clips and the Pixelbook? Or, will it be made by others, like Google tends to do with some products?

Google's line of smartwatches formerly known as Android Wear, now known as Wear OS, have suffered from sameness and repetition. But there are big changes coming this year. Google's confirmed there will be a revamp of Wear OS watches, starting with at least one product arriving this fall, maybe even up to three. Will it be Google's own Pixel watch to join the Pixel 3 phone and Google's growing line of self-made products like Google Home, Daydream View, Google Clips and the Pixelbook? Or, will it be made by others, like Google tends to do with some products?

In the fall of 1962, The Jetsons debuted in primetime on ABC-TV as the network's first show to be broadcasted in color. It was the height of the Space Race, and Americans eagerly tuned in for a tantalizing view of the future. This particular future was Orbit City in the year 2062. The Jetsons were a nuclear family that lived, worked, and went to school in buildings high above the clouds. They commuted in flying cars, benefitted from abundant technology, and Rosie the robot did much of their housekeeping.

Alexa has a new job: hotel concierge. Amazon has launched a version of Alexa for hotels that lets guests order room service, ask for more towels or get restaurant recommendations without having to pick up the phone and call the front desk. Marriott has signed up for the service, and will place Amazon Echo smart speakers in 10 hotels this summer. It is another way for Amazon to sell its voice assistant to businesses and get Alexa in front of customers. Amazon already sells a version of Alexa for workplaces, and has struck deals to place Alexa in cars and refrigerators.

Alexa has a new job: hotel concierge. Amazon has launched a version of Alexa for hotels that lets guests order room service through the voice assistant, ask for more towels or get restaurant recommendations without having to pick up the phone and call the front desk. Marriott has signed up for the service, and will place Amazon Echo smart speakers in 10 hotels this summer, including its Westin and St. Regis brands. It is another way for Amazon to sell its voice assistant and devices to businesses and get Alexa in front of more customers. Amazon already sells a version of Alexa for workplaces, and has struck deals to place Alexa in cars and refrigerators.

Big banks and financial companies have started to offer banking through virtual assistants -- Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google's Assistant -- in a way that will allow customers to check their balances, pay bills and, in the near future, send money just with their voice. And with the rapid adoption of Zelle, a bank-to-bank transfer system, it soon could be possible to send money to friends or family instantly with voice commands. But the potential to do such sensitive tasks through a smart speaker raises security concerns. Virtual assistants and smart speakers are still relatively new technologies, and potentially susceptible to being exploited by cyber criminals. Regional banking giant U.S. Bank is the first bank to be on all three services -- Alexa, Siri and Assistant.

More than 400 million people worldwide speak Spanish as their native language. However, those people have been left behind by tech companies who make products based on speaking and listening, like Google Home and Amazon Echo. On Tuesday, the former remedied the situation. Google announced in a company blog post Tuesday morning that its Home line of smart-speaker products would listen and speak Spanish, starting immediately. According to Google, it is as easy as going to the preferences section of the Google Home app and changing the digital assistant's language to Spanish.