Amazon Echo comes in both white and black, and is a hands-free speaker you control with your voice. Echo connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, make calls, send and receive messages, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more. One works well, or string them around your house for Alexa in every room. Multiple Echo devices work together seamlessly. It may be one of those devices that actually does what it promises to do.

Samsung's Bixby voice assistant for the Galaxy S8 and galaxy S8 Plus is finally available worldwide. Bixby Voice is now being rolled out to more than 200 countries. Unfortunately, the service will only work in English and Korean languages for now. "Now millions of customers worldwide have access to a new and intelligent way of interacting with their phone," executive VP and head of R&D for Samsung's Mobile Business Injong Rhee said. "The expansion of Bixby's voice capabilities is an initial step in the continued rollout of Bixby functionality. In the future, Bixby will have the learning power to offer more intelligent and personalized interactions and seamless connections across more devices."

Last week, when asking for a cup of yogurt, my three-year-old son called me Alexa. It's a funny, modern problem to have your child mistake you for a disembodied A.I. voice--in this case, the one powering Amazon's Echo family of devices. But it's also a good example of what it's like living in a home powered by a smart speaker. Too busy to lift a remote, we bark commands into the void expecting something to respond. Using a voice assistant to run your home feels beamed-in-from-Star Trek cool, making mundane actions magical.

This Tuesday morning, we're still talking about the eclipse, getting a name for Google's latest version of Android and testing the best virtual assistants out there. It'll be on the Pixel very soon. Google loves to make a big splash when it reveals the name for the latest version of Android. But the company is going all out this year, using the solar eclipse as an opportunity to reveal that Android O will henceforth be referred to as Oreo. It makes at least a little sense to tie this reveal into the eclipse -- those iconic photos of the solar event are at least a little bit evocative of Oreos, after all.

I like Gartner's concept of the technology hype cycle. It assumes that expectations of new technologies quickly ramp to an inflated peak, drop into a trough of disillusionment, then gradually ascend a slope of enlightenment until they plateau. Of course, not all technologies complete the cycle or transition through the stages at the same pace. Artificial intelligence (AI) has arguably been in the trough for 60 years. I am thinking of Kubrick's HAL and Roddenberry's "computer" that naturally interact with humans.

It's 2050 and the world revolves around you. From the contents of your fridge to room temperature -- digital assistants ensure your home runs smoothly. Your screens know your taste and show channels you want to see as you enter the room. Your car is driverless and your favourite barman may just be an android. Predictions for an AI-dominated future are increasingly common, but Antoine Blondeau has experience in reading, and arguably manipulating, the runes -- he helped develop technology that evolved into predictive texting and Apple's Siri.

Corporate versions of Siri and Alexa may soon be coming to an HR service center near you. Industry vendors continue to refine and introduce these conversational agents, which use natural language processing to field and answer questions from employees on a range of human resource topics. Rather than having to navigate websites, send e-mails or make phone calls--and often wait for responses--employees can use these artificial intelligence (AI) tools to get quick, voice- or text-delivered answers to questions about paid time off, benefits eligibility, retirement savings, work schedules, and even career planning or performance coaching. For organizations, these "virtual agents" can reduce labor costs, enhance customer service and free up HR staff for strategic initiatives. These applications are part of the growing AI movement in HR.

Google has opened up its Home smart speaker in a big way. Today the search giant has added Bluetooth audio to the device for everyone, after teasing it back at I/O in May and slowly rolling out to select users after that. This is perfect if your app of choice doesn't support Google Cast. You know, like Apple Music, or maybe a legacy piece of audio gear. And here you probably thought that the recent music-related Google Home news would stop with Spotify.

I had been in a years-long relationship with Siri when my affair with the Google Assistant began. Assistant made me laugh with some silly jokes, and we played a cute game she made in the Allo chat app called "Emoji Movie." Soon, Assistant popped up in more places in my life -- whether it was a smartwatch I was reviewing or the Assistant app on my iPhone. Then, for a week, I was tasked with using Assistant exclusively for all the things I would normally ask Siri to do. I thought it would be a fun change, but committing to Assistant required some big adjustments.

Hardly a day goes by that we don't cover virtual assistants. Perhaps a new player, like Samsung, is wading into the space. Even Android creator Andy Rubin is considering building an assistant of his own. And his company probably isn't the only one that thinks there's room for another AI helper. With virtual assistants becoming such an integral part of our lives (or at least our tech-news diets), we felt it was time to stop and take stock of everything that's happening here.