There's a common gripe with the Amazon Echo, Google Home and other voice-guided helpers: you have to stand within their listening range to make use of them. Not quite the Star Trek future you were promised, is it? NVIDIA, however, might have a fix: it just introduced the Spot, a hybrid mic and speaker that brings Google Assistant to every nook and cranny in your home. You need the new Shield TV to serve as the central hub, but you're otherwise free to turn on lights, ask questions and otherwise use Assistant knowing that you'll be heard. Spot costs $50 per unit, and NVIDIA will only say that it's due to arrive sometime in the months ahead.

The world is moving towards smart living where security is managed by apps, food is prepared by automatic kitchen appliances, and daily chores are managed with the help of smartphones. Normally, you would have to attend to each of these agendas distinctly from the devices they are controlled. With an AI personal voice assistant, you can control them all at once and do much more. The fusion of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things brings you the best technological gadget you would have hoped for. The question here is – which one should you buy?

Bosch-owned robotics company Mayfield introduced what may be one of the cutest innovations to come out of CES. The Kuri robot companion is the feeling-person's answer to Amazon Echo, but with the charm and mobility of lovable A.I.'s like R2-D2, BB-8 or Wall-E. Beyond being super cute, Kuri helps to enhance users' connected home experience. It recognizes faces and emotes with chirps, blinks and nods of its head, it can read bedtime stories to kids and play your favorite podcasts as you go about your day. Its 1080p camera also allows you to monitor your home and pets when you're away.

What's all the fuss about the voice-activated home speaker that Amazon is due to release in the UK and Germany in late September? This gadget has been available in the US for over a year and has proven a minor hit, with sales estimates between 1.6m and 3m. But these figures belie the potential impact this kind of artificial intelligence device could have on our lives in the near future. Echo doesn't just let you switch on your music by voice command. It's the first of what will be several types of smart home appliances that work beyond simple tasks like playing music or turning on a light.

Okay, try not to get too excited: LG today unveiled a smart fridge at a big event ahead of CES in Las Vegas. It has a big touch screen and lets you control a whole host of things -- which is fine. However, the most interesting part here is that the fridge is integrated, along with a whole host of other devices this year, with Alexa. With that, users can tap into Alexa to order food from their fridge. Sounds like a fair enough idea -- you're out of baking soda and you need more, so why not tell your fridge to order some baking soda.

Welcome to Las Vegas and CES 2017. Today is press day, with all the big tech companies hosting hour-long media events to show off the major products they'll be releasing over the next 12 months. First up is LG, but we'll also hear from Panasonic, Intel, Samsung and Sony by the end of this very long day. So what was LG showing this year? Well, this year was a little bit punchier than recent years.

LG unveiled its own competitor to Amazon Echo and Google Home on Wednesday – a home assistant that can play music and tell you the weather but also order your vacuum cleaner to start cleaning the house and turn on your oven. The Hub Robot, which LG said will go on sale in 2017, was shown for the first time in Las Vegas ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, which opens to the public on Thursday. The device – a little white machine that has two glowing blue "eyes" on the front – appears to be a direct competitor to Amazon Echo and Google Home. Introducing the Hub Robot, David VanderWaal, vice-president of marketing, home appliances & consumer at LG, described it as "your intelligent home assistant". It can also play music, tell you the about the weather and traffic – all things that Amazon Echo and Google Home can do.

Imagine traveling a foreign country and being able to understand every conversation by use of a tiny ear bud. Or having your personal assistant, aka Siri, in your ear taking notes during your meetings, automatically scheduling appointments, and reading texts and emails to you as they come in.

LG isn't gonna let rival Samsung dominate the ridiculous smart refrigerator market. The company unveiled its own touchscreen fridge at CES on Wednesday with a bonus feature: Amazon Alexa integration, so you can do everything from stream music to place grocery orders with a simple voice command. LG's new WiFi-connected Smart InstaView door-in-door refrigerator runs on the company's webOS platform, which was originally developed for TVs. A 29-inch HD touchscreen display is embedded in the fridge's right door, allowing you to browse recipes, watch videos, write memos to family mamebers, and keep track of important calendar events like birthdays and anniversaries. The fridge's left panel is the InstaView part--knock twice and you can see what's inside without opening the door and letting cool air escape.

LG's vision of the future is filled with intelligent robots that help you manage your life more efficiently. This vision sounds expensive, but LG's new lineup of robots, unveiled on Wednesday, is the stuff we come to CES to see. First there's the Hub Robot, which also comes in mini models that you can deploy throughout your house. The main bot is supposed to be stationed somewhere your family regularly congregates, like the living room, though it's mobile. The Hub Robot is a sleek, small bot with a round display.