Amazon's Alexa and Google's virtual assistant have already made their way into our living rooms, but Chinese tech giant Baidu is betting that verbal answers may not always be enough. The company is launching a new home-centric computer that includes a screen for displaying helpful information in response to voice commands. Baidu is teaming up with Chinese consumer tech company Ainemo to launch the device, called Little Fish, which is being positioned as a voice-centric home robot. Ainemo created the hardware, while Baidu created the operating system that powers it. The computer, about the size of a lamp, is designed to handle many of the same tasks one might expect from such a device: managing calendars, answering questions, getting news updates, and ordering food, among other tasks.

In-home assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home are handy, but their functions are limited: They can tell you where to find a can of soda, but they can't actually bring one to you. Robotics company Ewaybot created Moro as a rolling, humanoid assistant for research labs and universities, and it's currently in a handful of schools across China. Moro is about four feet tall, weighs roughly 77 pounds, and its arms have six points of articulation; they each end in a three-pronged version of a hand that can grip everything from pens to heavy vials. The robot responds to voice communication as well (watch out, Alexa). Moro uses Intel's RealSense camera to avoid obstacles, plus ultrasound and infrared sensors.

Nvidia had a huge 2016 with one of best performing stocks of the year. In the past 12 months, the graphics processing chipmaker's stock value has boomed 230%. This is mostly due to its impressive growth in artificial intelligence applications using its graphics processors in data centers and cars. Meanwhile, Nvidia maintains a fast-growing business in its core gaming market. Partially as a reflection of the growing importance of AI in the tech industry, Nvidia stole the opening Consumer Electronics Show keynote this year from Intel.

Nvidia rolled out a Shield TV console, arming it with 4K and HDR capabilities for vastly improved gaming and video streaming. The Android-based Shield also has new tricks: it will double up as a smart-home hub and a voice-activated assistant. It'll bring Google Assistant to TVs and work with Samsung's SmartThings platform to operate smart devices and appliances in a home. The Shield is powered by the Tegra X1 processor. A model with 16GB of storage will ship later this month for US$199.99,

We finally know when Ford will unleash the Alexa integration it promised almost exactly a year ago. The automaker has announced that it will roll out the feature in two phases, with the first one going out later this month. Folks who own Ford vehicles with the company's Sync 3 entertainment system, starting with the Focus Electric, Fusion Energi and C-MAX Energi, will be able to control their cars from home sometime this January. They'll be able to start or stop their car engines, unlock their doors and check their fuel levels simply by issuing commands through Amazon's Echo, Echo Dot and Tap speakers. They'll eventually be able to ask Alexa to find establishments, add items to their grocery lists, play music, check news and read audiobooks, as well.

Every year, the marketing arm of the tech industry huddles around a simmering cauldron of PR gumbo and fishes out a single word or phrase that will embody the hope -- and hype -- of the latest generation of gadgets. Previous examples have ranged from the charmingly vague (the "Internet of Things") to the idiotic (the use of "smart" as a catch-all modifier) and the merely hopeful ("3D TVs" were doomed from the start really.) In 2017, though, you should prepare for the over-use of the latest favorite: artificial intelligence. It's clear that AI and machine learning had an impressive 2016. There were advances in features for consumers, like image and speech recognition, but also significant research achievements -- including a milestone victory for machine over man played out via ancient board game Go.

NVIDIA's Shield TV was one of the few successful Android TV devices -- it was both a capable 4K entertainment device and a simple way to bring PC gaming into your living room. So it only made sense that NVIDIA had a sequel in the works. Today during his CES 2017 keynote, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang unveiled a new version of the Shield TV -- now just called Shield -- which will support 4K HDR for both games and movies. Among other new features, the new Shield TV is also the first Android TV device to support Google Assistant. As you'd imagine, Google Assistant works just like it does on the company's Home device and Pixel phones, but you can also command it to play media on the Shield TV.

One of Huawei's biggest priorities when building its Mate 9 was shoehorning some handy machine learning features into to it. A machine learning algorithm designed to improve performance by finding the patterns in how you use the phone and allocating resources like RAM accordingly. Turns out Huawei's AI ambitions don't end there: a spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the Mate 9 will receive a software update that brings Amazon's Alexa to that surprisingly slick phablet. We're not entirely sure of the timing yet, but we can confirm that the update will roll out in the US (obviously) and a handful of other markets. Either way, this is a big step for Huawei and for Amazon; the former gets to sell the first properly Alexa-enabled smartphone and Amazon gets the chance to forge a partnership with one of the biggest smartphone makers in China by volume.

Google has talked about bringing its AI assistant to as many places as possible ever since it was first revealed at I/O in May 2016. Right now, it's in the Pixel smartphone, Google Home device and the Allo chat app. Today, Google announced that its next destination will be Android TV devices, including the new NVIDIA Shield (as NVIDIA just confirmed at its CES press conference). Android TV hasn't really taken off as a platform to any real degree, but for those out there using it this will be a nice upgrade. It sounds like it'll work just as you'd expect -- you can ask it questions from Google, tie your Google account into it and get details on your calendar, find out the weather, ask how long your commute is and so forth. But naturally you'll be able to ask it to play video as well.

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.