We're beginning to see a trend here at CES. A ton of companies are either injecting their tech with a dose of Alexa or building their own Amazon Echo competitors from scratch. SmartBeings falls into the later category, but its WooHoo device packs a lot more punch than the online retailer's smart speaker. WooHoo can do some of the things Echo handles, but it's also equipped with both facial and voice recognition, Android-powered software and a 7-inch touchscreen. If you can imagine a version of Echo with a rotating camera that helps complete tasks when a specific person walks in a room, you'll get the idea here.

Mark Zuckerberg has given more weight to the idea that he could move into politics with the announcement of a statesmanly personal challenge for 2017. In previous years the Facebook CEO has learned Mandarin, pledged to run at least a mile each day and built a virtual assistant called Jarvis to control his home. This year he wants to have visited and met people in every state in the US. He's already visited about 20 states, which means he has to travel to about 30 states by the end of the year. "After a tumultuous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they're living, working and thinking about the future," he said in a Facebook post announcing the challenge.

What the year 2016 has been for all things tech. Blockchain exploded onto the scene, followed by AI, augmented reality, IoT, conversational interfaces and digital which saw mainstream acceptance. It was the year when these technologies leaped off the slides of executive presentations and began their steady march towards the enterprise. As we look forward to what is to come, here are some emerging technologies and concepts that are poised to fire off the grounds in major style in 2017. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to gain ground For years, artificial intelligence has been the stuff of sci-fi stories.

Chinese tech giant Lenovo announced Tuesday it was launching a smart home assistant powered by Amazon's Alexa, becoming the latest firm to enter the market for voice-activated devices. The new Smart Assistant, to go on sale for US$129, will compete with Amazon's Echo speakers using the artificial intelligence developed by Amazon. Lenovo made the announcement ahead of the opening of the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, which features a dizzying array of tech gadgets and concepts. Built in collaboration with Amazon, the Smart Assistant "recognises users' voice commands to conduct web searches, play music, create lists, calendar reminders and much more," a Lenovo statement said. Lenovo's move comes following Google's launch of a similar device which can respond to questions and voice commands and connect to smart appliances, so a user can set a thermostat or turn on an oven.

Amazon's Alexa home assistant program is a central feature of the Echo and Echo Dot, but don't expect it to only remain there this year. At CES, multiple companies have announced devices that feature native Alexa integration for a variety of applications. Whirlpool announced that its newest smart home appliances will feature compatibility with Alexa. Through Alexa, users can control options like setting an oven timer or remotely check a refrigerator's cooling levels. As The Verge notes, Whirlpool won't have Alexa physically built into its newest products -- you'll need an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot to bridge the device to your home network.

Hyundai has partnered with Google to make its vehicles compatible with Google Assistant. This will allow Hyundai vehicle owners to do things like ask Google to start their car, lock the doors or set the temperature car. Google Assistant will let you control some of the same things that Blue Links allows you to control via your smartphone. An example, you can ask Google Assistant about a nearby restaurant and then follow it with "Ok Google, tell Blue Link to send the address to my Santa Fe." You can also use new commands to operate the horn and lights, start charging your Hyundai plug-ins and more.

Forget human babysitters, Mattel has designed a virtual assistant that will keep an eye on your children. Deemed the'world's first smart baby monitor', Aristotle orders diapers, reads children bedtime stories, sings lullabies and teaches them a second language. The speaker is also equipped with a HD camera that streams live video through an encrypted cloud connection - which Mattel claims makes it safe for parents to watch their children from anywhere. Aristotle will help parents order diapers, read bedtimes, sing lullabies and teach children a second language. Recognize and answer young kids' questions after a voice recognition training session Recognize specially designed kids' toys with embedded NFC chips, or with its camera Although Aristotle is aimed at watching over little ones, it is being compared to Amazon's Echo and Google's Home because it is also a Wi-Fi speaker and boasts similar functions - and in fact has Amazon's shopping software built in.

In previous years, he has run 365 miles, built a simple home AI, read 25 books and learnt Mandarin. Now Mark Zuckerberg has revealed his 2017 challenge. He plans to visit and chat with people in every US at what he claims is a'turning point in history.' Mark Zuckerberg has revealed his 2017 challenge. He plans to visit and chat with people in every US at what he claims is a'turning point in history.' 'My personal challenge for 2017 is to have visited and met people in every state in the US by the end of the year,' he wrote. 'I've spent significant time in many states already, so I'll need to travel to about 30 states this year to complete this challenge.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is hitting the road in 2017. Zuckerberg is not leaving the social network: His personal challenge for 2017 is to have visited and met with people in all 50 U.S. states by year-end, and by his count, he has about 30 to go. Zuckerberg's past personal challenges have included building an artificial intelligence-powered personal assistant for his home, running 365 miles, reading 25 books and learning Mandarin. Priscilla and I have enjoyed taking road trips together since we started dating. Recently, I've traveled around the world and visited many cities, and now I'm excited to explore more of our country and meet more people here.

As the Amazon Echo and Google Home compete to become the voice assisant-powered speaker of the living room, Mattel has its own option designed for a different room of the house. Aristotle is a voice-assistant speaker made specifically for kids. At first glance Aristotle bears considerable resemblance to one of its adult contemporaries, Google Home, with its tube-like design and colored base. And much like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, the speaker houses an artificial intelligence called Aristotle that can answer the many questions that cross the mind of an inquisitive child. Powering the device's ability to field questions from kids is Microsoft, which lends its search tool Bing and AI from Cortana, its voice assistant that is often given a lower billing on the marquee than competitors like Alexa from Amazon, Apple's Siri and Google Assistant.