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 kicked off the second press day of the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday with a 45-minute keynote featuring robots, consumer appliances, and more products. One of the first announcements LG made Wednesday was that all of its appliances going forward will be Wi-Fi enabled. The aim is to connect them to the company's DeepThinq artificial intelligence features. The connection means that the appliances will be able to improve their performance for individual users over time based on the data gathered through their use. For example, the company's robotic vacuum cleaner will learn what obstacles look like and how to avoid them, and its washing machines will automatically adjust their wash cycles to match water conditions.

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.

According to a set of intelligent humans interviewed for this story, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are going to help drive the tech economy in 2017. When CIO.com posted a query on Help a Reporter Out, a site designed to help journalists connect with sources, asking about startup trends to watch in 2017, the overwhelming majority of respondents pointed to AI. This coming year and beyond, AI will help companies "disrupt sectors that haven't been fully disrupted," says Anthony Glomski, principal of AG Asset Advisory, a financial advisory firm. "AI is in its beginning stages with massive potential impact." Here are eight startup categories and trends experts believe will be big in 2017.

How would you feel about a smart, Wi-Fi-connected speaker named after a Greek philosopher helping raise your child? Toymaker Mattel is planning Aristotle by Nabi, a smart baby monitor device that can also interact with your toddler-- or kid, or tween. Aristotle is designed to be something like an Amazon Alexa or a Google Home, but programmed for children. Put another way, the hub is "an AI to help raise your child," as Fast Company described it. Mattel said that Aristotle could play a crying child a lullaby, and parents, meanwhile, could use the same speaker to order things through Amazon's Alexa voice assistant.