Home will walk you through the typical steps of choosing a language, setting up the Wi-Fi, that sort of thing. You can do this in your sleep. Before long, the app wil ask where in your home you are placing your Home. Choose someplace accessible, like the bedroom or living room. Once that's done, the app will prompt you to sign in to your Google account.

Microsoft is positioning itself as the world's platform for artificial intelligence, and that's a smart move. In 2014 I wrote that Microsoft's Cortana would be the next big thing. Redmond's vision for its johnny-come-lately AI is that it, like the GUI before it, will be pivotal in the evolution of the personal computing user interface. Microsoft's ambitions for Cortana were evident in 2014. Microsoft envisions an unbounded AI that developers and partners will incorporate into a range of everyday and innovative devices enabled by the Cortana SDK.

Virtually everywhere you look, Bay Area tech businesses are running into walls. Smartphones were revolutionary and lucrative, but the U.S. market is saturated, and Apple's iPhone sales have fallen for three quarters. The "app economy" has matured, with more people using existing apps than downloading new ones. And Facebook, which has filled users' news feeds with so many ads it can barely add more, is predicting its revenue growth will slump next year. Silicon Valley needs its next big thing, a focus for the concentrated brain power and innovation infrastructure that have made this region the world leader in transformative technology.

Predictive analytics allows Netflix to surface and finesse recommendations. This kind of clustering algorithm is continually improving suggestions, allowing users to make the most of their subscription. Uniting information from diverse datasets is a common use of AI. Under Armour is one of the many companies to have worked with IBM's Watson. The sports apparel company combines user data from its Record app with third-party data and research on fitness, nutrition etc.

Did you forget to turn off the window A.C.? How about that curling iron? Want the living room lamp to turn on when the sun goes down--automatically? The Wemo Switch gives you control of your lamps and small appliances whenever you want, wherever you choose, with tons of options for scheduling and automation. Paired with Amazon Alexa, you can control your lamps and appliances with just the power of your voice. When Wemo works with Nest Thermostat, you can set your lights to turn off automatically when you leave the house, and on when you get home again.

For decades, we have seen people talk to computers in science fiction movies. Michael Knight was assisted by KITT. The computers were smart and personable, and they (usually) did what they were told. When Amazon's Echo hit the market two years ago, this dream came true -- sort of. The Echo was an affordable futuristic device that responded to voice commands.

So you just got an Amazon Echo or an Echo Dot -- fantastic, because they're sold out almost everywhere! Welcome to the future, where ordering a pizza or controlling your lights is just a voice command away. SEE ALSO: 11 useful things you didn't know your Amazon Echo could do What's an excited futuristic, cutting-edge person like yourself supposed to do first with your new vocal powers? Since the Echo is a speaker, the very first thing you'll want to do is connect your music to it. The Echo supports five major music streaming services: Amazon Music, Spotify (premium account required), Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.

Datorama, a cross-channel marketing analytics firm that's scored $50 million in funding, has introduced a voice-activated component of its platform, allowing clients to summon their previous campaign measurement data by asking their Alexa-enabled device. The new querying capability is intended to supplement the traditional dashboard reporting that marketers are accustomed to, giving them an additional way to pull quick data points in the midst of a business conversation -- during a board meeting, for example. "At the speed of conversation, there are instances where maybe you need information," said Jay Wilder, director of product marketing at Datorama. "Wouldn't it be great if you could just ask the question and get the response back immediately without friction?" The Datorama platform is integrated with Alexa.

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.

If you happen to live in one of the six million US homes that have so far purchased an Amazon Echo, you may think Alexa is just a voice emanating from a cylindrical speaker that knows a couple of tricks. It plays the Beatles on command. It can order more toilet paper. It has jokes, some of which are even kind of funny. Just as Apple taught us that a small portable phone could be a more powerful computing method than our lumbering desktops, Amazon is introducing us to a new computing interface -- a voice devoid of a screen--that will eventually grow to be more ubiquitous and more useful than our smartphones.