SAN FRANCISCO -- The star of Google's splashy launch event in San Francisco was the one with the speaking part: The super-smart digital helper Assistant whose task is to maintain the Internet giant's tight grip on consumers and their wallets as their attention shifts to smartphones and Internet-connected devices. Assistant will create a "two-way conversation between our users and Google," CEO Sundar Pichai said at a splashy launch event in San Francisco. The goal: "a personal Google for each and every user," Pichai said. At Tuesday's coming out party for Assistant, Google introduced two new devices, Amazon Echo competitor Google Home and Pixel smartphones as vessels to show off what Assistant can do and "get Assistant in the hands of our users," Pichai said. Google will now focus on this intersection of hardware and software, Rick Osterloh, chief of the company's new hardware division, told reporters.

Google Home has removable base accessories. NEW YORK--The inevitable showdown between Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant is getting closer. Google said Tuesday that its voice-activated Google Home speaker, the company's answer to Amazon's popular Echo speaker, will go on sale Nov. 4 for 129. Google Home is coming to the U.S. only at first, and will be sold in the online Google Play Store, as well as at Target, Walmart and Best Buy; Google starts taking preorders today. Home is a showcase for the newly unleashed Google Assistant, an artificial intelligence-infused virtual assistant that wouldn't feel out of place hanging out with other digital assistants, notably Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Microsoft's Cortana.

With YouTube, you can watch the entire library of videos on a virtual big screen and experience VR videos from creators like Buzzfeed, PrankvsPrank, Meredith Foster, CollegeHumor, Tastemade, UnboxTherapy and VSauce2. The app was built from the ground up, especially for Daydream and the controller.

Google announced that its Home smart speaker will be available for preorder starting immediately, and will ship on Nov. 4. The company also shared more details about how Home will work, and which apps and gadgets it will be compatible with. Google says Home's design was inspired by standard household items, like wine glasses. Home can also be customized by swapping out the base portion, which will be available in multiple colors. Google Home will support Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, and YouTube Music as well as a few other streaming services.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Google Home, Google's answer to Amazon's hit Echo voice assistant/speaker/smart home hub device, finally has a release date and price. The physical Google Search device will be available on Nov. 4 for 129, which is less than the 179 Echo. It'll be available from Google and retailers such as Target and Walmart and come with a 6-month trial for YouTube Red. SEE ALSO: Amazon's Echo Dot 2 is the cheap, voice-controlled smart home hub all your rooms need At Google I/O, Google praised Amazon for getting the formula right with voice controls and the Echo. Google Home works pretty much like the Echo.

The Pixel and Pixel XL may look new on the outside, but just like grandma says, it's what's inside that counts. Google has tweaked the underlying software that powers the Pixels, baking its AI Assistant directly into the phones and launching them with Nougat 7.1. Assistant is Google's conversational AI helper, similar to Microsoft's Cortana or Apple's Siri. Assistant's machine learning capabilities already power Allo, Google's mobile-only messaging app, and it also shows up in products like Google Home. In Allo, Assistant allows users to search for things like directions, restaurant suggestions and weather conditions with conversational phrases, and it even suggests responses (a la Inbox).

Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off today's keynote event by emphasizing the company's shift in focus from "mobile first" to "AI first", and saying it wants to create a personal Google for each user. The company demonstrated the fruit of its efforts earlier this year by giving us a taste of its Assistant bot in its Allo messaging app. Pichai said for Assistant to be truly helpful, it needs to be available universally, and so the company today showed how it will be bringing the helper to phones and homes. Hardware chief Rick Osterloh detailed how the company is working on hardware built around Google Assistant, starting with the new Pixel phone. Google Assistant starts listening on the new Pixel phones when you hold down on the Home button (similar to how you'd activate Google Now before), or when you say the hotword ("Ok Google"). In a demonstration, Google Assistant brought up (and rattled off) a list of events from the Hearst Greek Theatre in response to a query about happenings there.

During its hardware-announcing extravaganza Google announced that its voice-powered assistant/Bluetooth speaker Google Home will cost 129 and will ship on November 4th. It's the stationary piece of Google's AI plans to make the platform all about you. "The goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user," CEO Sundar Pichai said. Like the Amazon Alexa platform, the voice-activated Google Home assistant will control connected home devices. But it also acts as a Chromecast that can stream and be used to control other Google casting devices with your voice.