Google today said it was unveiling a virtual assistant tool at its annual Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View called Google Assistant. This appears to be similar to what Google Now can do already, but it appears to be an upgraded version of it. You can ask a question for an answer, and follow up with multiple questions, with Google picking the conversation out and returning the right answer. The service is integrated in its new conversational user interface products: Google Assistant is also built into Allo, its new independent chat bot app, as well as Google Home, its Amazon Echo competitor. "Think of the assistant, we think of it as a conversational assistant, we want users to have an ongoing two-way dialog," CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Google wants to play an even bigger role in managing people's daily lives, while also nudging them into an alternate reality, as the Internet company responds to competitive threats posed by Facebook, Amazon and Apple. As part of an onslaught of upcoming products, Google will implant a more personable form of artificial intelligence into an Internet-connected device called Home, which echoes the Echo, Amazon.com's Meanwhile, Google will also delve deeper into the still-nascent realm of virtual reality with a system called Daydream that's meant to challenge Facebook-owned Oculus's early lead in fabricating artificial worlds. In an attempt to outshine Apple, Google is also adding features to its Android operating system, including the ability to run apps without actually installing them on a device. That feature, called Instant Apps, might have been the biggest breakthrough that Google announced Wednesday at its annual developers conference held in an amphitheater located a few blocks from its Mountain View, California, headquarters.

Google has joined the war to be your digital butler. Speaking to a packed amphitheater of developers here, Alphabet's flagship company on Wednesday unveiled a hot-rodded personal assistant it says will let people control their homes, book movies, search the internet, ask follow-up questions about an Italian restaurant and sort through dog pictures using voice commands. The salvo places Google in the middle of a contest among technology giants to build an artificial intelligence that hold consumers' hands as they navigate the real world. Perhaps with an eye towards modern politics, Google declined to give its personal aide a gendered name. Its main physical form is a small, white, buttonless speaker called Google Home. It looks similar to Amazon's Echo, its own smart speaker powered by Alexa.

The world got its first glimpse of Allo at Google's yearly I/O conference on Wednesday. Its creators hope the Android and iOS app will transcend similar services like Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Receiving a photo of clam linguini prompted Allo to offer responses like "Yummy!" and "I love linguini!" Known as Smart Reply, the feature may one day keep thumbs from worrying about autocorrect, as full conversations could be had at one tap per message. As Allo gets to "know" its user over time, other responses, such as "I wish I wasn't allergic," could conceivably be produced. The app will do more than just recognize images and suggest responses, however.

Google I/O opened with the tech giant launching a new social smart chat app called Allo. It's a mobile-only app that works just like Hangouts but it's "smarter" in a sense that it has a chat bot that will answer your queries when you have no one else to chat with. It's not a robot nanny but a chat assistant-slash-artificial intelligence that does smart search so you don't have to do it on your own. Just say'Ok Google' and see what The Google Assistant will serve up. Officially known as The Google Assistant, this concept is said to be more of an "ambient experience" according to Google CEO Sunday Pichai.

The device is similar to the Amazon Echo, which was released in the US in 2014. Although derided when it was first unveiled, the Echo has become a fixture in many American homes, although it has not been released elsewhere. But despite being well behind Amazon in releasing its own speaker, Google is counting on its AI prowess, voice recognition technology and the stash of data it already has on users to gain an advantage. By always listening, Google Home can respond to any queries just by users saying "OK Google" and issuing a command, rather than having to type a phrase into a search engine or check emails to dig out flight details.

Yesterday was the first day of Google's annual I/O developer conference: its equivalent of Apple's WWDC in terms of revealing new products and services for the year ahead. While there were no direct news about the music aspects of Google Play and YouTube, there was plenty for the music industry to think about in Google's other announcements. Starting with Google Home, a connected speaker controlled by its owner's voice, which will compete directly with Amazon's Echo. The speaker will use the Google Cast technology to stream music, which means that services like Spotify will be supported alongside Google Play Music. Amazon's speaker has been a big hit in the US, and Google is training its sights squarely on the device.

The Amazon Echo is a great product, especially if you can picture yourself using it in any of the scenarios from the video. Check the latest pricing here: (US) http://amzn.to/1lBImC8 I also highly recommend using wemo switches with the Echo for lamps and other things, like in my case my christmas tree - http://amzn.to/1TGfgMm In this review, I did not go over every single feature with the Echo, but instead, I wanted to show the main uses that I think the majority of people would find helpful and interesting. Using it with Hue lights was just awesome.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai had good reason to be excited Wednesday. Pichai, who is probably most often described as "subdued," was unusually energized as he emceed his team through a host of product announcements -- several genuinely impressive. He kicked things off with Google Home, the company's answer to Amazon Echo. Then came Allo and Duo, a pair of messaging apps that look well poised to compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Apple's FaceTime. And Android Instant Apps -- apps that download themselves directly from links -- could change the face of mobile, ending (or at least mitigating) the cold war between apps and the mobile web.

For the past year and a half, the tech world has been recovering from Amazon's surprise announcement of the Echo. Now, Google is finally doing what everybody wanted it to do: release a competitor. It's called Google Home, and it's coming out later this year for an unspecified price. You can sign up to be notified for updates at the Home website. Mario Queiroz is the executive behind the project.