Harman Kardon Invoke hands-on: Cortana enters the smart speaker market with a boom

Harman Kardon's Invoke speaker, debuting Thursday for $199.95, may end up following in the footsteps of notable Microsoft-powered devices like Nokia's Windows phones: lovely hardware that's slightly tripped up by Microsoft's software and services. The soul of Harman's elegant, cylindrical smart speaker is Cortana, the digital assistant that lives within Windows 10. Cortana deftly steps in during the business day to manage reminders, answer questions about your schedule, reply to general queries about the weather, nearby restaurants, and place calls via Skype. She also serves as the majordomo for your digital home. The inherent tension between a productivity-minded assistant and a consumer-oriented device gives the Invoke a bit of a split personality, and we've split our stories as well.