Google Home starts catching up to the Amazon Echo

Good news, Google Home owners: the smart home hub can now talk to more gear. This morning, Google announced a pair of new partners for the Home platform that will bring even more variety to its stable of connected devices and better streamline our increasingly connected smart households: Honeywell and Belkin Wemo. SEE ALSO: Google's PR team penned the mother of all replies Google already had Nest, Philips Hue and Samsung SmartThings devices as part of the system, so adding Honeywell and and Belkin Wemo will give Home owners more options as they sync up their homes to the Internet of Things (IoT), a term commonly used to refer to all the smart, internet-connected devices used to optimize our daily lives (think smart appliances). Honeywell's smart thermostats will give the platform an alternative to Nest, while Wemo's lighting and home automation systems join the Hue and SmartThings offerings as a way to keep closer control of lighting and energy levels. The new gear will be managed by the Home Control system, which keeps all of the IoT devices on one hub through Google Assistant.