Astro's email app packs a virtual assistant you can talk to

Virtual assistants have been quick to invade our phones and our homes -- is it any surprise that they're creeping into our email accounts, too? A startup called Astro built a chatbot (imaginatively named "Astrobot") into its email app earlier this year, and now it's taking things a step further: as part of a new update going live today, users can talk to Astrobot when they want to sift through their emails sans hands. Well, mostly: you can't invoke it with a wake-word like "Ok, Google." Once installed, you'll have to long-press the little Astrobot button that lives in your inbox. Then, you just gab away: asking if you have any emails prompts Astrobot to read through your most recent messages out loud, and telling it to archive, snooze or mark as unread worked consistently well.