A Few Years In, Here's What I Actually Do (And Don't) Use Voice Assistants For

Voice-controlled hubs such as the Google Home, Apple HomePod, and the various products that run Amazon's Alexa have been touted as everything to everybody. The ability to simply ask for things is the stuff of science fiction and, increasingly, mundane gadgets. Of course, these products have now been out for a few years, meaning we can take stock of which of their countless features and abilities have actually wormed their way into our lives. After several years of playing with just about every line of voice-control hub on the market, here are the features I actually do use on a regular basis--and a few that I almost never touch. A voice hub's utility in controlling Internet-of-things gadgetry is directly proportional to how annoying the process it's replacing is.