What is Google Home?

Compared with Amazon's Echo, Google Home--a compact speaker you can ask to turn off the lights, check the weather, and play music--might seem like a latecomer to the smart home party. It doesn't arrive until November, while the Echo has been conversing with connected home enthusiasts for nearly two years and has two spin-off devices, the Echo Dot and Tap. But the 129 Google Home has one huge advantage over the Alexa-powered Echo, Siri, and every other personal digital assistant on the market: Google already knows everything about you and pretty much everything that's on the Internet. That omnipotence was on full display at Home's debut in San Francisco yesterday, where PCMag got to play with it. All you have to do is say is "OK, Google, tell me about my day," and the diminutive speaker launches into a monologue about your life. It will tell you the weather, how long it will take you to get to work, what's on your calendar, and a news briefing from a source of your choice.