Facebook's had a rough year. So it's not exactly ideal timing for Facebook to launch the Portal and Portal, a line of smart home hubs with displays and cameras for making video calls to other Facebook users. Facebook's issues with cybersecurity and transparency are likely to kill both devices in their cradles, especially when considering the superior rival products already on the market. Both the Portal and larger Portal are interesting smart home gadgets, and boast a surprising level of refinement on the hardware end. The smaller Portal is similar to smart home devices from Amazon and Google.

Apple developers debuted their new home device which features Siri and Apple Music at the WWDC Conference in San Francisco, California. The HomePod speaker is photographed in a a showroom during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 5, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. Apple's rival to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is finally ready to make its debut. The tech giant announced Tuesday it will launch its $349 HomePod speaker on February 9. Preorders for the device kick off January 26. The wireless speaker is considered Apple's contender in the surging smart speaker market, already dominated by Amazon with its popular line of Echo devices, along with Google Home.

Apple's HomePod is not scheduled for release until December, but the Cupertino giant may have wanted to out more details about its Amazon Echo competitor. Tim Cook's company has released the device's firmware, and some developers have managed to get their hands on it to get new information about Apple's very own smart speaker. On Friday, Apple reportedly pushed out the HomePod's firmware, and this led developers like Steve Troughton-Smith to learn more about the new device. In his quest to unearth tidbits about Apple's smart speaker, Troughton-Smith found out that the HomePod is going to run the full iOS stack. This is an interesting detail as it suggests that the HomePod would pretty much be like an iPhone sans the screen, MacRumors has learned.

After months of speculation, Apple has finally unveiled its answer to the Amazon Echo: the Siri-powered HomePod. It will start shipping in December for $349 in white and space gray colors. The HomePod is powered by Apple's A8X processor, the same chip found in older iPhones. Apple is emphasizing the HomePod's audio capabilities as a key factor separating it from more affordable rivals like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. Similar to Sonos speakers, the HomePod can analyze the size of the room in which it's placed and adjust its output accordingly.

In terms of sales, the iPhone is clearly Apple's most important product. But a relatively unsung hero for the company is Siri, its voice-activated digital assistant. While Siri is primarily available on iPhones, it has also made its way to Macs, the Apple TV and automobiles via Apple's CarPlay platform. Taken together, these steps all mean that if you're a heavy Apple user, Siri is probably always at your beck and call. That's important for Apple as Silicon Valley's battle over voice-activated artificial intelligence apps continues heating up: Microsoft has Cortana, Google has Google Now, and Amazon has Alexa.

Apple is continuing work on an Internet-connected gadget powered by its Siri voice assistant, according to a new report. The device, which Bloomberg reports recently entered the prototyping phase, would be a rival to Amazon's Echo speaker, a surprise hit following its release about two years ago. Amazon has sold about 3 million Echo devices, according to one estimate. Google is also planning a similar device, called Google Home. Like the Echo, the yet-unnamed Apple gadget would respond to various voice requests.

Muttering "OK Google" may soon become useful all around your house, as Google reportedly preps an Amazon Echo rival dubbed "Chirp" that will extend the company's voice and search capabilities into the home. Following up on earlier rumors about a Google-powered Echo clone, Recode claims that Google will showcase voice search and intelligent assistant capabilities at its I/O conference next week, with Chirp itself expected to debut later this year. The surprising part isn't that Google may be creating an Echo rival but rather that it's taken so long to do so. Google has big smart home ambitions, the power of Google Now and search, top-notch voice recognition technology, and even an appropriate form factor with the OnHub router (pictured above)--which Recode says Chirp's design will mimic. Google also owns Nest and its line of smart home products.

Google is said to be developing a product that would compete with Amazon's Echo voice assistant, according to Recode. The gadget would look similar to Google's OnHub wireless router, and would include Google's search and voice recognition technology. Google likely won't introduce the device at its developer conference next week, during which it usually makes significant product announcements, says Recode. But the firm is aiming to launch the Echo-like product this year. Google employees are calling the project "Chirp" internally.

Apparently, Nest might only have itself to blame for that absence. The insiders say that Nest has had to delay numerous products in recent times, including Flintstone (an unannounced security system hub), Pinna (the sensors for that system) and Project Goose (its thermostat's new location-based temperature adjustments). Why would Google or its parent Alphabet rely on Nest when its technology frequently isn't ready? It's supposedly a mixture of frequent design changes and organizational issues that are to blame. Flintstone has been under constant revision, and Nest's rapid expansion (especially following the Dropcam acquisition) has forced it to shift from an executive-focused culture to one where everyone is encouraged to take the initiative.