What is the Internet of Things (IoT)? In simple terms, IoT refers to connected devices that work over the internet. But it's increasingly being known for devices that we interact with like Google Home and Amazon Echo (Alexa). IoT is disrupting existing markets and creating new ones by increasing efficiency and reducing costs. IoT is nothing new but the number of devices and people using them has grown tremendously in recent years.

More than 400 million people worldwide speak Spanish as their native language. However, those people have been left behind by tech companies who make products based on speaking and listening, like Google Home and Amazon Echo. On Tuesday, the former remedied the situation. Google announced in a company blog post Tuesday morning that its Home line of smart-speaker products would listen and speak Spanish, starting immediately. According to Google, it is as easy as going to the preferences section of the Google Home app and changing the digital assistant's language to Spanish.

"Right now, you definitely don't need one," said David Pierce, a senior writer at Wired who has reviewed both the Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Show. "But you should get one! Once you get used to all the small things they can do, like play music or tell you the weather or convert tablespoons to cups while you're mid-recipe, it's hard to go back ... They're playthings. And truly, neither Amazon nor Google's gadget is "better," according to our experts, though one might be a better fit for a given user. "Both speakers perform different tasks really well and really poorly," said Alex Hernandez, editor-in-chief of tech site Techaeris. "It will come down to what you want to do with your smart speaker." The Echo "can control a wider range of smart home devices" than Google Home, said Alex Cranz, senior reviews editor at Gizmodo. That is, of course, if you have smart home devices to control. Our experts agree that Google Home's main draw is its ability to answer complex questions like "What were last week's lottery numbers?" Google Home is "supremely smart thanks to Google's dominance in search," said Nick Pino, a senior editor at TechRadar. "It can tell you things like how much airplane tickets cost, or when movies, games or music originally came out ... Alexa pretty frequently doesn't know how to answer your questions." Plus, they say Google Home is better at understanding your voice. With Echo, "you have to be very specific in how you word your requests, and they can often come out sounding like word salad.

Facebook on Wednesday reported a surge in profits in the past quarter, fueled by strong growth in money-making ads to its more than two billion users. Net profit in the second quarter leapt 71 percent from a year ago to $3.9 billion while revenue climbed 45 percent to $9.3 billion. In after-hours trade, Facebook shares rose some two percent to $166.83 on the stronger-than-expected results. Recent reports suggest Facebook may be working on its own smart speaker to compete with Google Home and Amazon Echo in the budding market for home digital assistants. Facebook could also be working on a smartphone, according to paperwork recently spotted by cyber sleuths which the tech giant filed earlier this year.

HTC has revealed its newest smartphone, which can be squeezed in order to take selfies and launch other apps. The tech giant's new U11 device houses technology called Edge Sense, based around sensors built into the side of the device that respond to being squeezed. The Taiwanese manufacturer has also become the first to include support for both the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa smart virtual assistants. The tech giant's new U11 device houses technology called Edge Sense, based around sensors built into the side of the device that respond to being squeezed The HTC U11, which will cost £649 / $649, was unveiled during a live event in Taiwan and is the tech giant's challenger to the new Samsung Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 7. The Edge Sense technology can be used to open the camera and take selfies, as well as launch certain apps and trigger voice control features. It also works when the phone is wet and if the user if wearing gloves, HTC said, and it will also support voice dictation for messages.

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives. Nothing good to say about Google Home and Amazon Echo. Perhaps you like the idea of a box in your living room that talks to you, turns the lights on for you, yet still can't make you breakfast. It seems, though, that Apple's SVP of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, isn't impressed with the ones he's seen so far. "Well, I won't talk to either one specifically, [I] don't want to. My mother used to have a saying that if you don't have something nice to say, say nothing at all," he said.

The latest innovations in automation and AI are surrounded by controversy. Thanks to films such as the Terminator, we have been painted a picture of what happens when AI goes stupendously wrong. This fear does little to assuage the distrust of automated processes and machine learning, but what are the benefits? Though this technology is a long way off doing mouth to mouth or hoovering my living room, it does provide many benefits. For example, you can use voice commands to control smart devices like lights, thermostats and switches from home automation systems, manage everyday tasks like shopping lists and even play music.

An internet mastermind decided to have some fun with his Google Home and Amazon Echo and locked them into a loop. Obviously we don't have the type of artificial intelligence that appears in Westworld today, but we do interact with some form of A.I. everyday. Whether it's Pandora predicting what kind of music you might like or a smart car A.I. is all around us. One particular piece of A.I. continues to get more and more prevalent, virtual assistants. It started with Siri on your phone, but has now moved into the home with Google Home and Amazon Echo.

One could not just talk about Google Home without talking about Amazon Echo and vice versa. Both smart speakers are hot items on the market right now. Though they do have a lot of similarities, they also possess differences that can help consumers decide which voice-activated smart device is the one for them. In this review, consumers will find out which is the better choice between Google Home and Amazon Echo. In terms of design, both Google Home and Amazon Echo are made to be compact and stylistic despite their minimalist appearance.

Reviewing a product designed to learn over time is like reviewing a newborn baby. So much functionality is dependent on artificial intelligence and machine learning, the only certainty is that it'll get smarter over time. Who knows what it'll end up being: A jack-of-all-trades? Or maybe just a creeper that records everything you say? At birth, it didn't have the ability to order you Domino's, play Spotify playlists, or get things from Amazon Prime.