Its latest digital home assistant model, the A3, looks pretty similar to the Echo -- it's a cylindrical speaker that will respond to users asking for information such as the weather or their schedule. It can play music, or help you take notes and control your home appliances -- pretty much whatever internet-connected system it can talk to. And in typical Chinese fashion, it's priced very competitively at 698 yuan ($100), while adding new features like portability -- it's able to play up to eight hours of music on the go. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's because the company hasn't aggressively marketed its products outside of China. So here's what you need to know.

The Amazon Echo is remarkably useful. Alexa, the digital personal assistant within the cylindrical black gadget, plays music, helps with recipes, and orders stuff online. One thing it cannot do, however, is speak Chinese. The name may sound funny to you, but this gadget is no joke. It could introduce millions of people to the power of a voice-activated, cloud-based smart home speaker.