Now it's time for All Tech Considered. SHAPIRO: We've spent the last few weeks taking stock of the changes 2018 brought to the tech world and our relationship with the technology we use every day. Now let's look at one particular advancement. The voice of artificial intelligence took a big step forward this year. SIRI: My name is Siri.

Do you ever find yourself in this situation of having to speak to a personal assistant? The second I hear the words personal assistant, I immediately think wow this company must be important. Personal assistants have an association with very high up, powerful people within an organization. Or does having a personal assistant just seem more professional and established? The answer could be either, but the one thing I do know is that personal assistants are becoming easier to come by than ever before.

Facebook has finally pulled the curtains back on M, a new service on its Messenger app that acts more like a private concierge than most other digital assistants on the market. A few hundred users in San Francisco are currently testing the feature, which some compare to Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, or Google Now. But what sets M apart is the level of utility, provided by a combination of both artificial intelligence and human employees. "Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments, and way more," said David Marcus, Facebook's vice president of messaging products.

Google has revealed a new personal assistant for around the house that can control, run and organise your entire home using just your voice. The device, a voice-activated speaker called Google Home forms the centre of a Google plan to use artificial intelligence in computing to help give every user "their own individual Google" by becoming personal to them, according to the firm's chief. CEO Sundar Pichai used the keynote presentation at the firm's I/O developer conference in California to reveal new apps, software and a voice activated personal assistant that take advantage of new, more intelligent Google software that is better at understanding context. Mr Pichai said of the new Google Home personal assistant connects to WiFi and can control other connected appliances: "Computing is poised to evolve beyond just phones. It will be about the context. The new, more intelligent software also focuses on understanding context to answer queries and has been built into the existing Google ...

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display