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Amazon created a whole new product category with Echo, the immensely popular voice-controlled speaker/personal assistant. Its success has Sonos scrambling to stay relevant and prompted Denon to accelerate the development of a voice interface for its products.

Now Google is getting into the act with Google Home, a compact speaker/personal assistant that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and search to answer questions and control home entertainment devices and smart home systems. The device, slated for release later this year, will even be able to connect with non-smart speakers via a dongle.

From Computerworld:

Google wants users to be able to do more than ask Google Assistant what the weather will be that day. Google says its new assistant will make movie suggestions based on what films you've liked before. Going to the theater with your kids? Google Assistant will change its recommendations accordingly. It'll offer up movie reviews and buy your tickets for you.

That's the plan for the software that Google envisions will be embedded in devices from smartphones to home devices and, eventually, cars.

"We think of it as a conversational assistant, having an ongoing two-way dialogue with Google," Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, said during the keynote at Google I/O today in Mountain View, Calif. "We want to get things done in the real world. Think of this as building each user his own individual Google."

The company also announced that Google Assistant software will be built into a new device dubbed Google Home.

The small device, which can sit in the palm of your hand, looks reminiscent of Amazon's Echo and is built so users can ask it questions and give it verbal instructions. That allows it to manage and control home entertainment systems as well as your smart home devices.

"When I walk into my house, I want to interact with the Google Assistant, but I want to do it hands free," said Mario Queiroz, a Google vice president, speaking during today's keynote. "That's why we're creating Google Home, a device we're releasing later this year. It will manage entertainment and your everyday tasks. It will let anyone in the family, kids or adults, have a conversation with Google."

With a built-in speaker, Google Home will play your music from the cloud or your device and it will respond to questions you ask, whether it's about traffic congestion on your route to work or how much fat is in an avocado.

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