Google Home

Voice-activated smart speakers can be handy around the house, but they come with a privacy trade-off. Appropriately named start-up Paranoid has unveiled a set of devices that can make sure smart speakers are only listening when you want them to.

First came the Google Home speakers, then we got Home speakers with screens, and now we've got the Google Nest Hub Max – the ultimate Google-powered smart speaker for 2019.

There's been a lot to take in at today's Made by Google event in New York, not least the Pixel 4 phones that have just been unveiled. Google had updates to several more of its product lines as well, and we've got all the details you need to know.

​You may think that the humble coffee table is something that couldn't be subjected to a high-tech makeover, but … yeah, you'd be wrong. The currently-crowdfunding Coosno is equipped with a mini fridge, voice control, Google Home and more.

​According to some folks, smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Echo simply make us lazy while needlessly adding electronic complexity to our lives. Thanks to new research, however, the things may someday prevent people from dying of cardiac arrest while sleeping.

'Tis the season to be buying smart speakers, with both Amazon and Google revamping their line-ups before the holidays, and Apple promising to join the market with its own entry in 2018. But with an increasing number of models available, how do you choose between them? We've got all you need to know.

If you haven't joined the Internet of Things (IoT) train yet, now's the perfect time to get on board. Smarts have been crammed into pretty much every household appliance, with more options than ever. New Atlas rounds up some of the best IoT gadgets to smarten up your home this holiday season.

​Google Experiments is a showcase of the many creative ways the company’s tools and resources can be used. The latest "experiment" to launch is called Voice Experiments, and it offers a variety of fun and strange ways to play with the voice-controlled Google Assistant

For this year's Glastonbury Festival, EE is pitching a high-tech tent to keep festival-goers connected. Acting as a 4G Wi-Fi hotspot, the camper packs VR headsets, voice-activated mood-setting, livestreams of performances, a solar-powered boot warmer and a fridge that reminds you to restock it.

Google announced that hands-free calling is coming to Google Home, along with more entertainment options and the ability to send "visual responses" to connected devices.

Amazon kicked off the smart speaker race with the Echo, but the competition is fast closing in. Google followed up with its Home speaker, and ​Microsoft has now put Cortana in a Harman Kardon speaker. To keep it ahead of the curve, Amazon has updated its Echo so it can make and receive calls.

​Amazon’s personal assistant, Alexa, has a new home in Lenovo’s Smart Assistant, an Echo-like device that picks up voice commands and replies in kind. If better sound quality is your jam, there’s a Harman Kardon edition, and the company is also rolling out a wireless Smart Storage device.