Guess which tech giant just stepped up to challenge the Amazon Echo

Microsoft is finally giving Cortana its own hardware home.

Okay, it's not Microsoft exactly, but Harman Kardon's Invoke, announced Monday and coming this fall, is the first stand-alone hardware devoted to the Microsoft's chatty AI. And it looks like Amazon Echo's conical cousin, right down to the volume dial on top.

Like the Echo, Harman Kardon's Invoke is a speaker, but owing to Harman's audiophile roots, it raises the aural ante, including three woofers and three tweeters. The combination provides what Harmon calls 360-degree sound.

Cortana, though, is the star here. The voice assistant will be backed by a seven-microphone array, along with echo- and noise-cancellation technology — all of which should help Cortana hear you better when you say, "Hey, Cortana, what's the weather?" Read more...