Smart speaker showdown: Google Home vs. Amazon Echo

Smart speakers sit in our homes, quietly listening to everything we say and feeding what they learn back to the corporations that spawned them, like sinister Elves on Shelves. Still, some of us can’t resist the shiny allure of being able to yell random questions into the void like a medieval despot and get an answer back.

This raises the difficult question of exactly which servant/spy to employ in your smart home. The Google Home and the Amazon Echo are two of the most prolific smart speakers on the market, but at first glance there’s little separating them. Both allow you to control your smart home, play music, and set timers by speaking. Both will answer simple questions when asked. They're even priced almost exactly the same, with the Google Home costing $99 and the Amazon Echo at $99.99. Read more...