The smart Alexa virtual assistant from Amazon has been freed of the bonds of speakers like the Echo — sort of. The decidedly female voice now lives in an app for Android and iOS devices called Roger. Roger, with the tagline “talk more,” is a voice messaging platform — like texting, but with your voice,

(EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) Google is expected to hit the smart home market in a big way with a new device codenamed Chirp. According to a report from Recode, the tech titan is moving in on the turf carved out by Amazon’s Echo with its own voice-activated assistant for the home. The device probably won’t see

Apple, Google, and Microsoft all have software that lets you talk to your phone to perform some actions or get answers to your questions. Siri, Cortana, and Google’s voice search tools can come in handy in the car, around the house, or in other places where you may not want to use your hands to

Alexa, the digital assistant that powers the Amazon Echo, Dot and Tap, has finally gained the ability to track your Amazon orders. It’s been an odd omission considering the great many things that Alexa can already do, but it’s better late than never. As reported by ReadWrite, you can now simply query Alexa with phrases

The Kayak travel search engine is now accessible on Amazon’s Alexa to let users search for and track flights. Siri, Cortana Are Listening: How 5 Digital Assistants Use Your Data (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) Every mobile professional has been there: late, scrambling to pack and run out the door in time to

Josh Miller/CNET In an effort to unite the smart-home market under a single networking protocol, Google/Alphabet’s Nest today launched OpenThread, an open-source implementation of the Thread protocol. The Thread Group, a nonprofit company first announced in July 2014, introduced the Thread protocol in hopes that IoT partners would work together to make the multiprotocol smart-home