Harman Kardon crams Cortana into a smart home speaker

As Mick Jagger once opined, “lateness is fine if you arrive in style”. Or was that Mick Foley? Whichever, it’s good news for Cortana. See, Microsoft’s AI assistant hasn’t yet been keen to sit on shelves, deferring to Amazon Echo and Google Home for the smart home stuff. That’s all set to change, though, with Harman Kardon’s Invoke speaker. A wedge-shaped metal cylinder of 360-degree sound, it’ll do Skype calls, voice control and more when it arrives in Autumn, freeing Cortana from her Windows bonds. There’ll be full integration of the Halo helper’s organisational abilities, too – though no Echo Look-style, err, style advice.

Chris Rowlands Freelance contributor

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Formerly News Editor at this fine institution, Chris now writes about tech from his tropical office. Sidetracked by sustainable stuff, he’s also keen on coffee kit, classic cars and any gear that gets better with age.

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