Google Home unveiled, the voice-activated assistant launches Nov. 4

Google logo canvasGoogle is moving forward with its own voice-activated personal assistant, which is being positioned as a rival to the Amazon Echo. Google Home will interact with several types of smart home technology, including playing music from streaming services. The device will support more than Google’s own music properties (YouTube Music and Google Play Music); it will also play tracks from Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio. According to the presentation, Google Home can parse even complicated requests, such as “play that Shakira song from Zootopia.”

Rather than the more friendly name of Alexa in the Amazon Echo, Google’s AI is simply called Google Assistant. It also is a cheaper alternative to the Echo, priced at $129. The device will come with a six-month free trial of YouTube Red and it has several color options depending on the customer’s decor choices. Pre-orders open today and the Google Home will ship on Nov. 4.

Anna Washenko