Google Home starts battle with Amazon for living rooms

One week after Amazon launched Echo in the UK, the search company is also pitching for a smart home future with its own voice recognition device

Talking to computers was once for the likes of Captain Kirk, but a new product due to be announced by Google on Tuesday demonstrates that it believes devices that can speak to humans are ready for the living room.

The search engine giant is expected to launch its Google Home "personal assistant" speaker system - a squat cylinder that will be able to process search requests and other everyday tasks when instructed to by the sound of a human voice.