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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For more than a decade, Chris has been finding and featuring the best kit you can carry. When he's not writing about his favourite things for Stuff, you'll find Chris field-testing the latest gear for TechRadar. From cameras to classic cars, he appreciates anything that gets better with age.

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