Mashtalk

What does Google know about hardware that no one else does?   If you said software, you're almost right. What Google likes to think is its secret sauce is artificial intelligence, which manifests in its consumer products as the Google Assistant. The Assistant was front and center during the company's big hardware event earlier this month.   From the new Pixel 2 phones to the Home Mini and Home Max smart speakers to the insanely powerful Pixelbook laptop, Google pointed to its command, "OK, Google" again and again as a key way to interact with its devices and get information.   Nowhere was the power of AI more clear than in the Pixel Buds earphones, a set of wireless headphones that can translate spoken language on the fly. AI is also a big selling point of Clips, the camera that Google intends to be a kind of intelligent life logger: You set it down on the a shelf or floor, and it will smartly capture only the moments that matter to you.   Are all these smarts compelling or creepy? And ev