It's been a while since Google showed up in a big way at CES. The company's always in Vegas, of course: execs hold meetings with carriers and partners, and the halls of the convention center practically overflow with devices. For the last few years, that's been enough for Google.
At CES 2018[1], however, Google's back in a big way. Its massive installation in the convention center parking lot includes a twirling slide and a ball pit. The company wallpapered the Vegas monorail in Google Assistant ads. You can barely turn around without seeing a "Hey Google" billboard reminding you of the power of the company's voice-activated bot. The efforts feel like metaphor: Google Assistant is everywhere in Vegas because Google wants desperately for Assistant[2] to be everywhere in your gadgets.
Google even announced big news at CES for the first time in a while. It's all about Assistant, of course, Google's attempt to get its virtual helper into more places and devices. The newest new thing is a line of "Smart Displays" built by JBL, LG, Lenovo, and Sony. These are dedicated Assistant devices, much like the Google Home[3], except these have screens as well.
They're Google's version of the Echo Show[4]: able to show recipes, make video calls, watch movies, and the like. Most of the interaction still happens through the Assistant, but these devices can show you things now. Google's perfectly suited to make a device like this work: a smart display can show off the awesome search power inside Google Photos, the Duo video-chat service, and even Google Maps, unlike any other device. Plus, unlike the Echo Show, which Google seems to be intentionally hamstringing for its own gain,...