Google's secret hardware ingredient is AI

What does Google know about hardware that no one else does?

If you said software, you're almost right. Google likes to think 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.

SEE ALSO: Google's 'Pixel Buds' may be the key to breaking the language barrier

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 the big selling point of Clips, a camera that Google touts as a kind of intelligent life logger: You set it down on the a shelf or a floor, and it will smartly capture only the moments that matter to you.

Are all these smarts compelling or creepy? And even if it's the former, is having a smart AI enough for Google to actually move these products on store shelves? And is any of this stuff something you should think about buying?

Those are the questions Mashable's Tech Team tackles in the latest MashTalk. Tech Reporter Karissa Bell, who got to try out Google's new suite of products, joins the podcast alongside Tech Correspondent Raymond Wong and Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff.

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