I picked up a Google Home right after it launched. I didn't necessarily have any specific intentions to do such a thing, but I walked into a Best Buy and they had so many of them just sitting there (and at a discount) that I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to check out Google Assistant, too, and Google Allo wasn't something I wanted to use on a regular basis.

So I took it home, set it up, and I had a good time with the device for a little while. Being able to talk to a smart speaker and have some music start playing is pretty awesome. And watching my kids ask Assistant questions, like they've done with Siri in the past -- but without having to hijack my phone was also pretty neat.

They love talking to digital personal assistants, which is just one reason why I'm glad companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and others are putting so much focus on it. Adoption is only going to get better over time, so Assistant, Siri, and others only have room to grow.

Unfortunately, it didn't take me long to realize that, aside from using it as a speaker, I, personally, wasn't going to use Home all that often.

But I got my mom one for the holidays, and while she was against it at first she's quickly turned around on the smart speaker. She loved the thing. From playing music, to checking up on the news, and even getting a brief look at her schedule, Home helped her out a great deal. I was happy that she was happy.

Last night I was curious about whether or not she was still happy with it, all these months later. After all, it is just a smart speaker, and I couldn't help but wonder if its ubiquitous nature inside her house, just another object on a desk, would mean she'd gradually stop using it. So I asked her and I was happy to find out that, yes, she's still using it all the time, and she's still happy with it.

She may just be telling me what she thinks I want to hear, since I did buy it for her as a present. Hopefully she actually is really using it as much as she says.

A friend of mine has an Echo in his home, and he ranted and raved about that thing for a long while. So this morning I asked him the status on the Echo -- does he still use it all the time? Interestingly enough he said he's been using Assistant on his Google Pixel XL a lot more, because he travels quite a bit, but that Amazon's Echo (and Alexa) help his own kids out quite a bit.

So, while he might not be using the Echo all that often anymore, it sounds like it's still getting used a lot, which is a good thing.

It got me wondering if the Echo, and Google Home, are still being used in your house as often as they were when you first got them, too. As the smart speaker just become another device in your home that you use every once in awhile? Or do you still use these things every day? Let me know!