Mossberg: Google Home shows promise, but needs work

Like many tech enthusiasts, I’ve been using a $180 Amazon Echo intelligent speaker at my home for a year or more. And, while I love using it for some things — playing music and podcasts, setting timers, and re-ordering items from Amazon — I’ve come to realize that, like Apple’s Siri and all other virtual assistants, its Alexa voice-driven artificial intelligence system disappoints a lot.
So I was excited to test Google Home, the $129 Echo competitor that puts the se