Yesterday, we reported that Amazon and Microsoft's year-long smart assistant partnership was finally bearing fruit. The two companies have worked together to bring their Cortana and Alexa virtual assistants to each other's devices.
Windows 10-powered PCs, for example, let users access Alexa, and Cortana can be called from any Echo device. This partnership doesn't seem to benefit users in any meaningful way, though - Alexa can already answer virtually any question Cortana can and vice versa.
Regardless, the partnership is developing even further soon. Microsoft is teaming up with both Amazon and Google to bring their respective virtual assistants to the upcoming Cortana-powered GLAS thermostat, created by Johnson Controls.
This may seem like yet another pointless deal at first, but there's a method to Microsoft's madness - Google Home and Amazon Echo devices dominate the smart speaker market right now, so making GLAS more accessible to both company's customers could boost the thermostat's sales considerably.
The GLAS thermostat, for the unaware, boasts a few unique features. It can monitor indoor and outdoor air quality, and automatically select the best temperature for your home at any given time based on your previous habits, potentially saving you money in the long run.
If this new assistant partnership sounds like something you want to test for yourself, you can pre-order a GLAS directly from the official Johnson Controls website for $319. The device is expected to ship out on August 24.