After Apple, Google, Microsoft, and a few other, smaller companies, Facebook is now jumping straight into the virtual assistant space. The social network’s newly revealed competitor for the likes of Siri, Google Now, or Cortana is called M. It lives inside Facebook Messenger.

M is for now getting a very limited release, with just a few hundred people in the San Francisco Bay Area being lucky enough to be able to use it. It will be quite a long time before every one of the 700 million monthly users of Facebook Messenger will get M as an option in the app, especially because of how M is said to pair AI with actual human input.

That will be its biggest differentiating feature, Facebook thinks. On one level, M works like its competitors – you can ask it stuff, and it will answer. It can also plan things for you, but it’s capable of pulling off stuff out there ‘in real life’ too.

For example, it can complete certain tasks, from organizing dinner parties to “tracking down an unusual beverage in New Orleans”, or redecorating your office or whatnot. It will even call your cable company and endure through the hold times and various automated messages you hear before you can actually speak to a customer rep.

All of this is possible thanks to “M trainers”, Facebook employees who will make sure that every request made to M is answered. You won’t know whether what M outputs comes from its AI or from actual humans working behind the scenes, however.

At the moment, M is only using the data in Messenger to base its answers and suggestions on, not the stuff in the main Facebook app. That may change in the future, though.

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After having gone on sale in certain markets such as Hong Kong already, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 are now up for pre-order in the US.

If you’re after either tablet in Wi-Fi-only form, then you can already order from Samsung’s own US online store. Each model comes in three color options: black, white, and gold.

The 8-inch model is priced at $399.99, while the 9.7-inch Tab S2 goes for $499.99. So they’re identical to Apple’s latest iPads in this regard.

More retailers should offer these devices later today, including Amazon and Best Buy. If, on the other hand, you’d rather get your Tab S2 from a carrier, complete with 4G LTE support, then both AT&T and T-Mobile will be happy to oblige.

AT&T will start taking orders for the 9.7-inch version on September 4. The carrier will only have it in black, for $0 down and 20 monthly installments of $30. Alternatively, you can get it for $499.99 with a new two-year contract.

You’ll find the same 9.7-inch Galaxy Tab S2 at T-Mobile one day earlier, on September 3. To purchase one, you shell out nothing upfront, then followed by 23 monthly installments of $27.09 and a 24th monthly payment of $26.92. That all adds up to the tablet’s full price of $649.99.

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