Recent reports of the amazing eavesdropping power and home control Amazon’s Alexa has (similar to other voice-assistances) should not surprise. Its inherent in how these virtual assistants work. Alexa has to always be listening to be able to respond to a voice command that may come from you yelling across the kitchen. She has to be ready to respond to back-and-forth question-response to receive further clarifying instructions if needed, so she often may keep listening in case [...]

Even as early adopters today are already speaking with their household appliances, lighting systems, home security network, and computing devices through cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) enabled systems, one question comes to mind. Which AI system will lead the way to eventual mass market adoption: Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s homeKit, Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistant, or perhaps the recently announced Google Assistant? Each system offers a fast-growing dose of cloud-enabled arti [...]