Can the Internet hear me now?

[Commentary] For the past two decades, the web has been optimized for sight and touch. This is about to change in a big way. Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and the Amazon Echo are ushering in an era of voice-controlled devices and services. Soon, Facebook M will join the fray. These digital assistants all reveal the beginnings of a transformation within the Internet. We will increasingly interact with the web and all it contains primarily using our voice.

There’s one glaring problem with this brave new world: as the Internet of Things talks back to us, much of what it has to say will be for our ears only. How do we keep these conversations private and personal? Answer: With hearables. I spoke to several in the budding hearables industry. All, no surprise, are big believers in the technology. There was probably a time when we might all fret over the intrusiveness of a voice speaking directly into our ear. But with Siri and Cortana becoming more commonplace, and with a billion people constantly staring into their smartphones, the idea of the web inside our ear may actually be long overdue.