On the eve of the Apple WWDC conference, some of the leading names in tech say bots may soon replace the apps we know and love. Ari Roisman, CEO and cofounder of Glide, a video-messaging app that hopes to capitalize on the coming transition away from texting and towards a voice-and-video interaction future. SAN FRANCISCO - Typing is so ... 20th century. And soon texting is likely to join it in that same communication dustbin. That's a view Ari Roisman, CEO and cofounder of video messaging app Glide, shares with some of the titans of tech ranging from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Apple is set to unveil a new and improved Siri, the personal digital assistant, and widen its reach, to Mac computers and third-party apps. Philips Hue is now compatible with Apple Home Kit, meaning you can use Siri to control your lights. LOS ANGELES -- Siri is expected to expand beyond the iPhone and iPad to third-party apps and Macs, a move designed to hike the usefulness and IQ of Apple's personal digital assistant. Analysts who cover Apple predict an expanded role for Siri will be one highlight of Apple's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins Monday in San Francisco. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Google is showing off a new smart-home speaker and a chat service called Allo during its annual conference that serves as a launching pad for its latest products and innovations. SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple is planning to make Siri smarter by linking it to the vast menu of iOS apps and eventually will deploy the digital assistant on a standalone device similar to Amazon's best-selling Echo, according to a published report. The news, reported Tuesday by tech media site The Information, answers an oft-asked question about why the iPhone-maker seems to be sitting on the sidelines as a growing number of companies, from Google to Siri-offshoot Viv, make big announcements about the coming age of voice-activated machine learning. Citing unnamed sources, the article said Apple was preparing to release a software developer kit, or SDK, that would allow app-makers to allow their products to integrate with Siri. Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled for June 13 in San Francisco.

Developers gathered at the Microsoft BUILD developers conference in San Francisco to hear about the latest and greatest from Microsoft. Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, speaks at the keynote ceremony of the Microsoft Build Developers conference. SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off the company's Build developers conference with a vision of the future filled with chatbots, machine learning and artificial intelligence. "Bots are the new apps," said Nadella during a nearly three-hour keynote here that sketched a vision for the way humans will interact with machines. That's the world you're going to get to see in the years to come."

Online retailer Amazon (AMZN) is embracing its inner tech geek with the introduction of two new technology products, hoping to further capitalize on its surprisingly popular home-based voice-controlled Echo product that has been dubbed, Alexa. In this March 2, 2016 photo, David Limp, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices, center, speaks behind an Amazon Echo in San Francisco. Amazon.com is introducing two devices, the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot, that are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version incorrectly identified Amazon's Fire Phone. SAN FRANCISCO -- The Amazon Echo is turning out to be a sleeper hit.

Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro displayed one of his androids on Sunday at the SXSW Interactive Festival. The android, which is modeled after Ishiguro, held an autonomous conversation in Japanese on stage with an Ishiguro associate. Professional South Korean Go players review a match after another bout lost to a computer in the Google DeepMind Challenge Match. AUSTIN – Science and technology have always cut with double-edged swords, capable of both propelling humanity to new achievements while threatening us with potential catastrophe. That chilling theme was explored by two leading technologists at SXSW Interactive, a festival that has seen its share of humans rising up against the machines.

USA TODAY's Ed Baig tests Amazon Echo's personal digital assistant. Find out how Alexa relates to Siri, benefits and flaws in this Jan. Siri can now name songs, via Shazam. SAN FRANCISCO -- While there are multiple voice-controlled products, only a few are in wide use in the United States. Siri can be set up to only turn on when the user pushes a button, or to also respond to the phrase "Hey, Siri."

SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon is working on a portable version of the Echo, its surprisingly successful voice-activated tabletop device released earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Seattle e-commerce company plans to release a beer can sized version of Echo "in the coming weeks," the paper said. The new carry-along device will be priced lower than Echo's $180 and will require charging like a phone. It is code named "Fox," the Journal reported. A lower price "is always a good thing for greater adoption. Echo v.1 has received rave reviews from consumers and reviewers. I think they'll only benefit getting it in more hands," said Sucharita Mulpuru, a senior Amazon analyst with Forrester.

From Siri to photo memories, here are five new features of the MacOS Sierra, coming to the public as a beta in July. NEW YORK--Siri evaded my question for what took Apple's voice assistant so long to get onto the Mac. "Who, me?" responds the voice familiar to anyone who uses an iPhone. However tardy Siri's arrival, the debut of Apple's loquacious personal helper on the company's computers is arguably the most welcome new feature coming to Macs that will be running macOS Sierra. Sierra is the latest iteration of Apple's operating system for its PCs and is the first version in years without the OS X moniker.

Siri has been a part of Apple's iPhone since 2011. The human voice is one of the most personal and unique aspects of every individual, as well as one of the most sought after means of interacting with our devices. Voice-based interfaces have, in fact, been promised as the next big breakthrough for several decades. Until recently, though, they've been much more future promise than current reality. Even with the much heralded introduction of Apple's Siri back in October of 2011, spoken interactions with computing devices have often been more comical than helpful. Beginning with Amazon's Alexa, however--part of their Echo series of devices--the notion of natural human-style interactions with computing devices is starting to take hold.