Technological innovation is often simply an innovation in how we think about technology

Simon Chandler is a writer and journalist, contributing articles on culture, politics and technology. It may slip our notice, but technological innovation is often reducible to an innovation in the marketing and conceptualization of technology. Take Viv, the new personal assistant from the makers of Siri. It promises to simplify the process of ordering pizza or buying cinema tickets, allowing its users to perform such actions via a single voice-operated interface. Like the earlier Siri, it's being described as a "virtual assistant," not least because it's speech-operated and assists you in your daily, web-based business.