Like Apple's HAL, the Google version will learn from your responses, becoming more accurate and relevant the more you use it.

One myth about innovation is that it comes about as a "eureka" moment of spontaneous creation, producing an idea radically different from anything that came before.

The truth is that the big new ideas are always "in the air" -- many people are working on them because technology evolution brings the industry to the point where these ideas are inevitable. And then it's all about the execution, timing, funding and so on.

Everywhere you look in technology today, you'll see these kinds of virtual assistants emerging. It's an idea whose time has come.