Alexa, meet Siri: Silicon Valley heavyweights join hands to make your smart home smarter Amazon, Apple, and Google found themselves in the same space yesterday -- and it wasn’t to defend themselves in a congressional hearing. In a rare show of solidarity,the 3 tech giants and other members of the Zigbee Allianceannounced plansto work together to solve one of the peskier problems in tech -- getting smart home technology to live up to its name. A Ring and a Circle might sound the same... But like so many of your so-called connected devices -- from yoursmart locksto yoursmart thermostatto yoursmart toothbrush-- their IQs drop when they try to interact. Engineers in Seattle, Cupertino, and Mountain View are trying to change that. Their big idea? Bring the best minds in tech together to allow all your disparate devices to sync. But do I really want Big Tech controlling all my switches? Some people arecreeped outby how much data smart devices know about us (Alexa, stop listening). Andnot everyone’sbuying the stuff, in part overfears of being hacked, as severalRing home security systemswere this month. Amazon and the others hope todevelop cooperative hardwarethat presumably would make interlinking the devices safer. How will this play out in my house? IKEA, another member of the alliance, has already partnered with Amazon, Apple, and Google. The Swedish furniture maker hasintroducedwireless blinds,speakers that double as shelves, andchargers embedded in nightstands and desk lamps. We just want someone to figure out how to make smart dinner.