content: Humans are a lot better at identifying and understanding a voice in noisy conditions, than computers are.  If this technology can't be replicated by others, then it has a good chance to become a part of everyday computing.  The kind of signal processing they are using could potentially help in other kinds of pattern recognition other than just voices, but the voice alone would be a significant improvement to our ability to "just talk" to computers anywhere, anytime, as well as spy on people anywhere, anytime. It's true though that there are many "breakthrough" technology start-ups that have a burst of investor and media interest, but crash and burn in the real world.  Theranos is a great example.