The Internet of Things involves being connected all the time, and that also means when flying. In-flight connectivity is improving and there are some innovations coming along that are likely to impact entertainment in the air.

Personal data is so valuable that many consumers stopped using an online service or retailer in the past year because they didn't trust them with their data. However, it also looks like an actual price can be put on some personal data.

There are plenty of reasons to use voice assistants, but one of the key drivers is speed. The majority (82%) of voice assistant users say that fast and accurate replies is the most compelling feature that causes them to use the voice assistant.

Conversational commerce, where consumers purchase products and service through voice assistants such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri, is still relatively new but on its way to transforming commerce. About a quarter (24%) of consumers today say they would rather use a voice assistant rather than a website, but three years from now, 40% said they would prefer voice.

Love it or hate it, digital license plates are entering the market. Last week, Sacramento became the first U.S. city to buy in to the idea, outfitting 24 of its Chevy Bolts with Rplate Pros, the computer-driven, networked license plates.

It may not touch augmented reality in the long term, but virtual reality will be the fastest-growing media and entertainment category by revenue over the next five years. Total VR revenue in the U.S. is projected to grow from $3.1 billion this year to $7.2 billion in 2022 -- a growth rate of 38% a year since 2017.

Owners of connected cars will share personal data if they receive certain service offerings, such as traffic updates, safety alerts and maintenance warnings. However, the majority (64%) want to be told precisely what data is being collected, how it's used and who is using it.

For smart home devices, brand loyalty may take a back seat to interoperability. Consumers planning to by a smart home device consider it more important for any new device to work with other products in their home than what brand product they buy.

Four-year-old SenseTime, a leading AI company in China, just raised $620 million in funding, bringing its total funding to more than $1.6 billion and a valuation of more than $4 billion.

Amazon has launched a beta version of a feature that combines customer requests with a machine-learning model so the smart assistant can figure out the correct skill on its own.