Amazon wants to set Alexa free

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Every day, I use Alexa to turn on my lights, switch TV channels, and set timers when I’m cooking. Amazon’s digital assistant is the center of my smart home, but once I step out of the house, Alexa might as well be dead to me.Like many in the US, I use an iPhone that’s tightly controlled by Apple. Sure, there’s an Alexa app I can use, but I can’t summon the digital assistant with the regular “Alexa” on my iPhone, s