Alexa picked up you saying Alexa, then heard the Google's compliment, which it mistook as having come from you. It wasn't responding to Google, nor did Google activate it.
You're probably right in the first half, but I wouldn't be too surprised if interactions between voice assistants are special cases that are accounted for by the programmers as a little bit of an Easter egg
They probably interact more through zeroconf/avahi/mdns than speakers and mics. I think both devices have some implementation of blue tooth low energy network mapping. They know about the other smart devices in your home.
There was a Superbowl commercial for Alexa that sounded funny. Every time they said Alexa it sounded robotic. I guess they scrambled the voice just enough for the real units to not respond. Also, the first time they said it... It was subtle, but they said "Lexa" and not "Alexa."
Not if you disable all voice commands and use something like GrapheneOS (maybe even with stock android and ios when disabling all voice commands but I wouldn't count on it)
they quite literally are recording constantly. how else can they detect the trigger phrase? they only difference is that they are supposed to delete these recordings after the phrase isnt heard. but who's to say that one of these devices is really doing that? it could include these recordings in it's next request to amazon's headquarters.
regardless of what your phone does, having 2 recording devices is worse than 1. especially if they are owned by 2 separate companies. but if u disagree, why dont u livestream your computer screen 24/7, since microsoft is already recording that anyway...whats the difference?
every new internet-enabled microcomputer is another attack vector, and every less one is more peace of mind. there's a reason most security-minded people dont live in the bush, every choice is a compromise, and i choose somewhere between being able living in society and having a recording device in every room.
also, you should consider using a free and open source mobile os if youre not already...
For the first one, you should look into some z wave light switches; I have my house wired with them and then I setup triggers for things like "double tap this switch up to turn on the whole room" and "double tap this switch down to start a bedtime routine"
One time I was watching The Matrix. During the part where Morpheus explains everything and he said "What is the Matrix?" my phone piped up and started answering even tho there was nothing even close to sounding like "ok google" before that.
I've wondered if there's a way for political campaigns to take advantage of all the smart speakers by mixing in that old school approach of rolling through neighborhoods with loudspeakers on their cars.
Step 1. Make a campaign ad
Step 2. Upload the ad to Amazon music library
Step 3. Cruise around saying, "Alexa, play campaign ad for..." through the loud speaker