Wednesday Tech Crawl: Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are working together. Plus more tech news.

Good morning, Austin. We have scanned the internet to bring you the latest in technology news. Here’s what’s happening:

Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are going to work together

In an unusual partnership, Amazon and Microsoft are working together to extend the abilities of their voice-controlled digital assistants.

Amazon and Microsoft announced today that they’ve formed a partnership to allow their respective voice assistants, Alexa and Cortana, to speak to one another.

Starting later this year, owners of Amazon Echos and other Alexa-powered devices will be able to say: “Alexa, open Cortana” to start querying Microsoft’s voice assistant. Owners of devices running Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system will be able to summon Alexa via Cortana in a similar manner.

Does this mean that Siri and Google Assistant are next?

New Uber boss says he’s ‘scared’ about becoming CEO

Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told staff at the online travel company he's led for over 12 years that he is "scared" about leaving to become Uber's next CEO. 

"This has been one of the toughest decisions of my life," Khosrowshahi reportedly wrote in a memo to staff that was obtained by Recode. "I've had the privilege to run Expedia for 12+ years now, and most of you who have been on this journey with me know it has not been easy going." 

"I have to tell you I am scared. I've been here at Expedia for so long that I've forgotten what life is like outside this place. But the times of greatest learning for me have been when I've been through big changes, or taken on new roles — you have to move out of your comfort zone and develop muscles that you didn’t know you had." 

It's a big move for Khosrowshahi and one that wasn't anticipated by the media and Uber's closest watchers. The board settled on Khosrowshahi on Sunday, according to this fascinating behind-the-scenes story by New York Times.

Apple is changing the way you use the next iPhone

Apple plans to transform the way people use its next high-end iPhone by eliminating the concept of a home button and making other adjustments to a flagship device that’s becoming almost all screen, according to images of the new device viewed by Bloomberg News. 

Apple is preparing three new iPhones for the debut next month. One of the models, a new high-end device, packs in enough changes to make it one of the biggest iPhone updates in the product’s decade-long history, Bloomberg reports.

With a crisper screen that takes up nearly the entire front, Apple has tested the complete removal of the home button—even a digital one—in favor of new gesture controls for tasks like going to the main app grid and opening multitasking, according to the people and the images.