How could everyday devices be empowered with the possibility of being asked questions like on Quora?
By now smartphones should qualify as everyday devices; so, we already know about Siri and Cortana. AFAIK, there is no proper API yet for porting Siri into other devices. However, at least some of Cortana’s functionalities are available via Microsoft’sprojectoxford.ai (and luis.ai).
Amazon Echo fits the bill as an example of a question answering device. According to Amazon, Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) and Alexa Voice Service (AVS) “enable you to add voice-powered experiences to your connected devices”. Nabaztag was an Amazon Echo like device long before there was an Amazon Echo. Mycroft is another potential competitor for Amazon Echo, something like a talking “clock radio”.
Other devices in this genre include EmoSPARK, Jibo, and Ubi though, theubi.comseems to have pivoted away from their original device into a cloud service. See also the list under my Quora question, What are the best dialog system APIs for the Internet of Things?