Many tech companies are trying to integrate the two worlds. In Apple’s new iPhone, Siri, the voice-activated assistant, can answer questions about current movies, sports and restaurants.

Microsoft is experimenting with computers that understand gestures and voice, like gloves with sensors, Bing voice search on the Xbox and gesture recognition on the Kinect. I.B.M. is teaching machines to learn and interact with people, including in hospitals. But Google is at the forefront, with vast research about what kinds of questions people want answered — and when.

Google says its internal logs reveal that mobile searches spike during mealtimes, when people are away from their computers but still want information immediately. And people ask more questions about trivia — “How tall is the Statue of Liberty” (answer: 305 feet) and “How old is the earth” (4.54 billion years) — on mobile devices than on computers.

To make these searches easier, last month Google introduced mobile search apps for Android phones and iPhones that let people ask questions aloud and listen to Google answer in a vaguely robotic woman’s voice. The idea is that people do not have to excuse themselves from conversation to type a query, and everyone can hear the answer, as if Google were another guest.

In May, Google introduced fact cards to answer trivia-type queries; these are answers on the search results page, so people do not have to click on a link, wait for a Web page to load and further delay the conversation. Say you urgently need to know Ryan Gosling’s net worth. Search on your phone and above the links to search results, Google tells you. (It is $50 million.)

Google Glass, eyeglass frames that let people use the Web on a tiny screen near their temples, are not yet for sale but will let people find answers without reaching into their pockets. So will other wearable computers that Google plans to experiment with, like watches.

The company is also studying screens that could be built into kitchen walls or dining room tables, to make Google a constant companion that everyone in the room could talk to.