Tag Archives: Cortana

While Microsoft initially had lofty goals for its digital assistant ‘Cortana', the company has been slowly backing away over the last few years. During that time, we've seen support for Cortana dropped for a variety of products, including smart speakers. Now, the dedicated iOS and Android Cortana apps are also …

Earlier this month, Apple ended up suspending its Siri voice grading program due to privacy concerns. Apple was found to have been sending voice recordings from unsuspecting Siri users to contractors tasked with grading Siri on its voice recognition capabilities, but these contractors ended up hearing private conversations, which sparked …

Back in 2017, Microsoft added its voice assistant into Skype, bolstering functionality to better compete with the likes of Discord. It seems as though the company has finally conceded that its Cortana just isn’t as popular as its rivals, opting to swap out the AI for Amazon’s Alexa. Embedded into …

Although voice assistants such as Google Home, Alexa, Cortana, Bixby and Siri are all getting progressively smarter in their responses, all have one disadvantage in common – understanding a thicker dialect. Enthusiasts intent on continuing their use of the devices could begin to lose their regional accents in the long-term …

Despite predating Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, Microsoft hasn’t made as much of an impact with its Cortana voice assistant since its mid-2014 debut. Doubling down on its investments, the company has now absorbed conversational A.I. technology firm Semantic in hopes of playing catch-up and, preferably, make Cortana a little …

Microsoft’s Cortana has been competing with Apple’s Siri on iPhone for quite some time, but the latest update finally brings the digital assistant to iPad. While all platforms will benefit from the update’s various nips and tucks, the iPad especially will benefit from an “exclusive layout and interface.” The main …

The Home Assistant connected device market seems to be massive in the United States, with an estimated 60.5 million users this year taking up the devices, according to a recent report from eMarketer (that's a little under 1-in-5 human beings in the country) . So it stands as no surprise …

Maker aficionados of the Windows 10 IoT Core persuasion will be happy to know that Cortana has landed. The Windows 10 Creators Update milestone has delivered on a number of new features, including the Cortana voice assistant, which can now be used by makers in their Windows 10 IoT implementations. …

It looks like Microsoft wants to get into the smart home business and it will be using Cortana to make it happen. Cortana has been Microsoft's digital assistant for mobile and Windows for quite some time and now, Cortana will be hitting smart home devices, like Harman/Kardon's new Amazon Echo …

Windows 10 is approaching the end of its first year out in the wild and so far, over 350 million people have made the upgrade. To mark the occasion, Microsoft is planning a big Anniversary Update, which will come out on the 2nd of August. While it will bring plenty …

Microsoft has been tinkering with a lot of features that launched with Windows 10 over the last year. The latest change made to the OS affects the Cortana feature, which is now completely locked to Microsoft's own Bing search engine and Edge browser. Obviously, this is the way Cortana ships …

Following on from months of beta testing throughout the year, Microsoft now has its digital assistant, Cortana, available for both iOS and Android. Cortana is also set to be ‘deeply integrated' with the Cyanogen OS too, starting with the 12.1.1 update, which is coming to the OnePlus One soon, this …

Although the digitally entrenched future shown to us in the movie Her seems like it's still at least a decade from becoming reality, companies like Facebook, Apple and Microsoft are all developing and pushing their digital assistants upon us. This has to led to a number of interesting questions about …

Microsoft has been working on its Cortana apps for iOS and Android all year. You can already download it pretty easily on Android, with the app being available on the Google Play Store in certain territories, though things have taken a little longer for iOS users. Now, Microsoft is ready …

Windows 10 has been out for desktop users since the end of July, with it already being installed on 110 million devices. However, Microsoft is also bringing the operating system to other devices, in December, starting off with Windows 10 for smartphones, launching alongside the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL. …

Microsoft recently released its digital assistant, Cortana, for Android as a standalone app. However, Cyanogen has some bigger plans in mind, mulling over the possibility of deeply integrating Cortana with Cyanogen OS in order to access functions similar to those you would find on Cortana for Windows Phone or Siri on …

Facebook has thrown its hat in the ring of digital, personal assistants with the announcement of its own competitor to the likes of Cortana and Siri, called M. The single lettered software will have something that separates it from the pack of contenders however, in that M will not only …

We have been hearing about Cortana's eventual arrival on Android for months now. While an early version of the digital assistant for Android leaked just ahead of the Windows 10 launch last month, you can now get your hands on the app officially, as Microsoft has launched the public beta. …

It seems that Microsoft has found a way to allow its Cortana app to have deeper integration with Android as the halo-themed digital assistant can now replace Google Now. Cortana for Android is still in beta, having launched last month but it already does a lot of the same tasks …

A while back, Microsoft revealed that it would be bringing its Cortana virtual assistant app to both iOS and Android in addition to Windows Phone and Windows 10. The app has already been available for Windows Phone users for quite some time now but over the weekend, Android users got …

Earlier this week, Microsoft detailed its new method for syncing up Windows 10 with Microsoft's other apps on iOS and Android. This includes bringing the Cortana digital assistant to Google and Apple's respective platforms this year. At the time, a release date was not touched upon but it looks like …

The Windows 10 digital assistant, Cortana, may end up landing on iOS and Android following the official launch of Microsoft's latest operating system, which will attempt to unify its devices and form a better ecosystem. Bringing Cortana to other mobile operating systems would git in well with the company's new devices …

The Bing prediction engine has been busy this last week getting to grips with the Oscars and trying to predict the winners for each category. While it didn't get all 24 predictions correct, it did manage to get 20 correct giving it an 84% success rate. At last year's Oscars …

Microsoft is currently working on bringing its digital assistant, Cortana, to Microsoft Office. The company is currently testing a “Work Assistant” app that is designed to use Cortana to open up, edit and share documents using voice commands. The application is just a prototype right now, but sources familiar with …

Microsoft kicked off its Windows 10 event this evening, giving us a look at new additions to the operating system, plans for PC gaming and even announcing free upgrades to the new version for those on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. Just as the previous rumours suggested, those who own …

Microsoft's rumored Spartan browser may be a little more enticing than originally thought as it may include support for Chrome extensions. We may not have to wait long to find out for sure either as the browser is expected to be revealed at tonight's Windows 10 event. A report from …

According to some recently leaked images courtesy of cnbeta, it seems that Microsoft is exploring a new dark theme for Windows 10 with some very flat iconography. While all we have right now are these photos showing a concept of a dark taskbar with some white outlined icons and the Spartan browser …

Just last week we had Phil Spencer teasing future gaming plans for Windows 10 and now, we have our first look at what Microsoft is planning as new Windows 10 leaks show off a new Xbox integration app alongside Cortana, the Windows digital assistant. Microsoft is currently developing the Windows …

More rumors are beginning to suggest that Cortana, Microsoft's Windows Phone virtual assistant, will be coming to Windows 10. However, the feature may arrive sooner than we think as a part of the public technical preview, which Microsoft launched back in October. According to Cnet's sources, Microsoft will be bringing …

Microsoft finally created its own digital assistant for Windows Phone earlier this year, based on Cortana from the Halo universe. Cortana has remained exclusive to Windows Phone for a while now but that could change soon as new speculation arises, suggesting that Cortana will soon hit new devices. During a …