Starting this spring, Microsoft said it plans to make productivity the focus of the digital assistant. As part of the shift, Cortana will lose some of its more consumer-facing features, such as the ability to play music and control smart home devices. More significantly, the company plans to remove the digital assistant from its Launcher […]
Microsoft’s changing Cortana strategy is about to have consequences for some phone users. Microsoft has revealed that the Cortana app will stop working after January 31st, 2020 for people in Australia, Canada and the UK. Cortana content won’t pop up in either the app or Microsoft Launcher, and a version of the Launcher will arrive […]
Microsoft is continuing its A.I. push. By further integrating artificial intelligence into its Microsoft 365 applications including its Office suite products such as Outlook and Excel — the company wants to offload some of the heavy human lifting to its Cortana digital smart assistant to help you stay productive. By bringing its A.I. smarts to […]
Microsoft today updated its privacy policies to disclose that employees and contractors are listening to audio from some Skype calls and conversations with Cortana recordings. unlike Apple and Google, each of which halted listening to some of these recordings after the revelations, Microsoft appears to be merely updating its privacy policy to admit that yes, […]
Microsoft has been distancing Cortana from Windows for months. First, it split the virtual assistant from search in Windows 10. Then, a beta version of a standalone Cortana app appeared on the Windows Store. And starting today, Windows 10 Insiders are able to test the new Cortana app beta in Windows. It’s designed to be […]
Microsoft’s virtual assistant Cortana could be split off from Windows 10 to become its own separate app. As highlighted by The Verge, Microsoft has added a standalone beta version of Cortana to the Windows Store that is now available to download and try. This move suggests that Microsoft will choose to update the voice assistant […]
Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana, fell behind Google Assistant and Alexa in 2018. The software giant has been slowly repositioning Cortana as a skill that can run anywhere, rather than a rival to Google, Amazon, or Apple’s assistants. Microsoft now appears to be targeting Cortana at more conversational interactions for workers who are organizing their days. […]