Hey Cortana, let’s get personal

Cortana is Microsoft’s solution to Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now. With Windows 10, Microsoft is attempting to develop an intelligent personal assistant for the future of not just search but also the way you interact with your devices (mobile and personal computer). The key will be ensuring that Cortana is not only personal but proactive. Microsoft’s vision is that she will continually learn from your patterns and begin to proactively anticipate what you do – such as checking last night’s sports scores as soon as you wake up in the morning. Microsoft actually interviewed real personal assistants to better understand what made them useful for the consumer, which inspired features such as the notebook feature.

Hey Cortana, play some music

Windows 10 is excited that Cortana will be fluid across devices and carry what she learns from you on your phone over to your computer and vice versa. Extending from the mobile phone to the personal computer also introduces new scenarios where she becomes useful: such as asking her to put on some light dinner music. Some other key features that Cortana supports that you won’t necessarily find on both Google Now or Siri are:

• Event based notifications: Ask your son to do his laundry when he calls
• Predicative notifications such as traffic on your commute home from work
• Set interests such as your favorite musical artists
• Daily summaries of info that interest you

Hey Cortana, tell me about yourself

Cortana is named after the famous personal assistant from the videogame Halo. She also consists of geometric shapes which help to personify her and indicate to you how she is responding to your requests. She’s available now as a Beta version on Windows 8.1 phones and also as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One. Later this year, she’ll be available on Android phones (already available in beta) and on the iOS (e.g. Apple iPhone).