Cortana News (Coming from the inside) (OP being updated)

[Talderon]

I have a suggestion for Cortana:
It would be very handy if you could say something like "Insert Text" and then she would ask whether you would like to insert (formerly) copied text or insert new text and then you could just speak something and it gets inserted.
For example, when you're in a Whatsapp chat and you're to lazy to type in a message. You just say: "Insert new text" and then speak something and it gets inserted without typing or anything.

Talderon, I have a suggestion for a Cortana use, can she become linked to the bing health and fitness app which I use to keep track of diet and cycle riding, Cortana could suggest routes after examining previous routes saved in health and fitness, or give suggested distance routes dependant on time starting and darkness falling so you are back before dark, adding food to the diet tracker via voice to health and fitness, asking Cortana questions about stats saved in health and fitness, a myriad of things Cortana could help with by being able to link with health and fitness

Talderon, a suggestion: Cortana should be able to further limit location-based reminders within a timeframe, for example: "when I leave work on Friday, remind me to pick up the dry cleaning". I'm not sure if this was already suggested, but it's something that would be really useful for me and I'm sure others, too.

I noticed last night when I used Cortana to look up Iliza Shlesinger after seeing her on The Tonight Show that clicking on the "card" Bing pulled up for her in the web results spit out a lot of interesting information, images, links, etc. and when I scrolled all the way to the bottom it said "Data from: wikipedia | imdb | freebase" (each of those was a link to the corresponding source info. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Bing does use multiple sources but so far I haven't seen Wolfram Alpha as one of those. Freebase is sort of similar to WA.

TWO SUGGESTIONS about this for Talderon:
1. If Bing has this type of card why didn't Cortana just return that for me? That would make her look a lot smarter.
2. If Bing has the type of card why doesn't it appear at the top of the "web" results? That would get me to relevant information much faster.

Thanks!

First off, thanks everyone for participating here. I know I have not been as active as of late, but, as you can see, a LOT of work is going into Cortana and we're taking all feedback seriously!

For those quoted above, I really can't take feedback much anymore (thus the closing of my previous thread) because they want to manage it all in a central location (Cortana Feedback). This way it can go to the right people and the visibility internally can be monitored and discussed.

[NOTE]TEASER[/NOTE]

The next wave of Cortana features are going to be pretty cool! There will be refinements to one already there and just recently released.

The major Cortana release we just finished is the tip of the iceberg here. MANY new features were rolled out, but MANY more were rolled out and not activated (need to lay groundwork when we can) and these will be turned on as releases go.

Microsoft has committed to two Cortana releases a month but, as always, we have minor fixes and improvements going out almost daily!!

I'll keep this post a bit more updated as I am allowed. They turned on the new features internally that are shipping next and so far, the verdict is WOW!

 

[Lumia920amber]

Hi Talderon. I havent yet received the update to Cortana. Should I just wait or should I try to boot my Lumia 1520.

 

[Talderon]

Hi Talderon. I havent yet received the update to Cortana. Should I just wait or should I try to boot my Lumia 1520.

Give me a bit and I will look at the heat map on where it has been turned on.

 

[Lumia920amber]

Give me a bit and I will look at the heat map on where it has been turned on.

I live in Finland. I hope this could help you.

 

[Talderon]

Talderon,

Unique problem here that you might be able to shed some light on:



When I am at home (Plainsboro NJ, 08536) all of the Bing weather apps report that they "can't detect my location." This includes my Windows Phone, Windows 8.1 desktop and Surface. Compounding my theory that this is a Bing issue and not something with my devices or account is that the same thing happens on my partner's devices when he is home as well.



Here is where this relates to this thread- this also impacts Cortana's ability to respond to any location based inquiry. Asking about weather, places near me, and even the "news near me" all don't work, with weather and location based queries resulting in web searches. This happens on WiFi and on cellular, inside and out, and from what I can tell, pretty much anywhere that would show up as Plainsboro. If I drive for a minute into Cranbury, suddenly everything works.



Oddly enough, the issue is not related to GPS or network strength. All other GPS apps across platforms work with speed and precision. If I ask Cortana "where am I?" she responds accurately. Here Drive, Foursquare etc. also all work without issue. Even location based reminders work within Plainsboro, I set a reminder for when I get to the Dunkin Donuts around the corner and it worked. But all other Bing and Cortana location functions don't work.



The fact that this occurs across multiple devices and multiple Microsoft accounts seems to indicate that it is a problem on the Bing backend.



Any help you can provide would be much appreciated, it hampers the use of Cortana when many of the functions only work when not at home, and I can't imagine that I am the only one having this issue.



For what it's worth, when I click my weather from the Bing page, it says "Municipato de Plainsboro" which makes no sense because I'm in New Jersey! But it lends credence to my idea that Bing/Cortana are able to physically get my location but when they do are like "nope, error!"



Thanks!

Ack'd.

We talked via Skype and I am working on this internally. Thanks!

 

[Talderon]

I live in Finland. I hope this could help you.

Yeah, US rollout is primary, rolling out to international DC's is happening, just slowly.

 

[Lumia920amber]

Yeah, US rollout is primary, rolling out to international DC's is happening, just slowly.

Thanks for the info!

 

[tadevinney]

mine hasn't kicked in either. Using At&T /lumia 925 in Tucson, AZ..

 

[Talderon]

mine hasn't kicked in either. Using At&T /lumia 925 in Tucson, AZ..

Yeah, so we tried to roll things to AZ... Too hot, the bits came back on strike.

(<3 AZ)

 

[plinko]

Still not updated in Richmond, Va on At&t.

 

[tadevinney]

Yeah, so we tried to roll things to AZ... Too hot, the bits came back on strike.

(<3 AZ)

Cortland doesn't have a weather icon for hot as $@%@

 

[David P2]

Cortland doesn't have a weather icon for hot as $@%@

I don't think mushroom clouds would go down too well lol

 

[se4wp8]

I'm in London UK and am now getting transport information, how long it will take to get to work etc.

very nice indeed

edit: seems like its just london overground and national rail. no tube as yet.

 

[Panathas]

Cortana says my name now, but she pronounce it wrong. I have set the right pronunciation in the settings but she doesn't care

 

[ardafif]

Yeah, US rollout is primary, rolling out to international DC's is happening, just slowly.

I have a Lumia 521 on T-Mobile in Seattle, but still no update. Any way you could shoot it over the lake to me? :smile:

 

[xconomicron]

I'm guessing this update was only meant for a specific number/location of users? I received the update the first time around a couple of weeks ago... But no updates on my phones yet down here in San Antonio. 5 phones: 520/920/1020/2x1520's

Anyone else in SATX get it?

 

[tcmoon]

Nothing for my 1520 yet... Toledo, Ohio

 

[gahbmwm5]

I 'had' the update on my Lumia 920 yesterday, however after todays Developer Preview Update 3, I decided to perform a hard reset, and alas Cortana reverted back to older bits/code.... (Silver State)

Oh well, good things to come and once again thanks Talderon for your on-going very informative posts...
Will just wait patiently..., however I miss the dividers between the 'cards' especially the discover (eat+drink) added features...lol. As you made mention, this latest update 'is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg'....

Definitely looking forward to on-going progress...

 

[smoledman]

Talderon - any idea when MS plans to make Cortana more functional than Google Now & Siri combined?

Also - please kick the XBox Music team's *** for giving us such a bad app.

 

[Talderon]

I have a Lumia 521 on T-Mobile in Seattle, but still no update. Any way you could shoot it over the lake to me? :smile:

I'm in downtown Bellevue, just come over the bridge. LOL!

I'm guessing this update was only meant for a specific number/location of users? I received the update the first time around a couple of weeks ago... But no updates on my phones yet down here in San Antonio. 5 phones: 520/920/1020/2x1520's

Anyone else in SATX get it?

Nothing for my 1520 yet... Toledo, Ohio

Ok, here is how it's looking right now.

It has been deployed EVERYWHERE, however, in order to be careful and maintain stability, we are not enabling it for everyone at once. It'll be out, and soon, so just have to wait.

Talderon - any idea when MS plans to make Cortana more functional than Google Now & Siri combined?

Also - please kick the XBox Music team's *** for giving us such a bad app.

Dude. Preaching to the quire about the Xbox Music app. However, I have the retail bits and the internal test build. Some cool things coming soon! (Also to Xbox Video and Skype). [Yeah, I know, I am a tease]

As for the more functional than Goober Now and Silly? It's coming. We have SO MUCH in the pipeline and it's all being worked on. The development teams have grown a LOT since Cortana took off like a rocket. She is getting TONS of love from the mother ship.