Cortana slowly starting to look like a killer feature.

[ejb222]

I hope Cortana truly puts Siri to shame. But there aren't too many facts out about Cortana right now. When will it be released? How complex will it be? Will Cortana be assigned to an account or to a device? How much customization will be allowed? How much integration can we allow? Can we reduce Cortana's ability to something similar to Tellme? Or make it as involved as Jarvis? So many questions...there are no answers as of yet. So for me...hopes are high...expectations low.

 

[Simon Tupper]

I hope Cortana truly puts Siri to shame. But there aren't too many facts out about Cortana right now. When will it be released? How complex will it be? Will Cortana be assigned to an account or to a device? How much customization will be allowed? How much integration can we allow? Can we reduce Cortana's ability to something similar to Tellme? Or make it as involved as Jarvis? So many questions...there are no answers as of yet. So for me...hopes are high...expectations low.

Early 2014 for the US and late 2014 for me

 

[Moiz Mian]

Early 2014 for the US and late 2014 for me

Don't worry, late 2014 for US ATT users as well

 

[travis_valkyrie]

I still think about this one, only in Cortana's voice.

 

[nohra]

Don't worry, late 2014 for US ATT users as well

LOL, so true!!

 

[nohra]

I still think about this one, only in Cortana's voice.
Microsoft Tellme "Say it. Get it." [HD] - YouTube

Cheesy video, but nice demo.

of course reality...

*bleep* "Can't find that contact..."
*bleep* "Sorry, couldn't hear anything. Try saying call mom, find pizza, open calendar, text Brandy, or note send birthday card..."

 

[12Danny123]

There is so much potential for speech command, MS can leap if they get it right, and allow it to integrate into non-MS apps. I really want to be able to tell HERE apps to find a particular place and then once it finds it, just tell it to direct me there via HERE Drive. That's the biggest one for me, because I really want to use HERE, Urbanspoon, Yelp type apps while i'm driving, but there's just limited voice commands at this point. Not much beyond "Open Here Drive" right now...

Nokia's conquering cameras, now it's time to conquer voice command.

I agree so much potential. I think MS answered our prayers. Microsoft is apparently letting third party developers take advantage of Cortana. Oh my F** god I'm so excited for this

 

[Simon Tupper]

I would be nice if Cortana could connect to your car's Bluetooth without having to configure it. Simply enter your car and Cortana does the rest haha.

 

[hs k]

I think its going to crush the competition - MS said they didn't want to release an evolution - they wanted a revolution.

Vive la revolution!!

I guess the correction should be :: Viva la revoluci?n

 

[anony_mouse]

I'm still not convinced about voice recognition. There are situations where it is useful, such as when you're driving. But in most cases touch, keyboard/mouse, remote control, etc are quicker and more accurate.
Siri's speech recognition is very impressive, easily the best I've seen. Apart from testing, though, I've never used it. Typing is simply quicker.

 

[eruptflail]

Unless MS made some innovations in linguistics I'm not aware of, they can't make voice recognition that is better than SIRI or google now, but it'll be about the same VR wise. The only hope they have is to integrate it in novel ways. I'm not holding my breath though.

 

[kjordan_29]

As long as it has the voice of Cortana, I'll use it.

 

[Reflexx]

Unless MS made some innovations in linguistics I'm not aware of, they can't make voice recognition that is better than SIRI or google now, but it'll be about the same VR wise. The only hope they have is to integrate it in novel ways. I'm not holding my breath though.

SIRI or Google Now don't have superior voice recognition to TellMe. MS Research is one of the top in the world when it comes to this.

What SIRI and Google Now have done is work on logic. Recognizing context based on the words that are used.

I forgot the actual term for it. I haven't worked in that industry for a little while, and even when I was there I wasn't a linguist. But I worked with a ton of linguists and AI engineers. It's really fascinating stuff.

 

[wapoz]

I wonder if we'll ever get a voice assistant that is "always listening" similar to the Moto X or similar to the XB1's Kinect somewhere down the line. I know the Moto X relies on somewhat custom hardware for it's voice assistant technology, but with MS controlling what type of hardware the OEMs can use on phones, it could be possible. Plus the groundwork seems to be laid pretty well in the way that Kinect handles voice commands and voice recognition. It would be nice to see them unify voice technology across desktop, tablet, and phone as well.

 

[martinmc78]

Just seen this posted by Microsoft next - TED talk on advanced AI - could this be the backbone of Cortana sounds like the revolution MS were talking about.

Meet Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz?€™s disarmingly human AI personal assistant - Next at Microsoft - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Watch from 18 minutes onwards for Demos on AI being used at MS campus.

 

[anony_mouse]

I wonder if we'll ever get a voice assistant that is "always listening" similar to the Moto X or similar to the XB1's Kinect somewhere down the line. I know the Moto X relies on somewhat custom hardware for it's voice assistant technology, but with MS controlling what type of hardware the OEMs can use on phones, it could be possible. Plus the groundwork seems to be laid pretty well in the way that Kinect handles voice commands and voice recognition. It would be nice to see them unify voice technology across desktop, tablet, and phone as well.

This would be awesome! Imagine all of your devices, listening to you, all the time. Google would be green with envy.
Next step after that is to have all your devices watching you, all the time. Every gesture, every sound, monitored continuously. 24 hours per day. 365 days per year. Nothing escaping their benevolent attention. And all those devices networked! Telescreens in every room.
What could possibly go wrong?

 

[martinmc78]

This would be awesome! Imagine all of your devices, listening to you, all the time. Google would be green with envy.
Next step after that is to have all your devices watching you, all the time. Every gesture, every sound, monitored continuously. 24 hours per day. 365 days per year. Nothing escaping their benevolent attention. And all those devices networked! Telescreens in every room.
What could possibly go wrong?

Where can I get one of your tin foil hats? :winktongue:

 

[wapoz]

This would be awesome! Imagine all of your devices, listening to you, all the time. Google would be green with envy.
Next step after that is to have all your devices watching you, all the time. Every gesture, every sound, monitored continuously. 24 hours per day. 365 days per year. Nothing escaping their benevolent attention. And all those devices networked! Telescreens in every room.
What could possibly go wrong?

Hurr, hurr, hurr. Nice fear mongering and exaggerations. What next, a reference to 1984, and a Ben Franklin quote about freedom?

 

[martinmc78]

Hurr, hurr, hurr. Nice fear mongering and exaggerations. What next, a reference to 1984, and a Ben Franklin quote about freedom?

Hes not far wrong though. Watch the video link I posted at 18 minutes - if that's what they are using already its both pretty great and pretty freaky at the same time. Can only mean good things though if its condensed for personal use in the home. Although the dude on the screen would have to go - I can see why they are spearheading Cortana she would be much more pleasant to interact with.

 

[anony_mouse]

Hurr, hurr, hurr. Nice fear mongering and exaggerations. What next, a reference to 1984, and a Ben Franklin quote about freedom?

There was already a reference to 1984 in my post.
Who is Ben Franklin?