Microsoft's Cortana assistant now available on Android in the US

The battle for personal assistand domination is well underway with yesterday's announcement of Google Home, hints that Siri will be coming to OS X, and now with Microsoft's Cortana assistant crossing over to the Android realm via an app but currently only for the US.

Cortana manages your schedule, your interests, your people, your reminders—Cortana makes sure all that stuff is available wherever you need it. You can set a reminder to pick up milk on the way home while you’re on your PC at work, and Cortana will give you the heads up on your phone when you’re on the road. You can also ask Cortana to make an appointment, send an email, open an app, or help you find what you’re looking for. And it’s not only about productivity, Cortana’s always up for a little chit chat. She's also pretty savvy about predicting outcomes of sports matches.

Powered by Bing, the Cortana version for Android requires your companion PC to be running version 1511 or later. Canadians who really want to use the app have to likely change location on their devices which may not be ideal for other apps.

Cortana personal assistant now available to Canadian Windows 10 users

Cortana is Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant which was originally exclusive to US users and now she's out of Beta in Canada. This means Windows 10 users can enable Cortana and use their devices' microphones to run searches, open apps or control various aspects of their experience. The first voice assistant to transcend mobile to an OS-level integration, Microsoft has made Cortana part of Office 365 as well as their new Edge browser.

Cortana is available across Windows 10 devices, from desktop and tablet to mobile. Cortana utilizes the power of the internet to continuously improve, while learning your likes and routine to provide useful, and relevant, information. She can help schedule reminders based off locations, contacts and your schedule. For more information on Cortana, click here.

Hello Cortana, meet Android

Cortana, whcih is one of Windows Phone 8.1's most impressive features, and subsequently a huge feature of Windows 10, has leaked early on Android. Available as a user-installable .apk file, from http://suomimobiili.fi Cortana can be installed on most Android devices and Cortana will hapily check the weather, sports scores or run various other searches. The 'Hey Cortana," command is not yet available in this build but will likely be made available when Microsoft is ready to submit an updated version.

Source: Engadget

SourceCode: Some facts about Windows 10

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

I just went through a 30 minute overview briefing on Windows 10 with Marc Aube, Windows 10 Launch Lead at Microsoft Canada and have learned what this latest version has in store when it comes to market on July 29th.

Windows 10 is an important release for Microsoft, not just because it is a unifying OS that's designed to run on a variety of devices but also because Microsoft hopes it will convert millions of users who are still on older and unsupported versions (such as Windows 7 and earlier). Microsoft's target is to get 1 billon devices running on Windows 10. Hit jump for more interesting facts about Windows 10.

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