Cortana's music recognition feature no longer works the way it used to

Avid Windows 10 users who interacted with the built-in Cortana voice assistant on their PCs had the option of quickly finding out what song was playing by invoking the smart assistnat's music reognition feature. This gave quick access to song name, artists and even a link to streaming or purchasing the song. It's a feature that Google copied on the Pixel 2 which tells you what song is playing when it is recognised.

Sadly, with the shuttering of the Groove Pass music service from Microsoft early this week, this feature no longer works the way it used to on Cortana but it still works when you ask Cortana what song is this and follow a link. It's all kind of a mess right now, Microsoft promises it will get better.

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Microsoft updates Cortana for iOS, introduces new look and better performance

Microsoft is looking to improve the capabilities of Cortana on Apple’s platform with this latest update. The company changed up the look of its artificial intelligence assistant app to make it simpler to supposedly offer a better user experience. Some of the new changes include being able to create reminders on the app in a simpler and faster way as well as getting a new look for the profile and settings page for managing preferences. According to Microsoft, they’ve also tweaked performance to make sure there are faster page transitions and app responsiveness. On top of that, the update also brings the usual bug fixes and performance improvements.

Source: MacRumors

Amazon and Microsoft collaborate to make Alexa and Cortana work together

It seems like an unlikely partnership but it’s been in the works for a while. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos first broached the idea to Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella about having their digital assistants work together around a year ago. And it looks like we might see that happen soon. In the near future, later this year to be exact, we’d just have to utter the words, “Alexa, open Cortana” or “Cortana, open Alexa” to be able to work with both platforms. According to both companies, this integration will benefit both users of the respective digital assistants. Amazon users will get better access to Cortana’s deep integration with Office Suite just from talking to Amazon’s smart speakers. Microsoft’s AI will get access to Alexa’s 20,000 skills and make it easier to shop on Amazon.com.

As mentioned, the two digital assistants are expected to start talking to each other later in the year. Alexa on Cortana will be coming to Windows 10 PCs first and then later on to the Android and iOS apps. At first glance, it seems this could be seen as Microsoft and Amazon trying to gain an advantage in the digital assistant space. But both CEOs claim they are willing to work with Apple and Google to integrate Siri and Google Assistant—if both companies are open to that, that is. We can’t say that’ll be in the cards in our future, especially with Apple and Google being particularly protective of their properties. But we have seen stranger things happen.

Source: Engadget

You now have the option to have Cortana as your default assistant on Android

If you rely heavily on Microsoft’s Cortana assistant and use an Android phone, you’re going to like the latest update. The app can now be your default assistant on your smartphone. Much like with Google Assistant, when you long-press your home button, it can pull up Cortana. And if you do enable it, you can carry over the actions you do on your smartphone with your Windows 10 laptop or PC. So if you miss a call, you can be alerted on your PC or if you create a reminder on your laptop, it’ll show up on your smartphone.

It’s pretty simple to change digital assistants. You just let the app walk you through the process when you install and log in. It’ll prompt you to change from the Assist app to Cortana. One downside is Google won’t let you launch Cortana by voice. You’ll still have to do it the old-fashioned way and tap on the button.

Source: Android Police