Microsoft’s Cortana meets an untimely end on iOS and Android
Cortana on an iPhone. Microsoft's Cortana app for iOS and Android will soon shut down, the company has announced on a support page. This effectively puts a nail in Cortana's coffin for consumer use cases, at least as far as competing directly with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa goes. Here's what the announcement says: We…
Cortana’s not Alexa—skills are going away in Windows 10 version 2004
Enlarge / Pictured: a full set of Office 365 icons on the taskbar. Not pictured, for good reason: "Cortana, play Old Town Road."Microsoft Today, Microsoft announced a major shift in focus for its personal assistant, Cortana: she's getting out of the consumer gadget business and focusing on productivity. The new version of Cortana will debut…
How to shut off Cortana on a Windows 10 computer system,...
You can turn off Cortana in Windows 10 through the Settings menu by taking away its ability to respond to your voice. Cortana is Microsoft's personal digital assistant, built into Windows 10. It listens for and responds to the wake phrase, "Hey Cortana." If you're concerned about privacy, you can also disable Cortana's permission to…
Microsoft bucks pattern, preserves professional evaluations of voice recording
Cortana integration lets Windows Phone users speak to the new Band. A wave of privacy scandals has led several major companies to end or pause their programs for human reviews of voice recordings. But Microsoft has bucked the trend. Last week, a whistleblower went to the press to reveal that Microsoft relied on employees and…
Microsoft professionals hear phone sex and more while evaluating Cortana, Skype...
Long-press the Action button to bring up Cortana. Here we go again. It's Microsoft's turn in the spotlight thanks to a new report about the company's practices for reviewing and improving its AI. With today's news, nearly every company operating a major voice assistant has now been hit with revelations that employees or contractors are…
Next Windows 10 variation will let you browse without Cortana’s participation
Enlarge / The Cortana button is now no longer part of the search box. Today's Insider build of Windows 10, number 18317, changes how search and Cortana are used, as Microsoft is working to reposition Cortana as a productivity-focused digital assistant and integrate search with Office 365. Currently, Windows 10 has a single text box…
New Windows 10 construct silences Cortana, brings passwordless accounts
The latest Insider build of Windows 10, 18309, expands the use of a thing that Microsoft has recently introduced: passwordless Microsoft accounts. It's now possible to create a Microsoft account that uses a one-time code delivered over SMS as its primary authenticator, rather than a conventional password. In the new Windows 10 build, these passwordless…
