Cortana: Introducing your personal digital assistant

 Introduction

Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1 update includes Cortana, the personal digital assistant.

And Cortana will be available on any device Running Windows 10, so you will have the same digital assistant on any device.

This brand new feature takes its name from Halo game series where Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy.

Cortana from Halo Game

Cortana is here to make your life a little easier

Tap and hold the search button to ask something such as “Tell me about yourself”

Cortana: Tell me about yourself

You will get Cortana’s introduction: “In short I’m your personal assistant. I try to make things easier to do on your phone”

Cortana introducing herself

If you didn’t turn on Cortana when you set up your phone go to settings and swap to applications to do it now by tapping “Cortana”

Now let’s launch Cortana you will get a screen like the one below.

     

Launching Cortana: What can I help you do now?

In the notebook Cortana keep tracks of what you tell her about yourself. You can go there and:

• Set Interests, add new interest and to tell Cortana how to take you informed
• Manage Remind me, here you find all the reminder you ask Cortana to do for you
• Set Quiet hours, here you can configure when and how Cortana and others can interact with you
• Manage the Inner circle, here you can define who can interact with you even in the quiet hours
• Set your Places, here you instruct Cortana about your life and your preferred / abitual places so then you can ask Cortan to check the traffic status to reach work (after you defined work as a place) or home
• Manage your Music searches, Cortana can help you figure out what song is playing, whether you're in your car or at the bar, and then help you get that song in Xbox Music
• Manage your Settings, one advantage of a digital personal assistant is that she won't take it personally if you want to adjust her settings and how she works. You can get to Cortana's settings on your Windows

 

Helping Cortana knowing more about yourself

Cortana can help take care of everyday stuff on your phone: Call someone is simple as same just hold the search button and say: “Call Anna”, Cortana will call Anna (a name in your contacts) for you.

Sending a text it would be really easy, just hold the search button wait for Cortana to listen you and say :”Text Anna, I love you”. She will create the sms for you and will come back to you saying: “All right I’ll text Anna I love you. Send it or add more”. Just answer: “Send it” and she will send the message for you.

Once Cortana knows how she can help you, she can check your favorite team score, alert you on your flight delay or see how the weather looks like on the other side of the world.

What can I say/ask to Cortana?

When you press and hold the Search icon button, Cortana will begin listening, no matter what you're doing on your phone, even while the phone is locked.

You can start by talking naturally to Cortana about whatever you have in mind. If you’re not sure what to say, don’t worry—she’ll often understand you if you say things the same way you'd say them to any person. If Cortana isn't sure what you mean, she can usually help you figure out how to say things in a way she'll understand.

Task	Some ideas to get started
Phone	Make a call to mama at home Call Anna Call Anna on speakerphone Call Anna, home
Chat	How old are you? Where are you from? Tell me a joke
Texting	Text dad Message Anna Text Anna I love you
Reminders	Remind me to pick up my dry cleaning tomorrow Remind me to water the plants when I get home Next time I'm at the grocery store, remind me to buy bananas (if Cortana isn't sure which one you mean, she'll ask) When Jordana calls, remind me to congratulate her on her new column Remind me to call Luther when I leave work
Calendar	Put swimming on my calendar for tomorrow Change my 4 PM event to 5 What do I have next? What's happening this weekend?
Weather	Will it rain this weekend? Is it cold out? Should I wear a coat? What's the weather today? What's the forecast for next week? Is it hot in Paris right now?
Alarms	Wake me up at 7 AM Set an alarm for 6:30 AM Turn off my 4 PM alarm Wake me up in 4 hours
Notes	Take a note Note: left my car on level 4 Take a note: find birdwatching book for Dad's birthday
Music	Play [artists] Put on [playlist] Start playing [song] Play some jazz Play [album] What song is playing?
Maps and directions	Get me directions to the Grand Canyon Where am I? How long will it take me to get to the Space Needle? Show me a map of 123 Main Street How far to Four Corners National Park? What's traffic like on the way to work?
Places to go	Is there a Starbucks near me? Find a cheap pizza place that's open now Show me highly rated restaurants nearby Is [place] open on weekends?
Facts	Who is the tallest woman in the world? Who is the prime minister of Italy? What's the capital of Brazil?
Flights	What's the status of Alaska Airlines flight 628? Is Qantas flight 16 on time?
Sports	Latest Soccer scores? Latest Inter's score When was the last Seahawks game?
Finance	Convert 67 euros to dollars How much is a Microsoft share? How many dollars in an euro? How did the Italian markets do?

You can also go in the store looking for application that supports Cortana to extend her functionalities, for instance, do you want to ask Cortana what time is it so she would be able to answer you? Just install Voice Time and Cortana will be able to say you what time it is when you’ll ask.

Halo related questions

As said Cortana comes from Halo game series, to make things a bit ironic she will answer you to some Halo related questions Here is a list of questions found online that Cortana will respond to, however, others can find other question that Cortana will answer:

Do you know what Master Chief is doing? What is Master Chief doing? I thought you were dead Didn't you die? Where is master chief? What is rampancy? Tell me about rampancy Tell me about Halo 5? Tell me about Dr. Halsey? Tell me about Elites What do you know about Halo 5? Tell me about Catherine Halsey What do you know about Dr. Halsey? What is Elites? Tell me about Grunts Are you the cortana from Halo? What do you know about Elites Are you dating Master Chief? What do you know about Grunts Tell me about Hunters Tell me the story of Halo 5? What is Master Chief up to? What do you know about Hunters Are you in love with Master Chief? Are you really Cortana? Do you love Master Chief? What do you know about Jackals Tell me about Jackals Tell me the story of Halo? Will you be reborn in Halo 5? Will you resurrect in Halo 5? What is Master Chief's last name? Will you come back in Halo 5? Do you Master Chief's last name? What is the story of Halo? Are you in Halo 5? Do you know Jen Taylor? What do you know about Catherine Halsey?

Who is Catherine Halsey? Are you the same Cortana from Halo? What do you know about Hunters Did you really die? Tell me about Prophets Who is Dr. Halsey? Tell me about Buggers Tell me about Brutes Tell me about Prometheans What is the story of Halo 5? What do you know about Buggers Tell me about Crawlers Tell me about Watchers Tell me about the Didact What do you know about the didact What do you know about Brutes Tell me about Guilty Spark Tell me about Knights Tell me about the Librarian What do you know about the Librarian What you know about the flood What do you know about Guilty Spark Which is your favorite Halo? What is your favorite Halo? What is favorite Halo game? Which is your favorite Halo game? Tell me about Halo? Tell me about beamish What do you know about Halo? Tell me about hamish beamish Tell me about hamish beamish Why are you blue in color? Aren't you dead? Why are you blue? Which Halo game do you like the most? What do you know about beamish What do you know about hamish What do you know about Hamish Beamish

 

Conclusion

Cortana isn’t just about work, she’s always listening at you try asking a casual question such as “Where do you came from?”

The best thing you can do to learn about Cortana is talk to her, you may be surprised by how she can help you and what she has to say!

When I said her (the first time) “text Anna I love You” she also asked me “Is Anna your partner? I can better help you I I know you better” Wow! That is really awesome!

And in the last my vision: I see a world where Cortana will be our personal digital assistant everywhere in our devices:

• PC
• Tablet
• Phone
• Perceptive Pixel by Microsoft

If I login with my Microsoft account my personal Cortana with her knowledge about me, she already knows who my partner is, will assist me in my everyday life trying making it a bit better.

Notes

Cortana is only available on phones with Windows Phone 8.1, and in some countries/regions ( check availability ). Check to see which software version you have and find out if an update is available .

You can also check when the update will be available in your country by clicking here .

If Cortana isn't available, or you don't want to use it, you can still use the Speech functionality on your phone .

See Also

• Cortana Dev Center

Another important place to find an extensive amount of Cortana Intelligence Suite related articles is the TechNet Wiki itself. The best entry point is Cortana Intelligence Suite Resources on the TechNet Wiki.