Cortana features demonstrated in Windows 10 on PC (video)

[HEXUS]

She's not so chatty yet, and she still needs to visit the UI stylist.

Read more.

[Platinum]

Skynet V1

[s_kinton]

Early days. Hopefully they'll implement an 'OK Google' voice command to start the listening process, rather than a physical button click. Also need to be able to select Cortana with British female accent

[scaryjim]

Early days. Hopefully they'll implement an 'OK Google' voice command to start the listening process, rather than a physical button click. Also need to be able to select Cortana with British female accent

You mean

in the consumer release version, users might be able to activate Cortana by voice rather than having to press a button.

and

While in the above video demonstration Cortana is voiced by the Halo video game voice artist Jen Taylor, it is thought that her voice/language will vary depending upon your region in the world – just like on Windows Phone.

like it says in the article?

[aniilv]

"Getting you directions to THIS IS NOT WORKING" is how I imagine it will work on final release

[s_kinton]

like it says in the article?

True. 'Mights' and 'thoughts' at the minute though - these need to be implemented to ensure its success, as I'm sure they will. Early days

[spacein_vader]

True. 'Mights' and 'thoughts' at the minute though - these need to be implemented to ensure its success, as I'm sure they will. Early days

I have a Windows Phone in the UK. Cortana here already has a British accent, I imagine they'll use the same voice.

[Tpyo]

I have a Windows Phone in the UK. Cortana here already has a British accent, I imagine they'll use the same voice.

I hope they make it a choice! Personally I quite like the 'real' Cortana voice. It's of less use if it were on a phone, but I quite like the idea or an appropriate fetch too.

[Corky34]

I want my Cortana to sound like Brian Blessed.

[scaryjim]

I want my Cortana to sound like Brian Blessed.

I can just imagine it ... "Cortana, what's the latest news" ...... "Gordon's Alive?!"

If cortana does hit Windows desktop it surely won't be long before every A, B and C list celeb releases a voice pack for it. I'd quite fancy Eddie Izzard on mine

[crossy]

Come to the conclusion that I'm either a luddite or horribly out of touch, I read the list:

The following assistant functions were seen, demonstrated or talked about in the video:

Reminders
Alarms
Skype calling
Add and check calendar
Take notes
Search
Play and pause music
Maps and directions
Weather

Reminders and alarms is something that's done on my phone already.
Skype calling - it's not as if the client is difficult to launch
Take notes - hmm, now that could be useful, (but only if sync'd to my phone I guess).
Search - nope, I'm quite happy to type
Play and pause music - okay, also useful if you are sitting in front of the PC and you don't already have "media control" features on your keyboard
Maps and directions - nope, keyboard and mouse is better
Weather - doesn't Windows UI already show weather?

So my conclusion was pretty much ... "meh".

I've experimented with voice control of apps a couple of times in the past, and to be honest it's like LeapMotion - a neat idea in theory and fun for a couple of minutes. How many peoples desktop PC actually has a suitable microphone anyway?

No, to me at least, the larger the device the less sense voice control makes. So voice control for a watch = highly desirable, phone=desirable, tablet/laptop=good to have; desktop=nope.

Or have I missed the point and this is just targetted at the Halo fans?

[abaxas]

Me : Cortana can you please remove the update that has caused my machine to keep crashing.
Cortana : Sorry, but your version of windows does not support stability. Please upgrade to windows 10.1+ for only £99.

[LSG501]

just what I always wanted a 'voice' feature that I can't use because I don't have a mic on my desktop pc lol

Not sure how useful it is for me personally but I suppose I can wait and see.

[amdavies]

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that"

[Saracen]

Early days. Hopefully they'll implement an 'OK Google' voice command to start the listening process, rather than a physical button click. ....

Hopefully, they won't, because that doesn't initiate the listening process. It initiates the 'respond to listening' process. If it wasn't already listening, it wouldn't hear the "OK Cortana" voice command.

And if it's already responding to the listening process, a better way of putting it would be 'responding in a way the user can detect'. The immediate question, therefore, is what, if anything, it's doing with what microphones can hear, the rest of the time? That is, exactly the reason I will not have an XBox One with integrated Kinect in my house, unless I can physically turn off or disconnect the Kinect, without disconnecting the entire XBO.

No way am I risking a permanently enabled Microsoft bug in either my home, or office. Which is why my existing voice-recog headset runs through a switch. Cortana activating on voice command would guarantee I'd disable it entirely, or refuse to use an OS that included it.

[TheAnimus]

My understanding from how the qualcomm implementations work, is that this filtering is done entirely in hardware, rather than generic software.

As such the passive listening will not be 'logging' or have any machine intelligence or training going on.

A problem with the voice activation, is "Cortana what's the weather like today" must be said as "Cortana, what's the weather like today" because without the comma it gets stuck. Same with the OK Google on a nexus 5 I've found. Which makes sense, as it's really just qualcomms work here.