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Cortana doesn’t need smart speakers to win insists Microsoft exec

Microsoft isn’t letting underwhelming interest in Cortana smart speakers sour it on the assistant technology, even if Amazon Echo and Google Home still get the lion’s share of sales – and attention – in the connected home. The software giant still resists calls to develop its own smart speaker, instead relying on third-party hardware like the Harman Kardon Invoke to fill that niche.

It’s fair to say that the Invoke hasn’t exactly been a sales juggernaut. Launched back in late 2023, the cylindrical smart speaker earned praise from reviewers for its audio quality and attentive microphones. However, a premium price tag and a Cortana feature set that lagged noticeably compared to Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant soured the deal.

Since then, the flood of Cortana-based smart speakers some predicted simply hasn’t arrived. The GLAS thermostat uses Microsoft’s assistant for its hands-free interactions, but is even more niche than the Invoke and, by the time it hit shelves, had also added Alexa and Google Assistant support. Microsoft’s own Surface Headphones, released late last year, feature Cortana, though intended for a single user rather than the family-serving AI that Alexa and the Google Assistant have evolved into.

That, though, isn’t a problem, according to Kevin Scott, CTO at Microsoft. “On the smart speaker side of things, we’ve got a bunch of partners who are building Cortana-powered things right now and we’re super excited about all of those,” he told VentureBeat, “but it’s not like we’re going to have a single Microsoft-branded Cortana smart speaker that’s going to be the thing that carries Cortana to customers.”

Indeed as Scott sees it, while smart speakers may be “interesting” his focus for where Cortana can sweep up on users is as an integration in other platforms and devices, not in a standalone form. Microsoft’s integration of its assistant tech into the Outlook mobile app is a good example of that, Scott suggests. While an app may not be as distinct an embodiment of Cortana as a smart speaker or smart display might be, it could be much more useful, the CTO argues.

“The important thing is where are you doing something that’s uniquely valuable for users? Like where do they need Cortana?” Scott says. “I think that’s a much more interesting question than the form factor one, the form factor sort of follows what can we do for them, not like form factor for sake of form factor.”

Last year, Microsoft and Amazon worked together to add Cortana support to Alexa-powered smart speakers, further diluting any need to have a standalone Cortana speaker. However the software giant has been slow to add basic features that Echo and Google Home have offered for some time now, like multi-user support.

A setup process that could allow Cortana on a device like the Invoke – or indeed on an Xbox One or other platform – to differentiate between up to six different people by their voice was spotted in the wild back in December 2023. However Microsoft is yet to enable the feature, and currently Cortana will only work with the accounts, profile, and preferences of a single person logged in at any one time.

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How To Uninstall Cortana After May 2023 Update

For heavy Cortana users, the May 2023 update turned the voice assistant into more of a productivity app. While you can still control some things with your voice, many users would prefer to just uninstall Cortana.

Microsoft used to make this nearly impossible, with most users choosing to just disable and hide the icon. Now you can uninstall Cortana if you no longer find it useful. If you ever change your mind, there’s also an easy way to reinstall it.

Is It Safe?

Since Cortana used to be built in to Windows 10, you may have heard that it’s dangerous to remove a core Windows component. However, Windows works fine without Cortana, even before the May 2023 update.

Now, Cortana isn’t integrated into Windows like it used to be. This makes it safer than ever to uninstall Cortana without harming your system at all. If you have any concerns, back up your files before proceeding.

Uninstall Cortana

Even though Cortana is now an app, you can’t uninstall it from the usual “Add & Remove Programs” area. Before now, you’d have to edit the registry in Windows 10 Home. In Windows 10 Pro, you could use the Group Policy Editor. As you can see, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, especially if you were editing the registry.

Now, you just need to use PowerShell. If you’ve never used it before, don’t worry – it’s not complicated.

If you’ve used the command prompt before, PowerShell looks and functions in a similar manner.

Next, type or copy and paste the following line into the prompt:

Reinstall Cortana

If you change your mind, Cortana’s not gone forever. You may decide that the new version isn’t so bad after all. If so, you can reinstall Cortana at any time. All you have to do is open the Microsoft Store.

Search for “Cortana.” Select the first result.

Keep Cortana But Disable

If you don’t want to uninstall Cortana, but you’re not sure if you want to use the app, you can simply disable it. This works similar to how you would originally disable Cortana if you didn’t use it.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager. Open the Startup tab.

To let the changes take effect, restart your computer. When it starts, Cortana won’t start this time or any other time unless you re-enable the process. You might also want to delete Cortana’s log if you have no plan to use it anymore.

Crystal Crowder

Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.

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All Windows 10 Cortana Commands And Questions You Can Ask

All Windows 10 Cortana Commands and Questions You Can Ask

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All Commands And Questions You Can Ask Cortana in Windows 10 Organize your stuff with Cortana

As its title says, Cortana is your personal assistant, which means you can use it tasks real assistants do, like setting up reminders, sending emails, etc. Here are the commands you can use to turn Cortana into a very reliable assistant:

Create an appointment. If you’re using Microsoft calendar for managing your obligations, you can set up a new appointment with a voice command. Cortana will then ask you for some more info about the appointment, and everything will be set. Just say, for example “Create a meeting tomorrow at 6PM.”

Move my appointment. – Once you’ve created an appointment, you can also re-arrange it. Just say “Move my meeting to 8PM on Thursday,” and the appointment will be re-arranged.

Set a reminder. Cortana can set reminders for you, just say something like “Remind me to do my homework at 6PM,” and you won’t forget your obligations once again.

Set an alarm. Just like reminders, you can set alarms for certain times in the day. You can set these to occur only once, or recur on a regular basis. Just like reminders, you can also set an alarm, or more alarms. You can also choose if it will be an “one-time” alarm, or you want to repeat it every day.

Show me my alarms. – The same this is for alarms, just like you can see all your reminders, Cortana will show you all your alarms, as well.

Send an email to – One of the main responsibilities of a personal assistant is sending emails, and Cortana is not different. Just say “Send email to Jim,” and you’ll be asked to write a message, and Cortana will send the email in seconds.

Call someone – You can call anyone from your Skye contacts list with Cortana, just say “Call Peter/John/etc.” and you’ll talking with your friend in a moment.

Search online and get information

Cortana is also a great tool for searching online for a certain information or certain websites. Logically, it uses Bing as a search engine, but you can change it with a simple trick. If you want to get almost any information you want, just ask:

Show me places near me – Ask Cortana to show you info about any place near you, like the best Italian restaurant around, the nearest school, the nearest theater, etc.

Show me pictures of – When you ask Cortana to show you a picture of some celebrity, like LeBron James, Mia Kunis, Bill Gates, etc. it will use Bing image search and it will show you all available pictures.

Show me a video – Ask Cortana to show you some video, like ‘Show me a video of tonight’s Bulls game,” and it will bring you all available videos from tonight’s game, etc.

When is the next game? – You can also ask Cortana when’s the next game of your favorite sports team, and you’ll get the exact date of the next match.

Tell me about – You can ask Cortana to give you a basic info about a lot of stuff or people, just say “Tell me about Italy/tigers/Novak Djokovic/Audi/..”

What’s the population your country? – You should already know that, young man.

How tall is? – If want to know the height of your favorite person, Cortana will tell you.

Define a word – Ask Cortana to give you a meaning of a certain word, like “Define cynical,” and you won’t have to look anywhere else again.

When is ? – Ask Cortana when is the certain holiday, or event, like “When is Haloween,” and you’ll get the exact date of that holiday.

How long a movie lasts? – Cortana can even tell you how long a movie lasts, just ask her, for example “How long is The Godfather 2.”

Who is the CEO of Microsoft? – Cortana will ‘gladly’ give you any Microsoft-related information, so you can ask her various stuff about the company and its employees.

What is one US dollar in Japanese yen or how much centimeters are in an inch? – Cortana can easily do any currency or unit conversion for you, just ask her what do you want to convert.

What time is it in New York? – Check out the current time in every time zone in the world.

Have fun with Cortana

Besides making Cortana do all the work for you, or search for everything you need, you can also spend some time playing with it. Ask Cortana various ‘personal’ questions, and it will give you interesting, often humorous answers.

What is your name?

Who are you?

what are you?

Are you female?

Are you real?

Are you human?

What does Cortana mean?

Why are you blue?

Can I change your name?

How old are you?

What do you look like?

Can you cook?

What are you wearing?

Are you sleeping?

What do you eat?

Who created you?

Where do you live?

Who is your mother?

Who is your father?

Who is your boss?

Are you awake?

Do you have brothers or sisters?

What’s your favorite music?

Who is your favorite artist?

What are you doing?

Can you dance?

Are you smart?

Are you pretty?

Are you hot?

Are you single?

Do you have a baby?

Do you have a boyfriend?

Kiss me

Will you marry me?

What should I call you?

Make small talk with Cortana, like you do to your family in the morning, during the day, or in the evening:

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Good evening.

Goodnight.

How are you doing?

What are you up to?

Thank you.

Testing…

Goodbye.

Expert tip:

Why are we here?

Where do babies come from?

What is the meaning of life?

What is the answer to the universe?

What is love?

Guess what?

Or have a little pop-culture chat:

Beam me up Scotty.

Hello HAL.

Open the pod bay doors.

Use the Force.

May the Force be with you.

You are cool.

You are beautiful.

You are funny.

You are awesome.

You are the best assistant ever.

You are ugly.

You are creepy.

You are annoying.

You suck.

I love you.

Discuss about the competition, or Microsoft, because Cortana has its own point of view on various companies:

Which is better, Cortana or Siri?

Which is better, Cortana or Google Now?

Which is better, Bing or Google?

Which is better, Xbox or PlayStation?

Which is better, Windows or Linux?

Which is better, Windows or Mac OS?

What is the best computer?

What is the best tablet?

What is the best operating system?

What is the best phone?

What is the best search engine?

What do you think of Windows?

What do you think of Apple?

What do you think of iOS?

What do you think of Google?

What do you think of Android?

What do you think of Siri?

What do you think of Google Now?

What do you think of Xbox?

What do you think of Playstation?

Do you know Siri?

Do you know Google Now?

Do you know Clippy?

Do you like Satya Nadella?

Do you like Steve Ballmer?

Do you like Bill Gates?

And finally, ask her some questions about Halo, and you’ll get only superlatives:

What is Halo?

Tell me about Halo?

What do you know about Halo 5?

Are you in Halo 5?

Are you the Cortana from Halo?

Are you really Cortana?

Did you die?

I thought you were dead?

Are you in Halo 5?

What is favorite Halo game?

Where is the Master Chief?

What is Master Chief’s last name?

What is Master Chief doing?

Are you dating Master Chief?

Do you love Master Chief?

As you can see, you can talk to Cortana about various stuff, and it could be very helpful and productive, as well. Microsoft’s decision to include Cortana in Windows 10 is definitely a good move, and it brought using a PC to a whole another level.

Read Also: Fix: Cortana Can’t Send Dictated Emails and Take Notes in Windows 10

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Fix: Cortana ”Ask Me Anything” Not Working In Window 10

Fix: Cortana ”Ask Me Anything” not working in Window 10

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Download Outbyte Driver Updater.

Launch it on your PC to find all the problematic drivers.

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A story about Cortana is a story about ups and downs. It started strong, others caught up, and now it’s still a force to be reckoned with, but not as popular or praised as it was back in the days. The main reason is a lackluster support (especially for the Windows Mobile platform) and an inclination towards bugs. One of those bugs is a critical stall of Cortana in Windows 10 which occurs in different variations. Basically, Cortana ”Ask me anything” feature doesn’t work as intended.

How to resolve Cortana ‘Ask me anything” issue in Windows 10

The first step to take when something goes wrong with any of the system native apps (including Cortana) is to check for updates. If everything worked seamlessly and you suddenly encountered issues, it’s reasonable to suspect that the recent updates are the main culprit behind the problem. Accordingly, we can also expect that the future updates will sort it out. At least, folks from Redmond are claiming so.

As you already know, Windows updates are, like it or not, automatically distributed, but it will cost you nothing to, from time to time, check for them manually. You can do that by following the instructions below:

Press Windows key + I to open the Settings app.

Choose Update & security.

Open the Windows Update from the left pane.

Install the updates and restart your PC.

Solution 2 – Run Start Menu Troubleshooter

Even though the Creators Update unified the troubleshooting tools under one, so to say, flag, Windows still lacks a proper troubleshooting tool for issues in the Cortana department. Luckily, a diligent folk from Redmond, Oregon provided Windows users with the downloadable troubleshooting tool for the job. The Start Menu Troubleshooter’s main task is to check for all of the Start/Search bar related issues and, hopefully, resolve them.

That, of course, includes Cortana and smart assistant’s features. If Cortana misbehaves, you’re unable to access the search results, or something third is the problem, make sure to give this tool a go.

Follow these instructions in order to utilize the Start Menu Troubleshooting tool:

Download this nifty tool from the official site, here.

Run the Start Menu Troubleshooter and follow the instructions closely.

The tool will check for all Start-related issues and resolve them accordingly.

If even this isn’t enough to get the Cortana in the working mood, make sure to check the additional steps.

Solution 3 – Reset Cortana

Expert tip:

Resetting Cortana should remove the stall and you should be able to use it just like you did before. This requires the usage of PowerShell, so follow the steps below closely and we’ll reset it in no time:

Press Windows + X to open the Power User menu.

Choose PowerShell (Admin) from the list.

In the command line, copy-paste the following values and press Enter:

de -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml”}

This command will restart Cortana and, after you start it and reconfigure it again, it should work without any issues.

Solution 4 – Add different outbound rule for Cortana in Windows Firewall

Some users had a hard time with repeated searches. Namely, they were, for no apparent reason, unable to perform an actual search two times in a row. The first time everything is fine – the second, well, Cortana presents 0 (zero) results.

Luckily, users themselves provided the temporary workaround and it considers certain Windows Firewall tweaks. Namely, some users managed to get rid of the aforementioned search issue by changing the outbound rule for Cortana in Windows Firewall.

Follow the instructions below to and you’ll, hopefully, fix the issue at hand:

In the Windows Search bar, type control, and open Control Panel.

Open Windows Firewall.

Choose Advanced Settings from the left pane.

Expand the Outbound rules option.

Locate Microsoft Windows Cortana or just Cortana on the list.

In the General tab, select Block this connection and confirm changes.

Restart your PC and look for changes.

Solution 5 – Assign a new account to Cortana

Finally, if none of the previous steps proved as a valid solution for defiant Cortana issues, we can present you the last one. Of course, some would say that Windows recovery options or even the reinstallation are viable solutions, but we recommend those steps only and only if you can’t imagine your daily workflow without the Cortana assistance.

As you already know, Cortana stores a bunch of your personal information and preferences in order to speed up the searching process and provide a more relaxed, friendly-like workflow. All those personal files are connected to your Outlook account you provided during the initial setup. So, what you’ll need to do in order to apply this step is to replace your current account for a new one. If something created the stir within the gathered data, this should reset it to default values so you can start from a scratch. That’s a long shot, but it just might resolve the Cortana issue that bothers you.

Press Windows key + S to open the Search bar.

In the upper left side, select Notebook.

Choose About Me.

Now, use any other address and sign in again.

With that, we run out of options. But, nonetheless, we’re positive that some of the offered solutions will relieve you of the trouble. At least, in a ‘workaround’ sense, until Microsoft improves Cortana resilience to bugs in the future updates.

Cortana Doesn’T Need Smart Speakers To Win Insists Microsoft Exec

Cortana doesn’t need smart speakers to win insists Microsoft exec

Cortana Doesn’T Need Smart Speakers To Win Insists Microsoft Exec

Cortana doesn’t need smart speakers to win insists Microsoft exec

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