Cortana, a name inspired by the Halo game series, is a voice activated personal assistant designed to help Windows Phone users navigate the web and organize the contents of their phone.
The software will be represented by a circular animated icon (see below) that can express artificial feelings and thoughts, and will develop more of a personality the more it's used. Users can expect to interact with Cortana once Microsoft launches its upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update in April. Cortana, obviously enough, is Microsoft's answer to Siri and Google Now.
There is also a Notebook system that saves content to a database on users' phones. This system will keep track of the user's behavior, personal contacts and other important information. Services such as Bing and Foursquare will also be compatible with the software.
Windows Phone users should stay tuned for updates at the upcoming Microsoft Build conference where Microsoft is expected to unveil more details on Cortana and release a developer preview of the Windows Phone 8.1 update.
[via The Verge]
