Xbox One Update Adds Cortana (theguardian.com)

Microsoft announced on Monday that its Xbox One console is due for a big software update this summer. Cortana, the digital voice assistant will be made available to Xbox One users, the company said. If you're part of the Xbox Preview program, you will be able to test the feature starting this week. The Guardian reports: To communicate, players simply have to say "hey Cortana" -- a sentence that Microsoft claims is easier for the system to pick up than the old "Xbox" prompt. Players won't need Kinect, as any Xbox One headset with a microphone will suffice. Players will also be able to ask Cortana what their friends are doing on Xbox, and it's possible to invite friends into a Party chat via Cortana voice controls.

Comments

Unsold

[PCM2]

Still not excited about talking to inanimate objects, when I know they don't need me to talk to them to do what they're supposed to do.

Chatbots, Cortana, "OK Google" ... it all just makes me feel like they think I'm an idiot.

Maybe it's a personality thing? Maybe the people who carry on whole conversations with their dogs and cats would also like to talk to their computer instead of pushing a button, and I'm just not one of those people? But it seems crazy to me that anybody would want to complicate their life in that way. Just point to the menu option and click it. No whispering sweet nothings into your computer is needed.

Re:Unsold

[PCM2]

I dunno man, it just seems like yelling "OK Mr Google could you please tell me the nearest theater where the Iron Man movie is playing" is a lot more of a pain in the ass than just keying "Iron Man" into a form and pressing return. And a lot more things can go wrong, requiring a do-over.

And it seems to me that one of the reasons we invented machines is because you can just use the machine, no questions asked. I might have to ask you to go harvest my wheat for me but I don't have to ask the combine harvester if it wants to do it. But now, what, they want to put voice interfaces on everything because it's going to make me feel closer to my combine harvester? That's nuts. It's a machine. Push the button. Why complicate it further?

It really feels like these "genius" tech companies are starting to come up with solutions that nobody asked for, and now they're desperately trying to create problems that their solutions can solve.

Re:So now, be sure to

[flyingfsck]

Hmm, I'm sure that most Xbox users are to dumb to understand that they now have a bug in their room.

Sure.. Why not? Allready stuffed by Bing!

[wierd_w]

I bought a new xboxOne some time ago. the thing is so deeply integrated with Bing it makes me sick.

Now they are adding Cortana, presumably so they can use her amazing data mining capabilities for some undisclosed reason. Since she is basically the strapon for Bing, they might as well go all in, instead of just the tip.

Looks like it is time to look for the microphone and pour superglue into it. Good luck listening to me then Microsoft.