You may have seen the commercial that a television personal speak to a smartphone and ask questions while chatting and driving with another celebrity. Microsoft Cortana is a new intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator for Windows Phone 8.1. This feature will be added to Windows 10 and Xbox One this year. It was developed based on TellMe voice technology that Microsoft purchased in 2009. The name comes from the Microsoft’s Halo video game’s artificial intelligent character. The first glimpse of Cortana was demonstrated at the 2014 BUILD Developer Conference in San Francisco.

Microsoft expects Cortana to be the key feature of its operating system for Windows and Windows Phone. In the United States it is available for Windows Phone with Windows 8.1 operating system and before the end of the year it expects to make the service available globally. It can recognize natural voice, set reminders, no commands are necessary, and answer regular questions such as weather conditions, sports scores, and biographies using Bing. It replaces the previous Bing Search app on many Microsoft devices. It comes with a music recognition and Concert Watch feature locating where musicians and bands are playing. If your Windows Phone is Bluetooth enabled, you can get help from Cortana.