Here’s some news about digital voice assistants. Amazon’s Alexa & Microsoft’s Cortana have initiated the next step in a collaboration announced last fall. Starting today, US customers who are interested in early access to the collaboration will be able to summon Cortana on Echo devices & enable Alexa on their Windows 10 PCs & Harman Kardon Invoke speakers, said Microsoft.
As part of a public preview releasing this week, they also can offer feedback on how to improve the experience.
The goal is to have 2 integrated digital voice assistants who can carry out tasks across different dimensions of daily life — at home or work, & on whatever device is most convenient. Currently, Cortana & Alexa can each be enabled as a skill on the other.
These early users will be asked to engage with the new features & offer input, explained Microsoft. For example, what they like, what they don’t like, what features they use the most. The experience will get better & more precise as more people use it, through customer input & additional data to improve underlying algorithms.
Some features such as streaming music and setting alarms are not yet available, but additional skills & devices will be integrated over time. Engineers will use feedback from the public preview to deepen the collaboration between Cortana & Alexa.
Here’s what users can do for now:
Check your calendar
book a meeting
read your email, and more.
You can get started with Cortana on Echo devices by saying, “Alexa, open Cortana,” & you’ll be connected directly to Cortana. Follow the instructions, sign into your Microsoft account, & you’re ready to go.
Image Credit: Amazon
