Microsoft ‘Cortana’ Assistant To Be Driven By Foursquare, Windows 8 Update Boots To Desktop On Non-Touch Machines

There’s a good bit of scuttlebutt circulating about the upcoming update to Microsoft’s operating systems--both Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1--and all of it sounds juicy. 

For starters, there’s more evidence that Microsoft will roll out an AI assistant called Cortana (named after the Halo character) for Windows Phone. A person Bloomberg cited as “familiar with the matter” said that Microsoft has invested $15 million in Foursquare Labs in order to gain access to deeper Foursquare data that will allow Cortana to give users more location-based tips, suggestions, and more.

“We’re building some contextually aware experiences to power some upcoming products in Windows Phone,” said Zig Serafin, a vice president in Microsoft’s Bing search unit. “This will be for anywhere you get a Bing-powered experience.” 

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