Cortana update makes it harder to flake on your friends

Cortana

Cortana already has the ability to scan email to give users travel notification and soon the digital assistant will help with everyone keep up with their busy schedules.

Cortana's new commitments feature picks up on any promises you make over email and create a reminder to act on it. This could include something as mundane as picking up the milk or promising to promising your professor to finish a dissertation by Friday.

And for those worried about their home and work lives, Microsoft explained that Cortana will only scan your email locally. This means none of your data goes out into the ether or reaches the Redmond-based company's servers until you agree to set a reminder.

Calendar dates

Microsoft is also making Cortana an even more helpful virtual assistant by giving recommendations on when to schedule meetings.

In case a conference call pops up into your most productive hours, Cortana will alert you and give you options to reschedule. Alternatively, in the times when meetings are unavoidable, the Windows 10 personality will give you options to reschedule your morning alarm and adjust the rest of your day.

For now, the new features are only available to Insiders with the calendar update being further limited to the US and UK territories.

Hopefully this beta test will go without a hitch and then they may see the public release of in Windows 10's next big update codenamed Redstone, which is also rumored to make Cortana the next Clippy.

Kevin Lee

Kevin Lee was a former computing reporter at TechRadar. Kevin is now the SEO Updates Editor at IGN based in New York. He handles all of the best of tech buying guides while also dipping his hand in the entertainment and games evergreen content. Kevin has over eight years of experience in the tech and games publications with previous bylines at Polygon, PC World, and more. Outside of work, Kevin is major movie buff of cult and bad films. He also regularly plays flight & space sim and racing games. IRL he's a fan of archery, axe throwing, and board games.