Cortana Gets Male Voice, Dynamic Schedule Meeting Capability

Microsoft is integrating Cortana with the Outlook Mobile app for iOS and Android. The feature was today announced during the Ignite 2019 conference, and is expected to reach general availability in Spring 2020. The suite will be able to read emails and calendar events with a new male voice.

The announcement says that Cortana will make it possible to flag or archive an email message while you are listening to it. However, this impressive feature will be initially limited to the US market, and require headphones.

The feature is called 'Play My Emails'. It features a new male voice, which is also powered by Neural Text to Speech engine that utilizes neural networks to match the patterns of stress and intonation in spoken language.

Besides the mobile app integration feature, Cortana will be able to create a briefing email. The idea behind this feature is to create a task list for you based on your calendar events, appointments and emails.

Finally, Cortana will make planning meetings easy. Once you send an invitation email for a meeting, you can include Cortana by adding it to the CC field. This will trigger a new Scheduler service

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Scheduler creates a new possibility for digital assistants, by focusing on understanding what you want to achieve and unburdens you from the details. As an example, you know that you need to meet with “Jane” at work, but you don’t care if it’s 10am or 3pm, or Tuesday versus Thursday. With Scheduler, you can simply ask Cortana, “Schedule a meeting with Jane next week.”

You can start a new thread or reply to an existing one and cc: Cortana to let them know what you need to have a meeting, include other important details like booking a conference room or setting a remote conference call. Just say, “Cortana, find time for us to have a Teams call this week and also book a room.” And move on with your day. Let Cortana find a time that works for everyone, reserve a room, add a Teams meeting, and send out the invite for you.

All the new features of Cortana are expected to become available in 2020.