Software

Who would win a fight between Cortana and Android?

And the winner is … Android: Microsoft's pulled 'Hey Cortana' from Android apps

Simon Sharwood Tue 22 Dec 2015 // 03:03 UTC

Microsoft's removed the “Hey Cortana” voice activation feature from its Cortana Android app.

Cortana is Microsoft's digital assistant, a cloudy entity to which one can pose spoken questions in order to search the 'net instead of going through the unpleasant business of typing or poking a touch screen.

Microsoft, Google and Apple all suggest you search by speaking to your kit. Google asks you to say “OK Google” in the presence of its search bar, while Apple offers the Siri assistance service.

Speaking “Hey Cortana” in the presence of a Cortana app does likewise, but when Microsoft brought Cortana to Android it struggled to gain access to devices' microphones. Lots of bug reports and disgruntled users later, Microsoft's yanked the feature from its Cortana-for-Android app, as of an update from December 20th.

Microsoft's smarting because it mostly missed mobile. This incident shows just what a mistake Microsoft made, because making things tricky for rivals when they try to leverage a dominant platform is just the kind of thing Microsoft used to do with Windows.

Cortana might be a kick-ass warrior woman, but she's just been schooled by a dorky Android that's paid attention to her parents' playbook. ®

Similar topics

Broader topics

Narrower topics

Corrections Send us news

Other stories you might like

Google has more reasons why it doesn't like antitrust law that affects Google

It'll ruin Gmail, claims web ads giant

Brandon Vigliarolo Wed 8 Jun 2022 // 17:45 UTC

Google has a fresh list of reasons why it opposes tech antitrust legislation making its way through Congress but, like others who've expressed discontent, the ad giant's complaints leave out mention of portions of the proposed law that address said gripes.
The law bill in question is S.2992, the Senate version of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), which is closer than ever to getting votes in the House and Senate, which could see it advanced to President Biden's desk.
AICOA prohibits tech companies above a certain size from favoring their own products and services over their competitors. It applies to businesses considered "critical trading partners," meaning the company controls access to a platform through which business users reach their customers. Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta in one way or another seemingly fall under the scope of this US legislation.

Continue reading
Azure issues not adequately fixed for months, complain bug hunters

Redmond kicks off Patch Tuesday with a months-old flaw fix

Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Tue 14 Jun 2022 // 13:30 UTC

Updated Two security vendors – Orca Security and Tenable – have accused Microsoft of unnecessarily putting customers' data and cloud environments at risk by taking far too long to fix critical vulnerabilities in Azure.
In a blog published today, Orca Security researcher Tzah Pahima claimed it took Microsoft several months to fully resolve a security flaw in Azure's Synapse Analytics that he discovered in January.
And in a separate blog published on Monday, Tenable CEO Amit Yoran called out Redmond for its lack of response to – and transparency around – two other vulnerabilities that could be exploited by anyone using Azure Synapse.

Continue reading
Hardware flaws give Bluetooth chipsets unique fingerprints that can be tracked

While this poses a privacy and security threat, an attacker's ability to exploit it may come down to luck

Jeff Burt Fri 10 Jun 2022 // 04:17 UTC

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have shown for the first time that Bluetooth signals each have an individual, trackable, fingerprint.
In a paper presented at the IEEE Security and Privacy Conference last month, the researchers wrote that Bluetooth signals can also be tracked, given the right tools.
However, there are technological and expertise hurdles that a miscreant would have to clear today to track a person through the Bluetooth signals in their devices, they wrote.

Continue reading

Makers of ad blockers and browser privacy extensions fear the end is near

Overhaul of Chrome add-ons set for January, Google says it's for all our own good

Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Wed 8 Jun 2022 // 06:26 UTC

Special report Seven months from now, assuming all goes as planned, Google Chrome will drop support for its legacy extension platform, known as Manifest v2 (Mv2). This is significant if you use a browser extension to, for instance, filter out certain kinds of content and safeguard your privacy.
Google's Chrome Web Store is supposed to stop accepting Mv2 extension submissions sometime this month. As of January 2023, Chrome will stop running extensions created using Mv2, with limited exceptions for enterprise versions of Chrome operating under corporate policy. And by June 2023, even enterprise versions of Chrome will prevent Mv2 extensions from running.
The anticipated result will be fewer extensions and less innovation, according to several extension developers.

Continue reading
I was fired for blowing the whistle on cult's status in Google unit, says contractor

The internet giant, a doomsday religious sect, and a lawsuit in Silicon Valley

Brandon Vigliarolo Thu 16 Jun 2022 // 23:30 UTC

A former Google video producer has sued the internet giant alleging he was unfairly fired for blowing the whistle on a religious sect that had all but taken over his business unit.
The lawsuit demands a jury trial and financial restitution for "religious discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation and related causes of action." It alleges Peter Lubbers, director of the Google Developer Studio (GDS) film group in which 34-year-old plaintiff Kevin Lloyd worked, is not only a member of The Fellowship of Friends, the exec was influential in growing the studio into a team that, in essence, funneled money back to the fellowship.
In his complaint [PDF], filed in a California Superior Court in Silicon Valley, Lloyd lays down a case that he was fired for expressing concerns over the fellowship's influence at Google, specifically in the GDS. When these concerns were reported to a manager, Lloyd was told to drop the issue or risk losing his job, it is claimed.

Continue reading
End of the road for biz living off free G Suite legacy edition

Firms accustomed to freebies miffed that web giant's largess doesn't last

Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Tue 21 Jun 2022 // 06:27 UTC

After offering free G Suite apps for more than a decade, Google next week plans to discontinue its legacy service – which hasn't been offered to new customers since 2012 – and force business users to transition to a paid subscription for the service's successor, Google Workspace.
"For businesses, the G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available after June 27, 2022," Google explains in its support document. "Your account will be automatically transitioned to a paid Google Workspace subscription where we continue to deliver new capabilities to help businesses transform the way they work."
Small business owners who have relied on the G Suite legacy free edition aren't thrilled that they will have to pay for Workspace or migrate to a rival like Microsoft, which happens to be actively encouraging defectors. As noted by The New York Times on Monday, the approaching deadline has elicited complaints from small firms that bet on Google's cloud productivity apps in the 2006-2012 period and have enjoyed the lack of billing since then.

Continue reading

Microsoft fixes under-attack Windows zero-day Follina

Plus: Intel, AMD react to Hertzbleed data-leaking holes in CPUs

Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Wed 15 Jun 2022 // 03:02 UTC

Patch Tuesday Microsoft claims to have finally fixed the Follina zero-day flaw in Windows as part of its June Patch Tuesday batch, which included security updates to address 55 vulnerabilities.
Follina, eventually acknowledged by Redmond in a security advisory last month, is the most significant of the bunch as it has already been exploited in the wild.
Criminals and snoops can abuse the remote code execution (RCE) bug, tracked as CVE-2022-30190, by crafting a file, such as a Word document, so that when opened it calls out to the Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool, which is then exploited to run malicious code, such spyware and ransomware. Disabling macros in, say, Word won't stop this from happening.

Continue reading
UK competition watchdog seeks to make mobile browsers, cloud gaming and payments more competitive

Investigation could help end WebKit monoculture on iOS devices

Thomas Claburn in San Francisco Sun 12 Jun 2022 // 06:30 UTC

The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday said it intends to launch an investigation of Apple's and Google's market power with respect to mobile browsers and cloud gaming, and to take enforcement action against Google for its app store payment practices.
"When it comes to how people use mobile phones, Apple and Google hold all the cards," said Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA, in a statement. "As good as many of their services and products are, their strong grip on mobile ecosystems allows them to shut out competitors, holding back the British tech sector and limiting choice."
The decision to open a formal investigation follows the CMA's year-long study of the mobile ecosystem. The competition watchdog's findings have been published in a report that concludes Apple and Google have a duopoly that limits competition.

Continue reading
Microsoft Defender goes cross-platform for the masses

Redmond's security brand extended to multiple devices without stomping on other solutions

Richard Speed Fri 17 Jun 2022 // 15:30 UTC

Microsoft is extending the Defender brand with a version aimed at families and individuals.
"Defender" has been the company's name of choice for its anti-malware platform for years. Microsoft Defender for individuals, available for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers, is a cross-platform application, encompassing macOS, iOS, and Android devices and extending "the protection already built into Windows Security beyond your PC."
The system comprises a dashboard showing the status of linked devices as well as alerts and suggestions.

Continue reading
Microsoft pledges neutrality on unions for Activision staff

Now can we just buy them, please?

Brandon Vigliarolo Mon 13 Jun 2022 // 18:03 UTC

Microsoft isn't wasting time trying to put Activision Blizzard's problems in the rearview mirror, announcing a labor neutrality agreement with the game maker's recently-formed union.
Microsoft will be grappling with plenty of issues at Activision, including unfair labor lawsuits, sexual harassment allegations and toxic workplace claims. Activision subsidiary Raven Software, developers on the popular Call of Duty game series, recently voted to organize a union, which Activision entered into negotiations with only a few days ago.
Microsoft and the Communication Workers of America (CWA), which represents Raven Software employees, issued a joint statement saying that the agreement is a ground-breaking one that "will benefit Microsoft and its employees, and create opportunities for innovation in the gaming sector."

Continue reading

ABOUT US

MORE CONTENT

SITUATION PUBLISHING

The Register - Independent news and views for the tech community. Part of Situation Publishing

SIGN UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER

Security Scorecard

Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2022

Do not sell my personal information Cookies Privacy Ts&Cs