Windows 10 users on the Insider program should see some new Cortana features that should be rolling out today. These additions, which will later be made available for all Windows 10 users, are designed to help users organize their activities with proactive reminders of events along with calendar alerts.
Marcus Ash, Microsoft's Group Project Manager for Cortana, talked about the new proactive reminders, which will only be available at first for U.S. Windows 10 users:
"People often make promises to do things in email but may forget about them as the days go by and emails pile up. Microsoft Research (MSR) was pursuing an intriguing and powerful idea around this challenge—automatically recognizing when people make commitments to one another in email messages and providing reminders. We collaborated very closely with MSR to bring this new ability to Cortana to help people better keep track of their commitments."
Ash also offered more info on the new Cortana calendar alert which will be available just in the U.S. and the UK:
"Cortana, like a true personal assistant, is intelligent enough to understand how you may uniquely like to work – including the hours you like to set meetings and those in which you are most productive. So if you are a morning person like me, and you get a meeting request come through for 7 pm, Cortana will alert you that you have a meeting outside of your regular times so that you can take action quickly to move it to a better time. The same for last minute meetings – say it's 8 pm and your boss has sent you an urgent meeting request for 7 am the next day – Cortana will alert you that there's a meeting that may need your attention, so you can adjust your alarm and morning routine accordingly and stay on top of your day."
Ash added that the Cortana team will be adding more reminder and calendar features shortly.
Source: Microsoft
