Cortana Comes To Xbox One

The Xbox One update for August is rolling out now, just ahead of the release of the all new Xbox One S.  This rollout includes several new additions including the addition of backround music, an slight changes to the UI, and the arrival of Cortana. 

Cortana comes with a host of new voice commands and brings all the features available from Windows 10.  Accessing Cortana is a simple as saying "Hey Cortana!".  Cortana can perform a host of tasks including finding friends, searching for games, starting parties, launching apps, and many others.  If you aren't sure how to communicate with Cortana simply say "Hey Cortana! What can I say?".  You will then be given a list of options available to you.  It should also be noted that Kinect is NOT mandatory to access Cortana.  Cortana will accept voice commands from Kinect OR a headset. 

The update also brings slight UI changes.  My Games and Apps can now be found in the upper right corner of the home screen.  You also have the option to sort your games a number of ways including alphabetically.  Your games and apps also scroll vertically instead of horizontally.  The store has been streamlined somewhat as well.

Backround music has been a long requested feature and has now been added.  Apps that support backround music will allow you to play your games while listening to your favorite sounds.  Apps like Pandora are already support this feature and local USB as well as other app support is coming very soon.

Make sure you jump on your box and update this week to take advantage of these many cool features.