One of the favorite things about my Windows Phone is the integration of Cortana, a personal assistant that seems to be a combination of the best parts of Google Voice and Siri, without the other irritations thrown in. Matter of fact, around my household, "let's ask Cortana" is a common phrase (yes, even my girls, 4 and 6 year old girls, say it).

In addition, I love asking her to remind me of "X" or set an alarm for "Y" or wake me up in an hour (of course, the last one is not used at work). Out with the family, we can be spontaneous ... "Cortana, where is the closest Chik-Fil-A," "Cortana, where is the closest beach," and so on.

So, when I heard that Cortana was coming to Windows 10, I was absolutely thrilled. And when I started hearing about how she was expanding in her role, I was ecstatic. So, to bring you up to speed, here's a great article from the Windows blog:

How Cortana comes to life in Windows 10

Of course, I have reservations about people speaking to their computers at work. After all, we're a Google Apps for Business shop at work and even though Google Voice works well in the browser, even the most die hard Google fans don't use GV at work.

Helpful at home? Definitely? At work? Time will tell.

What's your thoughts? Gimmick? Helpful? Time will tell?

Forgot to answer my own question ... since my beloved Lumia 1520 is my primary device and not yet eligible for the Technical Preview program, I purchased a Lumia 635 on Amazon yesterday (for only $49) so I can test Windows 10 on the phone. WIthin 24 hours, I will have my Lumia 1520 running Windows 8.1 Update in one hand and a new Lumia 635 running Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones in the other!

Here's an excellent list of known issues and their workarounds in the current release of the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones:

Known issues and their corresponding workarounds with the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones.

How many folks have dived in already? Did you use your primary phone or do you have a test phone? Does this list help you?

@Minion-Queen As if you could stop me from talking about it! You know me better than that! lol

I forgot to mention that since my beloved Lumia 1520 is not eligible for this round of Windows 10 Technical Preview installations and it is my primary device, I purchased a NO contract Lumia 635 for AT&T (GoPhone) on Amazon today for only $49.84 + tax.

So, with my Amazon Prime membership giving me free two-day shipping, I should be playing with Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones before I go to bed Saturday night ... that is, if I go to sleep at all! lol

Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones has been released and is now available for select phones in select regions. Primarily, this means Lumia models xx3x in the U.S. (Lumia 630, 635, 636, 638, 730, and 830).

Please be warned that this is NOT the same as the Preview for Developers, that contains an early release of RTM (release to manufacturing), but this is considered to be more inline with Alpha or Beta testing. It is not suggested that you use this on a phone that is your primary device.

Additionally, if you somehow brick your device installing the Windows 10 TP for phones, you can use the just released Windows Phone Recovery Tool, a new and improved version of the older Lumia Software Recovery Tool (see links below), which is still used for older Nokia devices.

Related articles:

• Announcing the first build of Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones
• Supported phones for Windows 10 Technical Preview
• FAQ - How can I recover/reset/restore my phone software?

Your thoughts? Are you diving in?

Like I told Scott, it appears to be browser specific, see it works in IE and Firefox, but not Chrome. (this is really a test comment).

Already liked it as well. (Y)

I'm running Steam & Origin games on my Alienware M17X2 laptop. Windows 8.1 Enterprise (64-bit). Currently 8 GB of RAM. i5 Quad Core (each one @ 2.53 MHz). AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5870 video card with 1 GB onboard. 750 GB of hard drive space (250 + 500 GB drives). It was a free upgrade from a Dell XPS, so I'm not complaining! One day, I'm hoping to switch out the drives with SSDs and slap a second 5870 video card into it as well.

Yeah ... but it only runs Android (says the Microsoft guy). lol

Seeing that we just moved into a new house in February, I have lots of projects. This past weekend is was landscaping the front yard.

Turns out the previous owners had a rock garden. So my next project is to put together the "Gorilla Cart" I bought at Home Depot, make a sifting table, and then go through the piles of rock-laden dirt I now have in my backyard (from the front yard). Will re-use the rocks as borders around the different landscaping elements and spread the extra dirt around the yard.

I know, not really IT projects, but this is where my extra time is going right now.

So precious!

My two cents ... primarily aim at correcting the problem (meaning the people creating the wrong behavior) and not the person getting picked on or bullied. If the person getting picked on needs a little help correcting annoying behavior, then do that as well. But the primary "adjustment" should be on those displaying or threatening wrong behavior.

This reminds me of that recent story where students were prohibited from wearing clothing with American Flag insignia on a special day (Cinco de Mayo celebration at school) because some other students threatened violence if they did. How about dealing with those threatening violence than those exercising their American right to proudly display the American flag. We are still in America, aren't we?

**Judge: School Can Ban American Flag Shirts **
http://bit.ly/1kYFdt0

Latest news I hear is that now they are suspecting the pilots and think maybe they intentionally turned tracking and communications off before changing course. However, you hear their friends and neighbors saying "Such a nice guy. I can't imagine them doing anything like that."

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Personally, I'm thinking they will find it in one piece ... if they find it.

A lab environment? I wish I had those luxuries! It would be nice to play around with some VMs. I know that you can contact your Local Microsoft Evangelist (the ones who used to put on the local TechNets) and they'll set you up with something like 3 months of free Azure service and some special deal if you want to continue it. Just a thought for anyone, like myself, who does not have a budget for hardware and software.

And this is why we love DILBERT so much! Pretty funny, but a lot of truth wrapped up in those warped comics.
http://www.dilbert.com/

Automation is great, but I think an important rule to remember is "Code to the exception." I was taught this in programming (in my "previous life" as a programmer) and I rarely had to go back and fix code for an module or app, unless it was for new functionality. While you can't catch everything, it does force you to search out possible failures and/or errors that might happen. I've also heard of it referred to as "What If?" coding.