Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant is making the jump from computers and smartphones to the Internet of Things.
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You may soon use Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant to control your air conditioning (MSFT)
Microsoft is trying to push Cortana in the smart home.
Johnson Controls' GLAS thermostat.
Johnson Controls, a company that develops services that manage buildings' ventilation and fire detection systems, just unveiled a smart thermostat that comes with Cortana built in. The company showed off the thermostat, dubbed GLAS, in a short video posted on YouTube on Wednesday.
Similar to rival smart thermostats like Google's Nest or Hive in the UK, GLAS can detect whether you're in the room, and tells you what the air quality is. It also comes with a touchscreen display that allows you to check the temperature, air quality, energy usage, and even calendar information. Its main difference is that you can interact with it using Microsoft's voice assistant.
Neither Microsoft nor Johnson Controls said whether the thermostat will be sold to consumers in the UK or US, or how much it will cost.
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GLAS runs on Microsoft's Windows 10 IoT Core, which is a version of the software giant's flagship operating system that was developed for smaller devices.
The thermostat is just the latest example of Microsoft pushing its voice assistant in the smart home. The Creators Update to Windows 10 IoT Core, which the company released in March, allows smart appliances with screens to run Cortana. It's possible GLAS is intended to show you what you can do, and it might be an indication that you'll soon be seeing a lot more smart gadgets featuring Cortana.
We first saw GLAS on The Verge. Here's Johnson Controls' video for GLAS:
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