A Microsoft Teams smart speaker moves Cortana to the conference room

Microsoft's Cortana-powered consumer speakers are dead. Long live...Cortana powered Teams speakers? During a Microsoft Ignite keynote by Jared Spataro, the vice president of Microsoft 365, Microsoft showed off a demonstration room powered by some of its latest hardware, including the 85-inch Surface Hub 2S, plus companion devices like Teams Rooms, which are third-party bundles of cameras and small displays for facilitating meetings. Microsoft's idea is that the Teams Rooms devices will manage the meetings, with voice assistance using Cortana, and capabilities like Teams casting and the Room remote app for facilitating conferences. One of the key capabilities of the Microsoft Teams software is its ability to listen to, record, and transcribe the conversation.