Microsoft's New Web Browser Will Include Cortana, Its Siri-Like Digital Assistant

Although news of Microsoft's upcoming new browser, codenamed "Spartan," was first leaked last month, we didn't hear much about its new features back then.

Now we're starting to get a better idea of what to expect.

Tom Warren of The Verge reported on Thursday that Spartan will come with Cortana, the digital assistant often compared to Apple's Siri. Cortana is designed to learn more about you the more you use it.

With Cortana, Spartan will let users to find relevant information more quickly. For example, users will be able to get flight information and hotel bookings, as well as other travel information, by simply typing in the name of the airline in the address bar, it says.

Other new features include annotation, where users will be able to annotate a web page and leave notes with a stylus, and the ability to custom group tabs on the browser. That feature will tie back to OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service.

Spartan is expected to be released with Windows 10 next fall. It is expected to have the looks of a Firefox or Chrome, and a wider selection of extension apps. Microsoft is keeping Internet Explorer around for backwards compatibility, but this will apparently be the main browser.