Cortana And Me

Cortana has been in the news recently. 

Hope you are not wondering Cortana Who? Cortana is the intelligent personal assistant on the Windows Phone 8.1.

And what has been her claim to fame in the recent weeks?

Cortana

It was this news article in The Economic Times, a week back.

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Microsoft's Cortana should consider a career in professional gambling.

The virtual assistant for Windows phones is six for six in predicting World Cup outcomes since the beginning of the elimination round, including the United States' tragic loss to Belgium on Tuesday.

Cortana's predictions are coming from Bing's Prediction Engine, which makes assessments based on each team's previous record as well as a number of other factors like weather, type of grass, and home field advantage (for Brazil).

Cortana's prediction abilities are one reason some have begun seeing the virtual assistant as a legitimate threat to Apple's Siri.

And finally, if you're into gambling, Cortana has Germany beating France and Brazil edging out Columbia in the quarterfinals on Friday.

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This caught my eye, leaving me impressed with her abilities.

Cortana has been a trail blazer since then. She has predicted the results of all matches since the Round of 16 correctly. This includes the shock defeat Brazil faced against Germany. Read here. In total, she has predicted the winner of the last 14 matches correctly.

Even Google's prediction engine has not been able to predict the results correctly. It incorrectly predicted the results of the Germany Vs France Quarter Finals.

But is Cortana alone? No, she isn't. Giving her tough competition is Yours Truly.

In my blog titled Football World Cup 2014 Knockouts (read here), I put down my line up for the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Finals ( after the first day of Round of 16)

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However, if all teams play to their strengths, I would put the following line up for the next stages.

Quarter Finals

Brazil Vs Colombia (Already Decided)

France Vs Germany

The Netherlands Vs Costa Rica

Argentina Vs Belgium

At this quarter final stage, the countries are just 3 matches away from holding the Cup.

My Semi Final Line Up is as below :-

Brazil Vs Germany

The Netherlands Vs Argentina

If indeed the semi final line up comes up as I say, it will be delight for each and every football fan. The biggest countries in world football, with the most talented players, will take on each other to win the World Cup 2014.

After this, it is anybody's game. The team who plays the best on the given day, with a bit of luck on their side, and with lots of God's blessings will come up trumps.

Germany vs Argentina is my choice for the Finals.

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That makes it 12 matches in a row for Yours Truly ( 6 from the Round of 16, 4 Quarter Finals and 2 Semi Finals).

Call it sheer coincidence, or extreme luck. I would call its God's grace, and teams playing to their strengths.

While Cortana has put forth her name on the line by predicting Germany as the winner of the Cup, Yours Truly has decided to step away from this prediction business for the penultimate and the ultimate game of the World Cup. 

The idea is not to jinx any one team. And let the best team win.

Enjoy the game. Enjoy the Football World Cup 2014 Finals on Sunday night.