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Lumia
October 27, 2015

Tricks and treats with Cortana and Bing



See how Cortana and Bing can help you get in the Halloween spirit on Lumia and Surface.

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Only a few days remain before All Hallows’ Eve (better known as Halloween) arrives this weekend. If you have yet to find that perfect costume or scary movie to watch, then maybe Bing and Cortana can help.

As revealed on the Bing blog, here are some tips for making this year’s Halloween the spookiest one yet, based on your most frequent Halloween searches:

Last-minute costumes

Super heroes and zombies are top choices for all ages, but Bing makes it easy to search for a last-minute costume idea. Once you’ve selected a Halloween disguise, look for the shopping cart badge to see the number of sites with this item for sale.

Still stumped on what you should be? Ask Cortana “what should I wear for Halloween?” and she’ll give a suggestion based on your answers to a short quiz about your preferences.

Scary movies and TV

 Need some help deciding what fright fest to watch on your Lumia or Surface? Just ask Bing about “top horror movies” and you’ll get a list of the top-rated creature features of all time, ranging from “Aliens” to “Zombieland.”

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Or use Bing to catch up on free episodes of our favorite new cheesy TV series, the slasher comedy “Scream Queens.”

Bing’s spooky map

Through Halloween, you can opt into the Spooky Map setting in Bing Maps to see a frighteningly fun color palate and a new set of Halloween-themed icons to denote landmarks. The Bing team has even curated a list of haunted houses in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada!

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Bing isn’t the only one to get into the Halloween spirit. Say the following to Cortana over the Halloween holiday for a spooky surprise:

“Guess the horror movie”

Result: Play a fun trivia game about famous horror movies.

“Happy Halloween”

Result: Happy Halloween . I’m thinking I might go as _____________.

“What’s up?”

Result: Depending on the day, Cortana will give you a different Halloween-themed bit of trivia.

“Tell me a scary Halloween story”

Result: You’ll have to find out for yourself.

For more tips on how Bing can put more fright into your Halloween, check out the Bing blog here.

Not enough chills and thrills for you? Go here to discover Microsoft’s Shocktober lineup of spooky games, apps, music, TV shows, and movies that can be enjoyed on Windows devices.