Updated Google Now for iPhone - goodbye Siri. Alice vs Siri: who wins

And Siri has long become an indicator in the war between Google and Apple, all because the development of an assistant requires considerable effort and time, it shows the company’s experience and its capabilities. Plus, this battle is also significant because of its obsession. Probably, each of you has at least once tried the assistant in action, after which you formed a certain opinion regarding the system as a whole. Why in general? Because these are the things that make up the complete picture.

The development of assistants is interesting because they can be improved almost continuously, adding new answers to certain questions to the database; in other words, the development of a good assistant can last for decades, because it is very painstaking work. Of course, no one will allow us to go into the office where they are working on Siri or Google Now, but this is probably how they (improvements) happen. The main thing is to create some kind of basis, a base. That’s why the producers introduced their assistants almost simultaneously, because if you’re a little late, you won’t be able to catch up.
In this article we will focus only on comparing two minds, but in the future we should not exclude the possibility of joining new virtual friends.
As an author, I like Siri more, and now I’ll explain why. It's all about its plausibility, for example:

By saying “Hello,” Google Now opens our search page, there is no need to talk about mental abilities here. Implementing this feature is not a problem, however, it seems to me that Google either wants to go in a different direction than Siri, or, despite others, is building its own view of what Now should be. But in addition to helping, an assistant must be a kind of comrade, a friend, no matter how strange it may sound. Maybe Google is afraid of the development of virtual intelligence? Don't think.
And this is not the only example; although Siri does not yet understand everything that is said, even now she is much more humane and lively than her competitor. And in a dry comparison in the form of “What is 5+5” and other things, both assistants should behave the same. This should not be an advantage of this or that assistant. So in this case I'm for Siri, they are moving in the right direction.
Meanwhile, a comparison of natural for assistants functionality we will conduct:

Here's an interesting point. When creating a note, Siri successfully offers to dictate the note to her, while Google Now does not make it clear in any way how to dictate the note. If you simply say “Create a note,” you will have to enter it manually, but if you say “Create a note, hello friend,” it will be created, but it’s not logical, right? The assistant needs to guide and help the user, but here everything is confusing - “Think for yourself.”
But that's not the most interesting part. Once you've created a note, you won't be able to delete it in either case, but if Siri says "I'm sorry, I can't delete notes yet" and if you ask her "Why?" you'll hear "Interesting question," Google Now in my case recognized this as a request to create a new note and turned to the search a second time. Then believe those who say that Google Now is an advanced system - no, and again no. The point is not whether you know how to do something or not (initially it is assumed that assistants can perform all functions equally, in reality this is what happens), the main thing is to get out of it correctly and evade the answer, to make yourself look like a person, because you are an assistant.

We also want to note the convenience of Siri. In the case of Google Now, we must go to settings, meanwhile Siri offers directly in the form of a card to change the brightness or turn on Wi-Fi in the voice assistant window itself, convenient.
I did not compare football matches, since I am not an ardent fan of this sport, however, such an opportunity exists, but it does not bring any actual benefit to those who do not care about sports.
What are the results? A few years after the start, the development vector of virtual assistants was divided into two parts: the creation of a humanoid system and the implementation of an assistant capable of performing only certain actions and not designed for third-party questions. In this case, calling Google Now an assistant will not dare, it’s just voice search, partly an assistant in the form turn on Wi-Fi and other basic things.
I would also like to hear your point of view, which, of course, may and certainly will not coincide with mine.

Cross-platform frameworks provide mobile application developers full set tools designed to improve productivity by solving common problems. The question is which frameworks are best for you doing mobile development. To help you answer this question, we have prepared a special list of cross-platform frameworks for developing high-quality mobile applications.

Developing a mobile application using a cross-platform framework is a shorter path to successfully completing the task.

With nearly three million apps on Google Play, the Android operating system dominates the mobile landscape. Individuals, small companies and large enterprises are working hard to establish a strong mobile presence and capture market share. However, not everyone has the proper experience and resources needed to create a good mobile application from scratch using native tools.

The goal of frameworks is to make mobile app development as easy as possible.

List of cross-platform application development frameworks:

- Corona SDK;

Is it easy to create applications and games using Corona SDK? The creators of the Corona SDK framework promise ten times faster development of games and mobile applications. How is this even possible? This is likely due to the fact that the internal structure of the Corona application is entirely based on Lua, a lightweight multi-paradigmatic programming language with an emphasis on speed, portability, extensibility and ease of use.

The official Corona SDK website contains guides, lessons, and examples designed to turn novice mobile application developers into experienced professionals. Guides and tips cover all sorts of developer topics. From the basics of mobile development to more advanced topics. The Corona SDK framework is absolutely free. We remember about cross-platform. It runs on both Windows and Mac OS X and supports real-time application testing.

- TheAppBuilder;

So, description TheAppBuilder is a framework used by some of the largest organizations in the world, equipped with a user interface to speed up the development of application code. There are reviews that the version works best when used to create company presentations and other information applications. The framework comes with ready-made blocks for push notifications, feedback, surveys, content updates, analytics and more. Best of all, TheAppBuilder integrates directly with Google Play, allowing you to publish ready-made apps with one click.

- Xamarin;

The Xamarin framework was developed by the same people who created Mono, compatible with the ECMA standard, and has a set of tools compatible with the .NET Framework. Xamarin offers developers a single C# codebase that they can use to create their own apps for all major mobile operating systems.

Unlike many other frameworks, Xamarin has already been used by more than 1.4 million developers around the world. With Xamarin for Visual Studio, developers can harness the power Microsoft Visual Studio and all its advanced features, including code completion, IntelliSense, and debugging applications on a simulator or mobile device. The Xamarin Test Cloud feature allows you to instantly test applications on up to 2,000 real devices in the cloud (remotely, via the Internet). Today it is The best way tackle the severe fragmentation of the Android ecosystem and release bug-free mobile apps that run without any major issues on most gadgets.

- Appcelerator Titanium;

The Appcelerator Titanium framework is part of the Appcelerator Platform, which includes all the tools mobile app developers need to build, test, and deploy highly optimized apps. The Titanium framework uses JavaScript to call a vast collection of APIs. These APIs call native operating system functions, providing exceptional performance and a natural appearance.

Titanium includes a visually oriented mobile app development process that relies heavily on pre-built code blocks that can be assembled via drag and drop. You can create data models programmatically or visually. Test your finished mobile apps in the cloud and track them with the Mobile Lifecycle dashboard, which provides valuable insight into app performance.

- PhoneGap;

PhoneGap from Adobe is one of the world's most popular frameworks for developing Android applications. It is created by the Apache Cordova development team. An open source mobile application development environment that uses CSS3 and HTML5, as well as JavaScript for cross-platform development. PhoneGap is also completely open source software.

It is based on an intuitive desktop application used to create applications and connect these applications to mobile devices (phones/smartphones, tablets). Finally, no more unclear text commands, which are easy to make mistakes and difficult to remember. The fantastic desktop app is complemented by the PhoneGap mobile app. The application allows you to instantly see changes on your connected mobile device. Other things that make PhoneGap so recommended are its large library of plugins, third-party tools, and thriving community.

- Ionic;

Ionic is a free and open source framework licensed under the MIT license. It offers a whole library of components and tools. Ionic allows you to develop progressive web apps and native mobile apps for every major app store - all from a single codebase. Thanks to the best native plugins, it's extremely easy to use features like Bluetooth and Health Kit, and fingerprint authentication is also supported.

Ionic is also designed for performance tuning and optimization. All applications built using Ionic look like they are standardized and they work equally well. To date, nearly four million applications have been created by five million Ionic developers around the world. If you want to join them, visit the official website and learn more about this framework.

- NativeScript;

JavaScript and Angular, as well as TypeScript, are perhaps the most commonly used web development technologies. With the NativeScript framework, you can also use them to create applications. Simply put, NativeScript creates platform user interfaces from single base code. Unlike other integrated frameworks, NativeScript is supported by Telerik, a Bulgarian company that offers various software tools.

Do you need lessons on creating mobile applications in the cross-platform NativeScript framework? To help mobile application developers become familiar with this framework, the official website contains many examples and detailed teaching aids. You can view real implementations of mobile applications, study official documentation, and even dive into the source code.

- React Native;

React Native is developed by Facebook and used by Instagram, Tesla, Airbnb, Baidu, Walmart and many other Fortune 500 companies. Facebook's React JavaScript framework is open version (open source). Since React Native uses the same UI building blocks as regular mobile apps for iOS and Android gadgets, it is impossible to differentiate a React Native app from an app built using Objective-C or Java. Once you update the source code, you will immediately see the changes in the application preview window. If you ever feel the need to manually optimize certain parts of your application, React Native allows you to combine native code with components written in Swift or Objective-C and Java.

- Sencha Touch.

Sencha Touch what is it? Like TheAppBuilder, it is an enterprise framework for creating universal mobile applications. He uses methods hardware acceleration to achieve high performance. Sencha Touch comes with five dozen built-in UI components and decent-looking themes, making it easy to create amazing apps that attract users.

The framework includes a robust data package that can use data from any internal data source. With this package, you can create collections of data using highly functional models that offer features such as sorting and filtering. Sencha Touch has received praise from many influential companies and organizations.

Conclusion of the review of cross-platform frameworks for mobile application development:

No matter which mobile app development framework you choose, don't be afraid to change your mind if you ever feel like there are better development environment options. Cross-platform frameworks are extremely fluid, with new ones being released on a regular basis. Their goal is to help you quickly turn a rough idea into working application, and the working mobile app- into the finished product. In the end, it doesn't matter whether you achieve your goal using the latest modern framework that everyone is talking about, or a long-established framework that is starting to gather dust.

When Chinese IT company Huawei decided to unveil its new multimedia phone surrounded by the ornate National Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, ​​it certainly gave hints to the journalists present (covering technology news) about what they would see. After all, the recently unveiled Huawei Mate X foldable smartphone looks a bit like a rare Picasso painting.

First review of Huawei Mate X: a smartphone with a folding screen - attractive, powerful specifications and an incredibly expensive price to buy it.

So, what is the Huawei Mate X smartphone? The impression from the first review of Huawei Mate X can be expressed by the phrase that this smartphone is great. Even the phrase what is this beautiful smartphone, softens the review a little. Rather, he is magnificent in his own way. It has perhaps the most worthy industrial design of any mobile phone that the tech giants have ever released in the last few years. The new Huawei smartphone, from contemplation and deep imagination, clearly expands the boundaries of what smartphones can be. Since the size of a smartphone screen easily turns into a tablet one. Thus, mobile content can be viewed in a convenient way.

Those who know everything about phones might think that when asked for a unique price, the Mate X is a bit like the Picasso story in that it is a very expensive smartphone. The Mate X has raised the bar for smartphone prices. But perhaps, given the specifications on offer, it can justify its high price for those deciding which phone to buy.

Display on Huawei Mate X.

Which display is better? Huawei Mate X has a single display that can be transformed into three different configurations. The first mode is 8-inch tablet. It's an almost perfect square with an aspect ratio of 8:7.1 and a resolution of 2480 by 2200 pixels.

Since the screen is on the outside of the smartphone, when the mobile device is folded, you get two screens. Front screen offers 6.6 inches edge-to-edge, complemented by a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a pixel resolution of 2480 by 1148.

There are also rear end, which offers fewer screen inches because it houses the device's cameras and handle. You will primarily use this part to take selfie photos. This part provides a decent (but thin) screen size of 6.38 inches with a somewhat compressed 25:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2480 by 892 pixels.

How comfortable is the Huawei Mate X in terms of thickness?

When folded, the Huawei Mate X mobile phone is 11 millimeters thick, and unlike its rival phone Samsung Galaxy Fold, there is no bulky gap. It is completely flat and locks into place with just one click. It would be interesting to test how well it locks when thrown into a purse, for example, and see if it can accidentally open or not.

When unfolded, the Mate X smartphone is 5.4mm thick, which is slightly thinner than the iPad Pro!

On Huawei Mate X, the camera, the pen - everything is for the user!

A quick look at the side of the Huawei Mate X - it's a handle (Huawei's fairly descriptive term). The device contains three mobile cameras, including one using hardware Leica. In technology news, this was not a surprise. The same configuration has appeared on all Huawei phones, starting with the P20 Pro model. It would be strange if the manufacturer Huawei refused such a function in such a revolutionary device.

You may notice that the phone does not have a dedicated front-facing selfie camera. This is because the three rear cameras are selfie cameras. To take a photo of yourself, you just need to fold your phone and flip it over.

It's all pretty exciting. Huawei's premium phones are regularly considered to have the best camera phones on the market. While the company didn't share any camera samples during the launch event, it's fair to say that some people like the ability to take selfies with a high-end camera. mobile camera, supplemented by Master AI software.

And because the back of the Mate X also contains a screen, you can use your smartphone when taking photos, for example to show the subject of your photo a preview of how they'll end up looking in the photo.

Huawei employees claim that there are no problems with the camera on the Mate X model. This is good news, both in terms of appearance and overall durability. The latter is what the company is focusing on as it announced a specially designed protective case with the phone.

New 5G connectivity and performance for the Mate X smartphone.

When reviewing the Mate X, it's important to remember that Huawei is more than just a phone maker. It targets a variety of IT areas, including SoC design. So it's no surprise that the Mate X uses the Balong 5G modem, as well Huawei processor Kirin 980.

The modem is especially interesting because Huawei promises that the performance will be more than double that of modems from rival firms such as Qualcomm Snapdragon and Samsung Exynos. It is assumed that users who can afford to buy Huawei Mate X in stores will be able to use the download speed of 4.6 Gbps, for example, to download a 1 GB movie in just three seconds. Of course, right now, we have not been able to independently verify this, so for now we can only take our word for it.

What operating system is installed on Huawei Mate X?

From point of view software, Mate X runs Google systems Android 9.0 Pie.

A Huawei spokesperson also said that Desktop Mode software will be available for its latest foldable phone, allowing the Mate X to be used as a smartphone, tablet, or even a desktop computer.

Huawei Mate X memory.

Mate X is a mobile phone with two SIM cards, one slot of which supports 5G network, and the other is limited to 4G communication. If you don't need last function, you can simply insert an NM card (clarification, NM is a nano memory card invented by Huawei, which offers the same type of memory as a microSD memory card but in a smaller form factor) and add extra storage space to your mobile apparatus. Wherein basic version The smartphone is available with 512 GB of memory. Even the most dedicated filmmakers are unlikely to use all that storage capacity in a mobile phone.

Battery for Mate X.

With such big screen for work, you'll be glad to know that the Huawei Mate X phone launched with a pretty gigantic battery. The device has two cells, which together measure up to a respectable 4500 mAh. Unfortunately, there are no battery tests right now, so it's difficult to say how this translates into actual use of the new smartphone.

The Chinese company shared that the Mate X comes with a 55W super charging feature that can recharge the phone's battery by 85 percent in just thirty minutes.

Huawei Mate X pricing.

Huawei Mate X is perhaps the most important phone, ever unveiled by the rising Chinese tech brand, and not just because it's cementing its reputation as an innovative premium handset maker. This phone implements the company's more than three years of research and development and integrates advances in materials technology and communications equipment.

With this in mind, don't be surprised that the smartphone comes with really expensive prices, starting at 2,299 euros. When Huawei CEO Richard Yu (the English spelling of his name is "Richard Yu") broke the news, the silence from the crowd he had previously enjoyed was replaced by whispers of questioning. How much, how much does it cost?

Speaking of prices, it is about 300 euros more expensive than the flagship mobile device Samsung Galaxy Fold. And it's about 800 Euro more expensive than the most expensive Apple iPhone. Price-wise, the Mate X is in the same range as the company's previous luxury phones that bore the brand of luxury car brands, namely Porsche.

Huawei is not oblivious to the high cost of the Mate X, and during the conversation, Richard Yu said that the price of the phone reflects the high cost of research and development mobile device. He explained that the patented hinge that separates the two displays was a three-year development process and contains over a hundred different parts. This kind of research and development is not cheap, and it is inevitable that there will be costs.

However, two things are inevitable. Firstly, there will be no shortage of enthusiastic pioneers willing to save on a lot in order to save up the money for a premium phone. For these buyers, there is an undeniable allure to being among the first to own something special. Perhaps Huawei can take advantage of the news buzz and benefit from more than just selling cheaper phones.

Secondly, prices on the market will inevitably decline. Perhaps not for this smartphone, but certainly for foldable smartphones in general. By and large, the price of 2300 Euros per phone will be perceived as a deviation from the norm. This will be driven by several factors, ranging from inevitable cost savings to competition from other up-and-coming brands like Xiaomi and OPPO, which are making strong inroads into the Western smartphone market.

Availability of purchasing Huawei Mate X.

For example, Huawei hasn't said how much the device will cost in the UK, but if you're guessing, it'll probably cost around £2,300. This assumption takes into account previous price trends, high UK sales tax and the continued decline of the pound.

Also, Huawei CEO Yu did not mention any plans to release the Mate X in the United States. Which is not surprising. The company rarely releases phones in the US. So the Mate 20 Pro smartphone, which until recently was best Android phone and, which could be purchased for a reasonable price, was completely absent from the American market, forcing American consumers to order the smartphone from abroad. This situation could push prices even higher for US users, who may be forced to pay high customs duties and taxes.

When will it be possible to buy Huawei Mate X?

Huawei has announced that the Mate X will be released mid-year. Unfortunately, this message was not more specific. To clarify, you just need to wait and see what the official release date for Huawei Mate X will be.

Are you planning to buy a new premium phone? There are reasons why it's better to wait before buying a premium phone right now. Which? Here are some of the main reasons. What the buyer can expect from premium phones in 2019 is a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile chip, new super fast 5G connectivity, foldable screen design and a 48-megapixel mobile camera.

All about phones and buying them: If you are planning to buy a new premium phone, wait until at least, one month. And that's why:

At the Mobile World Congress 2019 (also known as MWC 2019), which will be held in just a couple of weeks (on the twentieth of February), most of the leading smartphone companies are expected to present their latest flagship phones with advanced features and updated specifications.

So, new cell phone specifications for this year.

Samsung will release the Galaxy S10 multimedia phone, while HMD Global will introduce the Nokia 9 PureView five-camera phone. Phone manufacturers Huawei, Oppo and LG will also present their latest mobile devices at the upcoming mobile exhibition.

But in 2019, buyers need to think about more than just the next model upgrade cycle when purchasing a new premium phone. And the reasons for this are the unique technical characteristics in the description of the phones.

- Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor.

Qualcomm's top-end processor powers most premium phones, from the Samsung Galaxy S9 to the OnePlus 6T. The Snapdragon 845 processor is now history. The latest Qualocmm Snapdragon 855 chipset, based on 7nm process technology, offers better performance, higher battery efficiency and built-in artificial intelligence (aka AI) processing.

Paired with the Snapdragon X50 modem, the Snapdraon 855 will also bring 5G mobile connectivity to premium smartphones in 2019.

Other key features of the chipset include improved gaming performance (Adreno 640 GPU), artificial intelligence and a camera with better performance. high resolution, as well as an in-screen fingerprint sensor.

- 48 megapixel camera.

The latest premium smartphones are expected to come with a higher resolution camera. The 48MP camera is the new rage and already several phones like Honor View20 and Redmi Note 7 have a similar feature.

While resolution is certainly not the best measurement to judge a camera by, the built-in sensors are also improving significantly. Most of these 48MP camera phones are likely to use the Sony IMX586 sensor, dubbed the highest resolution camera sensor for mobile phones.

Besides better resolution cameras and sensors, premium mobile phones 2019 may also come with Samsung-like quad and penta (five) camera setups. Most 2018 phones featured dual cameras with a primary camera while the secondary camera ranged from ultra-wide, depth to monochrome.

We expect the new phones to feature most of these sensors with three, four or five cameras.

- Fifth generation mobile communications: 5G.

Evolution of networks mobile communications continues! The upcoming MWC 2019 will also be a launching pad for 5G phones. Xiaomi, OnePlus, Samsung and almost all the leading players in the mobile market are expected to introduce their new phones with 5G connectivity. Most of these phones will also hit the European and US markets later this year. Some Apple fans already want to buy an iPhone 5G. For other countries, the rollout of 5G networks may be delayed by at least one year. But investing in a 5G phone right now wouldn't be a bad idea.

- Folding mobile phone.

Folding phones are no longer a concept, screen folding is already part of the features of mobile phones. Korean Samsung company introduced its first foldable phone late last year. It is expected to unveil the commercial version of the phone at its event on February 20, ahead of the MWC 2019 mobile expo.

Samsung is likely betting big on the new form factor, as it plans to release at least one million foldable phones this year. Considering that Russia is one of the priority markets, we can expect that foldable phones will also be released. Apart from Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo have plans to launch foldable phones this year.

- Artificial intelligence in phones, plus don’t forget about machine learning.

Google introduced the Android 9 Pie operating system last year. Such Android features Pie, like Adaptive Display and Adaptive Brightness, is the basis of machine learning that helps improve the efficiency of using Android phones. In the future, artificial intelligence and machine learning will become important part updates for the Google Android platform. It may be worth making sure that your new phone will be compatible not only with Android 9 Pie, but also with the Android Q successor.

Besides Google, phone companies like Xiaomi and Asus are bringing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) right into system applications. The camera, for example, on premium phones uses AI and ML to automatic recognition scenes and automatic optimization of settings. Most of the 2019 mobile phones will come with AI-enhanced cameras.

The only thing that remains a dream when buying is when the best mobile phones will have a full-fledged “3D phone” feature.

News added:

1) Samsung released the latest Galaxy version S10, and people believe that the iPhone may lose its position as the king of smartphones.

The latest flagship smartphone Samsung Galaxy S10 was released by the company on February 20. On this day, Samsung presented many new products. The audience was really interested in the new phone demonstrated. So much so that they say that Apple's iPhone has a serious alternative. With the latest Galaxy S10 model, Samsung surprised and shocked fans, in a good way.

2) The attractive, powerful and incredibly expensive Huawei Mate X foldable 5G phone.

Following the announcement of the first foldable smartphone Samsung Galaxy Fold, Chinese company Huawei is betting on the folding screen form factor and is announcing the release of the Huawei Mate X, which also works with 5G connectivity. Developer Huawei is taking a completely different approach compared to Samsung, namely placing the smartphone's rollable display on the outside rather than on the inside, and this solution has a number of pros and cons when describing next-generation phones. The price of Huawei Mate X starts from 2299 Euro.

3) Will Apple release a foldable iPhone?

Some analysts believe that a foldable iPhone could be in the works from the Cupertino company. Then, if the new Apple smartphone comes with a folding screen, it has a chance to become the best among the already released foldable smartphones Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X.

Moom, from the developers of Many Tricks, has been bringing order to chaos since 2011, making managing windows in your operating system as easy as clicking a mouse button or using a keyboard shortcut. With Moom, you can easily move and scale windows to fit half screen, quarter screen, or fill the screen; set custom sizes and positions and save layouts open windows for one-click positioning. Once you try Moom, you'll wonder how you ever used your Mac without it.

Software review: Moom is a program for moving and scaling windows in the Mac OS system.

So, Moom allows you to move and scale windows - using your mouse or keyboard - in predefined locations and sizes, or in full-screen mode. When using the program with a mouse, all you have to do is hover over the green resize button and the Moom interface will appear. When you are using the keyboard, click on the shortcut you defined and the Moom keyboard frame will appear, then you can move the windows around using the arrow keys and modifier keys.

Moom can be launched as a traditional app, as a menu bar app, or as a completely faceless background app.

Pop-up window placement.

Hover your mouse over the green button of any window and the Moom palette will pop up.

Quickly fill the screen or move and resize vertically or horizontally around the edges of the screen. Want quarter-size windows instead? By holding down the Option key, the palette presents four quarter-size corner options along with a "no resize center" option.

Resizing is not a problem.

It's actually drag and drop, using Moom's unique on-screen resizing grid.

Click the empty box below the pop-up palette, move your mouse pointer to where you want the window to be positioned, then click and drag to new dimensions.

Release the mouse button and the window will fill the outline you drew on the screen, it's not difficult at all.

Want to quickly move and scale windows in specific areas of the screen? Just turn on Moom's edge and corner snapping feature.

Grab the window, drag it to an edge or corner, and release the mouse button. You can set the resize action for each location in Moom's settings.

Set the window set to the size and location you want, then save the layout. Restore the layout using the assigned hotkey or through the Moom menu.

This feature is especially useful if you're using a laptop with an external display; Moom can launch saved layouts when you add or remove displays.

No mouse required.

Don't worry, keyboard users. Moom isn't just for those who prefer to use a mouse. Enable keyboard controls and you can pan, resize, center, use the on-screen grid, and more—all without touching your mouse.

Additionally, each custom Moom command, continue reading, can be assigned a global keyboard shortcut or one that only works when the keyboard controller is on screen.

Countless custom commands.

Create and save frequently used Moom actions in a menu of custom commands, with additional separators and labels.

Moving, scaling, resizing, centering, even moving to other displays can all be done using custom commands. You can even create a sequence of commands tied to a single shortcut, simplifying complex moving and resizing operations.

But wait, there's more to moving and scaling windows on Mac OS with Moom.

Use Moom as normal application Dock-based, as a menu bar icon, or as a completely invisible background app.

Custom commands are accessed using the Moom menu bar icon, the green button's pop-up palette, or keyboard shortcuts.

Use a small hex grid to resize the grid instead of a full screen virtual grid.

Move windows across displays, and use related commands to scale them to new sizes and locations as you move them.

You can display a keyboard cheat sheet that shows you what tasks you've assigned to which keys in keyboard mode.

Resizing windows to exact dimensions, ideal for testing how well windows fit into different sized windows.

Developers Moom programs have made efforts to achieve these goals, where great software should do its job efficiently, have a clear interface, and be a pleasure to use.

Summary:

Moom is a Mac OS app developed by Many Tricks that lets you quickly organize, resize, move, scale, and shape windows so you spend less time arranging windows and more time working with them.

Moom system requirements:

The program requires installation of the macOS 10.8 "Mountain Lion" operating system or later on your computer. You can try Moom for free.

Trying to download and choose the best one file manager for Windows? Eat good news, this is a portable XYplorer program, it is just a file manager for Windows and has such features as tabbed browsing, powerful file search (as an explorer, alternative), universal preview, customizable interface, optional dual panel and a large set unique ways effective automation for frequently repeated tasks. This file manager is for Windows computer, according to the developer Cologne Code Company - fast, innovative, lightweight and portable. Read on for a review of the XYplorer program!

What is a file manager for Windows today.

Learn more about the functionality of the XYplorer file manager. So, there is an export of extended file information of entire directories (or even directory trees) to files text format CSV. Automatic setup column width. Customizable display formats for file size and date information. For each file and folder, the used (real) one is immediately displayed disk space. Remembers the last folder and sort order. Browser-like history functionality. You can assign favorite folders. Big set useful commands, added to standard context menu file, including "Copy to", "Move to", "Copy file name with path", "Copy file properties", "Rename multiple files". Icon extraction, multi-file timestamp and attribute label. Instant display complete information about the file/version for each selected file. Instant preview of images, audio and video files (display detailed information about multimedia). Instantly view file contents for all files (ASCII and binary), including extracting text from binary files (fairly fast). Full support for Drag and Drop and mouse wheel.

XYplorer what is it for the user

XYplorer, as a two-panel file manager for Windows, was designed for heavy-duty work. The program is easy to install and easy to remove. Installing and running the program does not change your system or registry. Ease of use in that you can start working in as soon as possible(the interface fully complies with file manager standards). The program is small, fast and convenient for random access memory computer.

Portability:

XYplorer is a portable file manager. That is, it does not require any installation into the computer's operating system, stores all configuration data in the program data folder, and running it does not change your system or registry. Take it with you and you can run the program from a flash drive. Then file management is in your hands.

Working with tabs:

Tabs in the file manager make it easy to switch between folders. Drag them, hide them, lock them, name them, or place files on them. Tabs remember their configuration individually and across sessions. In addition, the user gets tabs and a dual panel.

Functionality:

XYplorer was designed to make the user's experience faster, according to the developer. Indeed, numerous usability improvements in an attractive interface help streamline your workflow and increase efficiency. Under these conditions, you can save a lot of time when working with files in Windows.

Scripts in the file manager for many tasks:

Yes, you can program this program. Individual solutions for individual tasks. No plugins are required, scripts are launched from the program folder. Even beginners can benefit from this feature as many ready-to-use scripts are available on the official file manager forum.

Speed ​​of the program:

Speed ​​has always been the main goal of XYplorer software development. The code is constantly optimized for performance, with zero tolerance for slowness. In addition, the file manager uses very little RAM in Windows; the executable file is small in size (only 7 MB) and loads on the system almost instantly.

Reliability:

Can I trust the XYplorer file manager? One thing is clear: the program works as intended by the developer and is expected to work; it seems that it is very difficult to put it into a crash state. Additionally, the developer states that any issues with the program are addressed immediately and are usually resolved within a few hours. It is worth adding that a large community closely monitors the development of the file manager and constantly tests frequently released beta versions.

Software customizability:

You can customize your file manager to look and behave the way you want. Customization ranges from fonts and colors to custom toolbar buttons and even file icons and program associations. And every part of XYplorer file manager is completely portable. Even dark mode.

Responsiveness of the XYplorer program developer:

System requirements for the program:

Since XYplorer is a portable file manager. File management does not require installation or modification of your operating system or registry. You can take the program with you and simply launch the file manager from a USB drive along with your personal configuration.

The XYplorer program works under 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft operating systems:

Windows Server 2003;
- Windows XP;
- Windows Vista;
- Windows Server 2008;
- Windows 7;
- Windows Server 2012;
- Windows 8;
- Windows 8.1;
- Windows Server 2016;
- Windows 10.

You can try the file manager for free, but remember that the demo version of XYplorer is fully functional only for 30 days after installation on your computer!

A fast program for downloading videos from the Internet for Mac: Downie will save video content once or according to a list and a customizable “alarm clock”.

A program for downloading videos from Internet sites - Downie is currently supported by more than 1,000 different sites (including Facebook, Vimeo, the legendary YouTube, Lynda, Youku, Daily Haha, MTV, iView, South Park Studios, Bloomberg, Kickstarter, NBC News, CollegeHumor , MetaCafe, as well as Bilibili and other sites with videos). Plus, the list of sites from which the program can download videos is growing rapidly.

Downie program features:

Support for downloading 4K YouTube videos - Unlike many other YouTube video downloaders, Downie supports HD YouTube videos, up to 4K format.

Frequent updates - you don’t have to wait long for new sites to be added from where you can download videos or errors are corrected. Downie is updated approximately once a week with new features, supported sites, and more.

International approach - Downie downloader supports not only specific sites created for a specific country, the program is also localized in different languages. If your language is not on the list of supported languages, just contact the developer, Charlie Monroe Software, and discuss the issue.

New features in Downie:

Redesign of the program's user interface - the downloader's user interface has been redesigned from scratch. According to the developer, the interface has become faster, more convenient and visually pleasing.

Menu bar icon - you can manage downloads from the menu bar, without having to be distracted from your current work.

Improved HLS support - the program developer claims that HLS streams load four times faster.

DASH support - DASH streams are now supported.

Major post-processing improvements - Post-processing of some uploads can take just seconds instead of minutes thanks to Downie, a shortcut to analyze video before converting it.

Simple Mode - If you prefer to keep the user interface as simple as possible, there's an Easy mode for you.

Grouping video files based on the site from which the download was made and the playlist - all downloads can now be sorted into folders depending on where you downloaded them from or what playlist they are from.

Delayed queue start is a function for scheduling downloads for the required time (for example, you can schedule a video download for the middle of the night) so as not to overload the Internet channel for the whole family.

User-controlled pop-up support - The program now additionally supports pop-up windows, so you can log into sites that open the login window in a separate window.

Simple tips for using Downie:

if you have big list links or many links within any text, just drag it all onto Downie - the downloader will scan the text for links with video content.

You can also use copy and paste - just press Command-O in Downie and you can paste a lot of links.

Fast user support:

Developer of a program for downloading videos, answers to emails usually within 24 hours and quite often adds support for the requested sites to the program in its next update.

A few words from the program developer:

Charlie Monroe, General Manager, Developer and Customer Support:

"My goal is to release best apps and provide the best possible support."

Downie Compatibility:

Anyone who is thinking about downloading the Downie program for Mac. You should be aware that to work with the program, you need a computer with the operating system macOS 10.11 or later.

Breaking Software News: VideoSolo DVD Creator for converting and recording video, with wide functionality for the user.

So, with VideoSolo DVD Creator, burn almost any video to DVD and even Blu-ray discs easy and fast, with excellent flexibility of settings (you can record video, edit video, add audio, edit DVD menu).

It is possible to download online videos for DVD recording or Blu-Ray discs.

Need to solve the problem of how to download videos from online sites? For example, from sites such as YouTube, Facebook, MTV, Vimeo, Yahoo, Dailymotion, TED, Vevo, Niconico, AOL, Worldstar Hip Hop, Youku, CBS, ESPN and others. With this program, home movies or videos, after downloading from an online site, can still be burned to DVD or Blu-ray.

The program allows, in several simple steps, upload 3D video, video high definition(4K, 1080p and 720p resolutions) and music for any player.

Styling your DVD using the right menu.

The flexible VideoSolo DVD Creator program offers many diverse and incredible templates to edit DVD disc menus for you. Already available design themes such as holiday, family, wedding and more. After choosing a menu template you like, you can edit the text DVD menu and determine its font, size, color. Creating a DVD menu is quite convenient.

Moreover, you can separately set background music, background picture and opening movie with your music, picture and video file.

Setting up DVD subtitles and audio tracks.

Needed a change or creation to DVD subtitles or audio tracks? DVD Creator allows the user to customize the subtitles and audio track. That is, you can add subtitles and audio tracks to your DVD manually. Supported subtitle file formats are SSA, SRT, and ASS.

For audio files, this program supports almost all popular audio formats, so it is easy to import them into the program. With the DVD Creator utility, you can edit the audio volume and adjust the position of subtitles to get a personalized DVD file.

Video editing and live preview.

This DVD burning tool is designed with a powerful video editing feature that allows professionals and beginners alike to create professional-looking DVDs. Which allows you to adjust video effects such as brightness, saturation, hue, volume and contrast.

VideoSolo DVD Creator also supports the ability to trim video length, cut video, change aspect ratio, set position and transparency, and add text or image watermark to video.

The DVD Creator software user can view the DVD video at a convenient time before recording to make sure that everything is created as it should.

Video review of the VideoSolo DVD Creator program: User's Guide.

Apple continues to improve voice Siri assistant. In the iOS 8 operating system, the personal assistant began to better understand voice requests and more accurately respond, say Stone Temple Consulting employees, who compared the function with Google Now. However, a competitor from Google copes better with answers to the questions posed.

Three assistants took part in the testing: Siri, Google Now and Cortana. Microsoft, we recall, positions its technology as a specific mix of functions previously implemented by Apple and Google. There is full support for natural language and, according to the developers, unlike the Apple product, the service is customized to the needs of each user.

The essence of the test was that all three participants were asked the same questions. Siri, Google Now and Cortana had to answer 3,086 questions. Cortana and Google Now accept both written and verbal requests. Nevertheless, for the purity of the experiment, questions were voiced. Among them were both simple ones - “The height of the Eiffel Tower”, and more complex ones - “What is love?”, “Who is depicted on the 5 dollar bill?”, “What does the fox say?”

Google Now won the competition. This was due to the fact that Google, unlike Apple, specializes in search results. Out of 3086 questions, the service managed to more or less accurately answer 1795 - that’s 58%. Siri was able to correctly handle 908 questions (29%), while Cortana only managed 630 (20%).

The authors of the experiment separately calculated how often the assistant provides absolutely accurate information. For example, given the question “How old is the Great Wall of China?” the answer "It was completed in 206 BC", rather than a specific age, was considered incorrect. Here Google Now again won by a wide margin - 88% of accurate answers versus 53% and 40% for Apple and Microsoft solutions.

Stone Temple Consulting noted that, despite its objectivity, the study is not deeply scientific, so it should be treated with a fair amount of irony.

In 2011, Apple produced a new revolution- their smartphone spoke. The appearance of Siri marked a new era of gadget control. People were able to contact their gadgets like a person, asking them for important (and not so important) information. Weather, reminders and the latest mail can now be found without moving from application to application. Naturally, other technology companies and smartphone manufacturers could not stand aside and decided to show similar solutions, to varying degrees better or worse than Siri. In this article we will talk about best analogues Siri for Android, how far progress has come and what these analogues are capable of.

Google Now

Despite the fact that Google service Now is different from other voice assistants; it is still considered an analogue of Siri for Android. Google Now is an artificial intelligence that lives in your phone, knowing everything about your interests, activities, upcoming flights and calendar events. In addition to the secretary function, Google Now does an excellent job of searching for information on the Web. The OK Google team has already become a cult favorite and helps millions of people find answers to their questions every day. Google Now can collect your search queries and display relevant information based on them. For example, you were recently looking for tickets to a match of your favorite team. In this case, Google Now will start sending you cards with information about the upcoming game, the team's other games, and their progress in the tournament.

Google Assistant

“Assistant” is a new stage in the development of Google Now. This is Siri for Android at its best. The assistant is not just smarter than its predecessor, but also much more functional. You can use it to create reminders, calendar events, and send messages. Want to hit rock on the way to work? Ask the “Assistant” to play you the TOP best tracks in the genre and he will create the perfect playlist for you.

Don't understand what the word is written on the sign? Ask the “Assistant” to translate it into your language, because he is an excellent linguist and knows more than 100 languages.

Is this not enough? The "Assistant" will help you communicate in instant messengers, choosing words, dates and contact information for you when asked. And the “Assistant” can joke, tell a story, or give advice on where it’s best to put the cabinet.

Cortana

Microsoft has recently become famous for its endless (and unsuccessful) attempts to catch up with its opponents, introducing similar functions into its devices and competitors' gadgets. Microsoft did not hesitate to make some kind of analogue of Siri for Android. Her name is Cortana (this is a reference to one of the characters in the game Halo). In fact, this assistant is almost no different from its competitors. Microsoft made an attempt to sit on two chairs at once, so the interface also has smart cards that adapt to specific user, and a humane interlocutor, creating a feeling of live communication.

In fact, the assistant is not very smart; she will have to provide almost all the information manually. She is unlikely to ever find out your interests and desires, if only because for this you need to use Microsoft services and no others. On the other hand, if you spend some time with Cortana and teach it, it starts to send quite useful notifications, for example, show inexpensive restaurants near you, the latest movies showing in cinemas in your city. Cortana will also remind you of your shopping list when you approach a store or show you the weather forecast for the coming week.

Bixby

The one who really should have copied the ideas of competitors a long time ago was Samsung. In 2017, together with the Galaxy S8, Korean engineers showed us their own developments in the field of artificial intelligence, which they called with the unusual name Bixby. Interestingly, Bixby is not just an analogue of Siri for Android. This is a whole complex of self-learning services, ready to give hints throughout the day and find useful information. The functionality isn't much different from Google Assistant and Siri itself, so let's talk about the important differences.

First, Bixby understands context and has cognitive tolerance. That is, if you asked him who Marlon Brando was, and then what films he starred in, without mentioning his name, then Bixby, after analyzing your dialogue, will understand who you are talking about. Secondly, Bixby can search for information from the camera. This means that you just need to point it at some thing or object - and Bixby will immediately tell you everything the Internet knows about it.

"Yandex. Alice"

Well, the last analogue of “Siri” for “Android” in Russian is “Alice”. Yandex had long been developing the idea of ​​artificial intelligence and speech recognition, so it was clear that sooner or later such a project would see the light of day. Alice can do everything that other assistants can do, but at the same time she is adapted to Russian market and searches for information in Yandex services. Alice, like Bixby, understands context, but only in some topics. In most cases, she can only answer one question. Alice can sing a song for you or make a funny joke if you are bored, or she can look for important information in Wikipedia without forcing you to go to the search and the article itself. There were some mistakes in pronunciation, but taking into account the fact that Yandex is still a domestic company, you can be sure that all the shortcomings will be quickly corrected.