Posts from Online Tech Tips for 06/02/2019

In this issue: 5 Amazing AI Apps You Can Try Yourself - [View in browser]( Saturday, June 01, 2019 5 Amazing AI Apps You Can Try Yourself by Aseem Kishore | [Online Tech Tips]( Machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence are all red-hot buzzwords right now. These computing techniques coupled with major leaps in computer performance are changing the world. From software that can quickly identify skin cancer to predictive models that help us anticipate any number of complex outcomes, there’s hardly anything in the world that won’t feel the impact of next-generation AI. It’s easy to feel that this AI revolution is happening somewhere “out there”, but the truth is that even your smartphone is already packed with a wealth of AI-powered software. Any of the voice assistants that ship with every smartphone and tablet sold today uses AI extensively to understand what you say and learn about your habits and needs. There are also now many AI-powered apps that use machine learning to accomplish come pretty incredible feats. The best part is that you don’t just have to read about it. Here are five AI apps you can download to your device right now and experience for yourself. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of what’s coming, but it’s a heck of a start! Also, if AI stuff interests you, make sure to read our other posts on [creating your own chatbot]( and [8 AI assistants]( that are pretty smart. Prisma – AI Photo Editing When[Prisma]( first launched there were so many people trying to access this AI cloud service that you’d be lucky if the app even acknowledged your presence. Since then the developers have fixed the resource issues and most of the time it works just fine, but what does the app actually do? Well, it uses cloud-based neural networks to take your photos and transform them into works of art. Want a portrait to look like it was made by Dali? Prisma will spit out something very convincing indeed. At this point the app has more than 300 filters to choose from and if the stars align you can get some really spectacular results. When you really look at how much “work” the neural net has put into transforming the image, you’ll get an appreciation for the complexity and power of modern machine learning software. While there is a premium subscription version of the app, you can experience just about everything it has to offer for free. Get it for [Android]( or [iOS]( Magisto – AI Video Editing In the 20th Century, the most important type of literacy was the ability to read, write and understand text. Being competent in the visual arts was something reserved for film school students and other artists. These days, it’s often easier to quickly make a video than it is to write a message and since everyone always carries an HD camera around with them, the odds of sitting on stacks of footage is pretty high. The problem is that editing raw footage into something pleasing and effective is hard! It involves learning a whole new visual language. That’s not something everyone wants to do, which is why AI holds exciting promise for video editing. One of the best examples has to be[Magisto](. An end-to-end video creation tool that leverages AI so you don’t need to be an expert. While the pro subscription is a little pricey, you can try the base version for nothing and get a good feel for what the software can do. Magisto takes the footage you want to edit and asks you what your preferred style is. It then uses AI to analyze it all and produces and end product that’s often shockingly professional. For small businesses that need to make marketing videos, but can’t afford a pro, this is already a viable option. This is something we would never have believed not too long ago. Get it for [Android]( or [iOS]( Microsoft Seeing AI – A Talking Camera for the Blind Accessibility is an incredibly important part of modern computing. Giving access to people with limited senses and mobility should be a top priority. For people with disabilities, technology can have the greatest impact on their daily lives. This [talking camera app]( from Microsoft is just such a piece of software. If it becomes reliable and polished enough, it could have a huge impact on people who are legally blind or have significantly impaired vision. The app uses artificial intelligence to analyse whatever the camera is seeing. Point it at a person and it will try to recognize their face or at least describe things like their sex and estimated age. Any text you point the camera at will be read aloud immediately. Barcodes on products can also be scanned for information on what you want to buy. The AI can also analyse and describe overall scenes, so if you want to know what sort of situation is right in front of you, it can do that as well. While the technology isn’t perfect yet, it’s almost miraculous compared to what was possible just ten years ago. Sadly it only seems to be available for iOS devices at present, but hopefully will see a wider release in the future. Get it for [iOS]( Replika – A Friend 24/7 If you’ve seen the movie Her, you’ll be familiar with the cautionary tale out there warning against getting too attached to AI bots. In the movie Joaquin Phoenix plays a guy who falls in love with what’s essentially a version of Siri. However, one important theme in that film is how the main character is going through a rough time. Something which his new AI friend helps him get through. Here in the real world, that concept has come (somewhat) to life in the form of [Replika](. While this advanced AI chatbot is not designed to act as a romantic partner, it is designed to be a friend when you need it. People who are feeling depressed, anxious or lonely can chat with Replika. The bot is always there for you, even when no one else has the time. Thanks to major advances in natural language technology and conversational UIs, chatting with Replika really does feel like shooting the breeze with a friend. Even if you don’t feel the need to use Replika for its intended purposes, the technology is absolutely fascinating to try out. Get it for [Android]( and [iOS]( Hound – A Natural Search AI When we first got to try Siri all the way back with the release of the iPhone 4S, it felt like the future was finally happening. Siri’s ability to fluently understand speech and respond intelligently was a big step up from chatbots of the day. However, limitations in daily use have quickly become apparent. Siri is much, much improved today but plenty of other AI assistants have arguably overtaken it. Of the current generation of AI assistants, Hound is perhaps the most impressive. From the same people who gave us Soundhound, this bot can understand queries in a way that seems almost like magic. With Siri and its ilk you quickly learn to formulate what you say in a particular way. If you don’t, you risk wasting time restating your query because the software doesn’t quite get it. With Hound it seems that queries are almost alway understood properly without needing reformulation. Even better, the actual results are also consistently relevant. Hound is also integrated with a bunch of services and can do things like book an Uber for you. With this app the proof really is in the pudding. Try it and if you’ve been using one of the usual bunch, this is likely to really impress. Get it on [Android]( and [iOS]( Not Exactly Skynet There’s quite a lot of fear and disinformation around AI. Some of it thanks to fiction and some thanks to the media misrepresenting the technology. Of course, there are plenty of real concerns and some of our best thinkers have highlighted them. When it comes to the sort of limited AI apps we have highlighted here, however, it’s hard to imagine anything bad happening because of them. That is, unless a human being decided to specifically misuse the technology, as we have seen with so-called “[deepfakes](. For the rest of us, AI-powered apps represent something that really makes life easier and unlocks creativity. In some cases it can even provide us with life-changing assistance. That’s definitely something worth trying for yourself! You may also like these other posts from OTT: [Best 2019 Budget Gaming CPUs Compared – Intel vs Ryzen for Low End Builds]( [10 Best Free Calendar Apps for Android]( [Tonal vs. Mirror vs. Weela: Three Smart Home Gyms That Make You Sweat]( [How to Track Family and Friends From Your Phone]( [How To Stop Spam Emails From Reaching Your Inbox]( Check out more posts from our publishing family: Help Desk Geek Posts [How to Troubleshoot Common Printer Problems]( Jun 1, 2019 by Aseem Kishore In the cult-classic film Office Space, there’s an iconic scene where a group of office workers take their lamentable printer/copier into a field and proceed to destroy it with a vengeance while an explicit rap song plays in the background. For many people that scene is a form of wish fulfilment. If only we could […] [READ MORE]( [How to Make a GIF from a Video the Easy Way]( May 31, 2019 by Christopher Jan Benitez Aren’t GIFs great? They make responding to online comments way more fun. If you want to be part of the conversation but couldn’t find the appropriate GIF to use, why not create one? In this post, we’ll show you how to make GIFs you can share with friends. Find a Video Making GIFs starts with […] [READ MORE]( The Backroom Tech Posts [Using Wireshark to Sniff an SMB transmission]( May 22, 2019 by Dan Franciscus Have you ever wondered what is happening under the hood when connecting to a Windows share?  There is one easy way to find out. Use a packet sniffer such as Wireshark. What is Wireshark? Wireshark is a simple to install and easy to use packet capturing tool that is supported on both Windows and Linux. […] [READ MORE]( [How to Configure IPSec on Windows]( May 13, 2019 by Dan Franciscus There are many applications which will implement authentication and encryption of network traffic through a separate third party program. However, the Microsoft operating system can also implement this natively through the configuration of IPSEC. In this article we will look at what IPSEC is and a simple example of implementation.   What is IPSEC? Internet Protocol […] [READ MORE]( Switching To Mac Posts [Upgrading a MacBook that’s Over 10 Years Old]( May 31, 2019 by Christian Thompson It was the fall of my junior year in high school when my aunt bought me my first laptop. A brand-new MacBook Pro and I absolutely couldn’t believe it. As it turns out, this same computer is still running almost 10 years later; but is it running as efficiently? With a little tender, love, and […] [READ MORE]( [How To Set Up “Do Not Disturb” On iOS]( May 20, 2019 by Mark O'Neill If it is 2.00am and you only have a few hours to get some sleep, there’s nothing worse than someone trying to call you, or ping you on chat. Turning the phone off or slinging it out of the room may be impractical if you use your phone as an alarm clock. So what do […] [READ MORE]( ABOUT ONLINE TECH TIPS Welcome to Online Tech Tips – A blog that provide readers with daily computer tutorials, technology news, software reviews, and personal computing tips. My name is Aseem Kishore and I am a full-time professional blogger. I graduated from Emory University with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Copyright © 2019 Online-Tech-Tips.com, LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you joined our newsletter on our website, www.Online-Tech-Tips.com. You'll get an email whenever we post a new article! [Update Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](