The Most Advanced/Interesting Computer Application - Essay Sample

Introduction

The most advanced and exciting software that I know of is Cortana Personal Assistance. The app is designed for Microsoft Windows 10 and Android users and is developed by Microsoft Corporation (Jangla, 2015). Cortana is an artificial intelligence application that functions as personal assistance, human language interface, automation and voice recognition software, and it enables a person to interact with the computer using voice commands. However, some critics have suggested that Cortana, is a clone of Siri, Apple mobile application that uses similar features (Moemeka & Moemeka, 2015). However, the claims are inaccurate as Cortana is more accurate and powerful software.

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Another advantage of Cortana is that it is available in many languages such as English, Portuguese, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Spanish. Its existence in a variety of these languages means that most people can have access to it and this has helped the Microsoft Company to overcome stiff competition from other similar software in the market. The idea of creating Cortana come into existence in 2009 through the general manager Zig Serafin and chief scientist Larry Heck. Together, Heck and Serafin established the need for Microsoft to have digital personal assistance as part of the company's future operating system (Jangla, 2015). They assembled a team of experts to develop the initial prototypes for Cortana. To make this prototype a reality the first steps were to interview human assistants, who inspired some unique feature in Cortana such as the assistant's notebook.

Why Cortana Is the Most Exciting Computer Application and How It Works

The primary reason why I believe that Cortana is an excellent application and is a cut above the other applications such as Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa is that it is capable of remembering trends and thus proactively reminds the user on the things that they might need to do. Besides, Microsoft has continued to enhance the capabilities of Cortana by adding valuable features to this voice-activated personal assistance, increasing more interoperability and making it possible to perform more complex commands and scenarios (Singh & Singh, 2017). Without a doubt, Cortana virtual assistance represents the future of computing where humans will have a superior method of interacting with softwares and hardware. As Ray Kurzweil observes on his ted talk "get ready for hybrid thinking," the computers are beginning to master the human language with techniques similar to the neocortex (Kurzweil, 2014). It, therefore, means that with applications such as Cortana, humans are at the verge of evolving by expanding their neocortex. A fixed architecture of the enclosure will not limit this evolution, but it will be limitless. By having virtual personal assistance such as Cortana, people will be able to conduct complex searches and have an automated relying of the information to the brain.

Another reason why I find Cortana interesting is because of its numerous capabilities and applications. First, Cortana is capable of setting reminders that are time-based, people-based and in some cases location-based (Jangla, 2015). In a real sense, it means that the application can able to remind you to take out the trash as soon as you get home, get the kids from school at a specific time, or a friend about an event as soon as they send you a message or you communicate to them. Secondly, Cortana is activated by voice meaning that the user does not have to type commands or use the mouse to enable the personal assistance, all one has to do is say "hey, Cortana" and the application kicks to life (Moemeka & Moemeka, 2015).

The third outstanding feature of Cortana is that she is capable of performing online and offline search of content to help the user locate what they are looking for. Cortana also understands the natural language request, meaning when a person wants to find something they have worked on recently, they can ask Cortana to locate the files from yesterday, last month, year or any other time. Besides, Cortana can compose an email, find an address from the address book, and send the mail without touching the keyboard (Moemeka & Moemeka, 2015). This feature is of great help to personal human assistance, CEOs and other people who have to type a lot of emails; it saves time and eliminates grammar mistakes and typing errors.

Another use of Cortana as a personal assistant is that when using the Microsoft edge browser, and you highlight an unfamiliar text, Cortana will find an explanation and display it on the right side of the window for you to read and understand what it means. The feature can also be used when trying to locate a restaurant, where you highlight the name and Cortana finds out how the place is reviewed and establishes links which can be used to book a reservation (Singh & Singh, 2017). On top of that, the virtual assistance gives you additional information like when the restaurant is opened, how many hours it operates and the appropriate directions to get there.

Cortana has the ability of multi-device syncing, meaning that if you create a reminder on a desktop, you will still get a notification on your smartphone, tablet or any other gadget that uses Windows ten operating system. The virtual assistance is also capable of multitasking and thus helping a person to accomplish more results in less time. Lastly, Cortana has personality and humor unlike some of its competitors in the market (Moemeka & Moemeka, 2015). For example, Google Now is a dull application which is incapable of reading human emotions, Siri, on the other hand, sounds like a robot who only relates to people by what it has learned about them, but Cortana has a character, a personality and being adopted from the Halo series, people have an idea of how she looks like.

One Application That Does Not Exist Yet but It Would/Should in Your Opinion

In Kurzweil ted talk, he predicts a future where in 10 years, the search engines will not only be based on the combination of words but actual understanding of the web by reading billions of pages on the internet and in the book. Well, on my part I foresee a future where artificial intelligence will be a reality (Kurzweil, 2014). Based on the numerous advancements that have been made in recent years, I think an application that would improve care to the elderly should be in existence by now. However, I am optimistic that this will be the case soon where artificial intelligence will be used to make life easier for the seniors in the society. By using home robots, applications should be developed to help the elderly with daily tasks and allow them to stay independent in their homes for as long as possible. The robots should also be able to provide friendship to these elderly citizens as most live in isolations. At this stage, most robots are emotionless and are hard to relate to humans. However, future programs should be able to read human emotions and develop their feelings that help people to stay happy. Such advancements may seem a distant future, but considering how far the artificial intelligence has evolved in the last few decades and is now in use in areas such as automated transportation, handling of dangerous jobs and the security field, the future is nearer than we may think.

References

Jangla, K. (2015). Cortana and Edge. Windows 10 Revealed, 43-71. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-0686-7_3

Kurzweil, R. (2014). Transcript of "Get ready for hybrid thinking." Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzweil_get_ready_for_hybrid_thinking/transcript?language=en

Moemeka, E., & Moemeka, E. (2015). Leveraging Cortana and Speech. Real World Windows 10 Development, 471-520. doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-1449-7_12

Singh, B., & Singh, U. (2017). A forensic insight into Windows 10 Cortana search. Computers & Security, 66, 142-154. doi:10.1016/j.cose.2017.01.007