What Is FaceMagic?

FaceMagic by DeepArt Limited is a face swap app that uses AI to scan your face and transplant it onto a video clip, photo, or animation of someone who’s very likely more famous and — let’s face it — interesting than you are.

There are several other prominent face swap apps for Android and iOS devices that let you do the exact same thing, including Reface, which currently has 1.5 million ratings in the Google Play Store and 750 ratings in the Apple App Store.

With only 20,000 ratings in the Google Play Store FaceMagic is nowhere near as popular on Android as Reface. The situation is completely different on iOS, where FaceMagic enjoys around 2,000 ratings, virtually all of which give the app five stars.

Features

The main reason why anyone would download FaceMagic is its Face Swap feature, so it makes sense to start with it. This feature is powered by AI-based deep fake technology, allowing you to swap face with anyone else’s face to make funny photos and videos.

FaceMagic lets you upload an existing picture of you or your friend’s face or take a new picture directly from the app. You can then tell the app to insert the provided face into one of the featured video clips, which are conveniently sorted into different categories, or you can upload your own content to FaceMagic. The only caveat is that the latter option is available to PRO subscribers only.

In addition to swapping one face at a time, you can also use the Multiple Face Swap feature to swap faces with an entire group of people in one go, turning you and your friends into a superhero squad or surprising your significant other with a short clip showing you as Jack and Rose in the iconic “I’m flying” scene from Titanic.

You can share your creations with a simple tap on social media or download them to your device. The free version of FaceMagic creates videos with a watermark, which can be removed by upgrading to the PRO version.

First Impressions

We’re not afraid to admit that we spent far longer testing FaceMagic than we had to for the purposes of writing this review.

When we fired up the app for the first time, we were presented with a curated selection of featured video clips, and Black Panther, one of our favorite superheroes, was among them. The clip showed a short exchange between Black Panther and Killmonger, allowing us to swap faces with both.

Since we had no suitable pictures on our test device, we took them using the app. From there, it was just a simple click on the “Create” button to make Black Panther and Killmonger look far less threatening and infinitely more amusing.

Finally, we saved the transformed clip to our device and shared it on Twitter. We then repeated the process several times until we eventually ran out of free swaps. Fortunately, the app let us create face swap videos in exchange for watching 30-second ads.

Pricing

FaceMagic is a free app with an optional PRO subscription available via in-app purchases. The subscription unlocks unlimited swaps, the app’s entire content library, priority processing, unlimited photo uploads, video/GIF uploads. It also removes annoying ads and watermarks.

You can purchase the FaceMagic PRO subscription for just $2.49 a week, $9.99 a month, or $39.99 a year.

Conclusion

When it comes to face swap apps, FaceMagic stands out with its polished user interface, large content library, and the ability to swap multiple faces at a time. The free version is definitely worth a try, and you can then decide if you find the app entertaining enough to purchase the PRO subscription.

The post FaceMagic Review: Create Face Swap Videos In Seconds appeared first on Tech Magazine.

What Is Limelines?

A prime brand of Cetera Technology SAL, a Lebanese tech startup, Limelines is a content curation and personalization platform born in the MENA region to meet the needs of the people who inhabit it.

“The MENA region has so much to offer in terms of knowledge, especially through its wide and diverse writers, storytellers, and ambitious readers,” explained Rime Diab, Chief Executive Officer at Limelines. “Stemming from this, Limelines curates the region’s unfolding stories to give its readers a full-circle perspective and an unbiased perception to content,” Diab added.

Essentially, the platform gathers content from the best MENA publishers and presents it to readers based on their unique interests in a way that satisfies the expectations of tech-savvy millennials who are used to managing their lives through their mobile devices.

From fashion and food to politics and cutting-edge technology, Limelines has something for everyone thanks to its partnerships with top publishers across 19 countries in the MENA region. The platform first launched in English, but it has since released Arabic and French versions.

“Our market research shows that 59 percent of the MENA region’s publishers write in Arabic, 43 percent write in English, while almost 15 percent publish in French,” said Diab. “This diverse and cosmopolitan audience requires a platform that reflects it, and that’s what Limelines aspires to offer.”

Using Limelines

Limelines is available free of charge to readers and publishers alike. As a reader, you can simply log in to the web version of Limelines with Facebook, Google, or email. Alternatively, you can download the official iOS or Android app to your mobile device to enjoy a native reading experience from anywhere with internet access.

Once logged in, you need to select at least two topics of interest to kick off your reading journey. This shouldn’t be a problem since Limelines covers a wide variety of topics that should interest everyone from entrepreneurs to tech geeks to finance executives to people who love exploring the latest lifestyle trends.

When you discover an interesting story on Limelines, you can add it to a line, which is basically a collection of thematically related stories. You can keep this collection private and come back to it later when you want to read a certain story again or reference it, but you can also share it with others.

You can find interesting stories to read directly on your home feed, or you can explore any topic you want to broaden your horizons. Whenever you find yourself a bit short on time, you can use the Quick View feature to read 10 important headlines that you can’t afford to miss.

Overall, the reading experience created by Limelines is polished, efficient, and time-saving. It would be nice to see support for dark mode in a future release, but the default color scheme is also pleasant and easy on the eyes.

Limelines For Publishers

Limelines was created with MENA publishers in mind, allowing them to effortlessly submit content to the platform and make it available to readers across the entire region. All that a publisher needs to do to create an account is to select the “Get started as a publisher” option on the sign-up page and fill in the required information.

Next, the publisher is asked to provide its RSS feeds, which are automatically processed by Limelines. A single publisher can have one or many lines and hence add as many RSS feeds as the publisher wants. Any publisher that relies on paywalls can also submit content to Limelines, which will redirect readers to the paywall and let the publisher handle business as usual.

Immediately after an RSS feed is approved, Limelines starts generating traffic, and the publisher can track incoming visitors using any analytics tools since all Limelines links are tagged. At the time of writing this review, Limelines features some of the best publishers operating in the MENA region, including Kooora, Sport 360, and Entrepreneur Middle East, just to name a few.

Read Now: Myki Password Manager & 2FA Authenticator Review

Limelines Review Verdict

Limelines is the content curation and personalization platform the MENA region has been waiting for. Regardless of whether you live in the region or just have a personal or professional interest in it, you need to give Limelines a try and experience just how easy it can be to discover the best content MENA’s publishers have to offer.

The post Limelines Review: Latest News & Top Stories From MENA appeared first on Tech Magazine.

What Is Myki Password Manager?

Myki is a free password manager whose purpose is to securely store and manage passwords across your devices. It’s intended for individuals, enterprises, and managed deployments and available for Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, and all major web browsers.

As we explain in detail in the section dealing with security, Myki is different from other password managers because it stores data locally – not on its servers or in a third-party cloud storage solution. This means that even if Myki’s servers were breached, your passwords would still be safe.

Main Features

Like all password managers, Myki makes it easy to log into any website or app by remembering passwords for you. In addition to passwords, you can use Myki to securely manage credit cards, government IDs, personal documents, and all other sensitive information. Paying users can organize their items with custom tags and fields or by creating custom profiles.

If you install Myki on multiple devices, you can seamlessly synchronize all stored information between them. You can also share access to your accounts with other users without revealing your passwords and revoke access to shared accounts at any time.

To protect you from brute-force attacks, Myki comes with a password generator that can generate complex passwords of up to 99 characters, including numbers, capitals, and special symbols. While the password generator is not as customizable as it could be (for example, it doesn’t let you specify the minimum number of special symbols), it does fulfill its purpose of generating nearly uncrackable passwords.

Because all passwords, regardless of how strong they are, should be combined with at least one more authentication method, Myki simplifies multi-factor authentication by securely storing your authentication tokens and automatically filling them when you need to log in – no more SMS messages and annoying authenticator apps.

The last feature worth highlighting is the Security Dashboard. Its purpose is to evaluate the strength of your passwords and give you a total security score. At the time of writing, the Security Dashboard doesn’t take into consideration password age, and it also doesn’t check passwords against public databases of password breaches. Hopefully, Myki developers will introduce this functionality in a future update.

Getting Started With Myki Password Manager

Setting up Myki is easy and takes just a few minutes. First, you need to install the Myki app on your smartphone, from which you can then authenticate Myki on other devices.

1. Install Myki from the Google Play Store or the App Store.
2. Launch Myki on your smartphone.
3. Enter your phone number.
4. Verify your phone number.
5. Create a six-digit PIN code to access Myki.

You will then be prompted to install Myki on other devices. Users of other password managers, such as Google Passwords, Dashlane, KeePass, 1Password, or LastPass, will be pleased to know that they can import their existing passwords to Myki in less than a minute using the Myki web browser extension. It’s similarly easy to export passwords from Myki and store them as a CSV file.

You can find download links to the desktop version of Myki at the bottom of its website. To autofill passwords in your web browser, go to the Myki Install page and install the appropriate browser add-on.

Add the device to your Myki account by scanning the displayed QR code or entering the pairing code. You can then go to the advanced menu and import your passwords. A new password can be added by clicking on the plus icon in the Vault.

When you visit a website that’s saved in your Vault, the Myki owl icon will show in the login field, and you can click on it and select your account. Myki will automatically fill in both the username and password for you.

Security

As we’ve already mentioned, Myki doesn’t store any passwords in the cloud. Instead, the database with your passwords is stored on your smartphone, encrypted with the AES256-CBC encryption algorithm, which is regarded as one of the most secure encryption standards in the world. The only piece of information that’s stored on Myki’s servers is the hashed version of the phone number you signed up with.

The AES encryption is also used for password sharing, which happens via a P2P encrypted link between the Myki app and the Myki browser extension or desktop app. No sensitive information is ever exchanged via the internet, making it impossible for an intruder to infiltrate your network and capture your passwords in transit.

Myki gives you the option to create a secure backup on any authenticated device, allowing you to recover your passwords when something happens to your phone. The developers are currently implementing a feature that would make it possible to back up their passwords on someone else’s device, sort of like giving a spare key to a friend.

Pricing

Individual users don’t have to pay anything for Myki. Teams that would like to use Myki to manage their passwords will be charged $4.99 per user per month if subscribed to the monthly plan, or $3.99 per user per month if subscribed to the annual plan.

Myki’s pro features (custom tags, custom account images, custom profiles, custom fields, Android watch support) can be unlocked either by paying for each feature individually (roughly $3 per feature) or by purchasing all pro features in a discounted bundle (roughly $10).

Verdict

Myki is an innovative password manager that provides an alternative to cloud-based password management without robbing its users of the convenience associated with it. Its free version doesn’t have any major limitations, and the few locked features can be unlocked individually.

Read Now: Anghami Review – The MENA’s Favorite Music Streaming Service

Have you given Myki a try? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Myki Password Manager & 2FA Authenticator Review appeared first on Tech Magazine.

What Is Anghami?

Anghami (“my tunes” in Arabic) is a music streaming service offering a broad catalog of local and international music to listeners in the MENA region.

The service was founded in 2012 by Eddy Maroun (the current CEO) and Elie Habib. The co-founders came up with the idea to create a MENA-specific streaming service on a ski trip in 2010. Unable to access their iTunes accounts, they were left with only one option on how to listen to their favorite artists: music piracy and illegal P2P file-sharing services.

According to Habib, music piracy is still Anghami’s biggest competition in the region, which is why the service goes to great lengths to justify legal music streaming as a worthy alternative.

Music Catalog

Anghami offers the largest music catalog of licensed content in the MENA region, comprising of more than 30 million songs. It has partnerships with local labels such as Melody, Mazzika, and Platinum Records, in addition to EMI, Sony, Universal, and other international labels.

From its launch until 2018, Anghami had a partnership with Rotana, the Arab World’s largest record label. The partnership ended when a competing music streaming service, Deezer, signed an exclusive digital distribution agreement with Rotana.

The loss of Rotana reaffirmed Anghami’s focus on indie artists, who can upload content directly to the music streaming service through a dedicated artist dashboard. In association with its strategic partners, Anghami also produces its own content under the label Anghami Originals. The co-founders claim that their goal is to provide an alternative to artists who either don’t want to or were unable to sign a deal with a label.

In addition to the songs found in Anghami’s large music catalog, users can also upload their own music and play it on all devices. This feature is available only to Anghami Plus subscribers, and all songs need to be converted into .mp3 before uploading.

The Anghami Experience

To get started with Anghami, you first need to log in with your Facebook or Google account, or you can create an Anghami account using your email address. From there, you can download the Anghami mobile app (available for iOS and Android devices), install Anghami for Windows, or listen directly from your web browser.

The desktop app provides the most feature-packed listening experience because it lets you upload your own music, play, pause, skip and control the volume from your keyboard, and activate a compact mini-player for a simpler view and better control over your music.

When you launch Anghami, the first thing you’ll see is the Home tab, with hand-picked playlists, new releases, popular music videos, and charts. To start listening, all you need to do is select any content that catches your eye and click the Play button.

You can control the playback using familiar control buttons located at the bottom of the app. When listening to certain songs, you can display lyrics or play the official music video with the click of a button.

Anghami provides several ways for you to discover new music. When playing a song, you can click the Play more like this button to instantly add more songs that Anghami considers to be similar to the one you’re playing to your playback queue. Similar artists are also featured at the bottom of each artist’s profile page.

When you don’t have any specific artist or song in mind and just want to brighten your day with some music, you can switch to the Personal DJ tab and play music based on your current mood, activity, or preferred genre. There are playlists for chilling, cooking, driving, focus, social gatherings, sleep, traveling, workouts, and much more.

Also worth mentioning is the Podcasts tab, which provides a fun way of learning about topics that interest you. The included podcasts come from MENA-based content creators, and many are not available outside the region.

Price Structure

Even though Anghami likes to present itself as a free music streaming service, it puts a lot of pressure on free users to purchase a premium subscription.

Free users can’t download music for offline listening, Scrub/Replay/Rewind in the player, skip as many times as they like, view lyrics for the currently playing song, or enjoy their music without ads and interruptions.

During the Anghami review, we weren’t even able to play a song without a pop-up window getting in the way and advertising 1 month of Anghami Plus for free. Judging by online reviews, there are many other users who have experienced the same issue.

With the free plan barely allowing us to listen to a whole song without interruptions, we took Anghami on its offer and signed up for Anghami Plus. We paid for the subscription using a credit card, but many other payment methods are supported as well, including Google Play, iTunes, PayPal, CashU, OneCard, Promocode, and over 30 direct carrier billing options.

The monthly price of Anghami Plus differs from country to country. For example, the monthly subscription in Egypt is $2.50, but European customers are billed $4.99 a month for the same service. Discounts are available to students, families, and customers of certain mobile operators.

Verdict

Based on our comprehensive Anghami review, the music streaming service shows that there’s still room for local services even in the global era. Despite increasing competition for local and international players alike, it maintains its position as the king of music streaming in the MENA region. As long as you avoid the free plan and purchase one of several available subscription plans, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite artists and discover artists you’ve never heard of without any limitations.

Read Now: Limelines Review – Latest News & Top Stories From MENA

Did you enjoy our Anghami review? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Anghami Review: The MENA’s Favorite Music Streaming Service appeared first on Tech Magazine.