And Cortana is quickly catching up to both of them. Google and Siri listed three within a half-mile (800 meters) of The Associated Press bureau in downtown San Francisco. But for some reason, Siri answered in meters, while Cortana and Google stuck to feet.Google also connected with Fandango. Google stays focused on the task at hand. Cortana had more trouble; Microsoft lags behind Apple and Google in the number of apps that work with its software, and I couldn't get the right Fandango app to load on a Surface tablet.Unsurprisingly, none of the assistants is perfect. Google and Siri each showed a screen image that listed current conditions and a forecast. Next came more complicated tasks, like finding the nearest pharmacy. And Siri apparently has a thing for the metric system.. But Siri led off with a new release at a theater just half a mile from the AP bureau. All three services are good on factual questions. I asked the same 10 questions of each service, using an iPhone with Siri, a Nexus phone with Android's Google Now and a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet with Cortana. Those are just a few of the things I learned after staging a face-off for the three leading digital assistants. Google's digital assistant can't tell a joke. Apple's Siri and Google Now — they're not big on personification at Google — are now standard on smartphones; Microsoft recently added its Cortana service to Windows 10, so it works on PCs, too. Similarly, they all knew the length of the Golden Gate Bridge. But neither mentioned the drug store on the ground floor of the building where the bureau is located.Now that just about anyone can talk to their phone or computer, we wanted to see what happens when you try.First up: Some basic factual questions. Surprisingly, they do have distinct personalities, even if they're just deliberate artifacts of their creators. When asked "What's his wife's name " they all remembered that the question referred to the president, lamination Manufacturers and correctly identified the First Lady: Michelle Obama.Cortana's learning the neighbourhood. All three did pretty well when asked, "What's it like outside "Cortana earned extra points for answering with a spoken weather report.) All three assistants had local movie listings at their digital fingertips. Cortana did. Siri's programmers have the best sense of humour. With a couple of taps, Siri had opened Fandango, an app that lets you buy tickets online.Ever feel like ducking work to catch an afternoon movie (Shhh! Don't tell my editor.All three supplied President Obama's age