Wolfram Alpha launches iPhone “knowledge engine” with a big price tag
Early reviews of Wolfram Alpha’s iPhone application, which appeared in the App Store over the weekend, have been pretty positive, but the $49.99 price is decidedly not a hit with bloggers.
The app is basically an iPhone- and iPod-Touch friendly interface for Wolfram Alpha, the online service that answers factual questions. There are some built-in favorite queries that give some idea of the range of possible answers, from “integrate x sin x log x” to “Big… Continue Reading
5,000 fans watch Wolfram Alpha go live … very slowly
Wolfram Alpha, the much-anticipated service from scientist Stephen Wolfram for computing the answers to factual questions, will officially launch on Monday, but its team is working hard to gradually roll the service out tonight. How do I know? I, along with more than 5,000 others, are watching the launch on livestreaming video service Justin.tv.
I imagine there will be many more than 5,000 people using the “answer engine” as it goes live over the weekend, and… Continue Reading
Roundup: Twitter’s inventor readies next big thing, Verizon supports texting bans, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Twitter co-founder to launch iphone payment service — The project, code-named Squirrel, will allow your iPhone to take credit card payments (though it won’t be the first service to do this), TechCrunch’s MG Siegler reports.
Verizon will support bans on text messaging while driving — One such law recently took effect in California.
European Commission fine against Intel expected Wednesday — IDG calls the case, which has been under investigation since 2000, “one of the most significant… Continue Reading
Roundup: Hulu eyes world domination, Schmidt busts antitrust talk, Nokia plots app store and more
Hulu closer to going global — The online video site backed by NBC Universal and Fox has signed a bevy of content deals with overseas television producers with an eye toward British and Bollywood programming.
OpenTable sets terms for IPO — The restaurant reservation service plans to sell 3 million shares for somewhere between $12 and $14 each to raise $16.1 million net from an IPO underwritten by Merrill Lynch & Co.
iPhones to point North — The next model… Continue Reading
Wolfram Alpha — it’s like plugging into an electronic brain
Scientist Stephen Wolfram has built a new engine, called Wolfram Alpha, that apparently can compute answers to factual questions more powerfully than Google.
Wolfram has just posted about the effort, which has taken years of working in stealth and involves more than a hundred workers. He explains the basics of how his “computational knowledge engine” works: You ask it factual questions (such as “How many protons are in a hydrogen atom?”), and it computes answers for… Continue Reading