WolframAlpha
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Wolfram Alpha will answer your important questions on Twitter
Wouldn't it be great if you could just call up a supercomputer and ask it to do your data-wrangling for you? Actually, scratch that, no-one uses the phone anymore. What'd be really cool is if machines could respond to your queries straight from Twitter. It's a belief that's shared by Wolfram Research, which has just launched the Tweet a Program system to its computational knowledge engine, Wolfram Alpha. In a blog post, founder Stephen Wolfram explains that even complex queries can be executed within the space of 140 characters, including data visualizations. If you fancy giving it a go yourself, you can tweet queries to @wolframtap, but be advised that you'll have to learn the basics of the Wolfram Language Code before it'll give you anything in return.
Wolfram working on a 'symbolic' programing language, will be its 'most important' project yet
What Wolfram has accomplished with Alpha is nothing short of stunning. Sure, it can't help you find videos of cats dressed as sharks riding Roombas, but the company's goals were always much loftier. Using the technological foundation it built with Alpha and Mathematica, it's now working on bring its natural language, knowledge-based computational prowess to programming languages. Many of the details are still quite vague but, according to founder Stephen Wolfram, it will be a general purpose programming language, like C++, except it will be largely self contained. That means no (or at least less) pointing to external libraries to accomplish complex tasks. Those other languages focus mostly on structure and leave the difficult task of graphing or processing images to extensions, while Wolfram Language will have at its heart a "giant web of algorithms" to perform many operations. As you'd expect, it integrates quite tightly with Wolfram Alpha, so stock prices, tide times or images of adorable pit bull puppies are easily pulled up in whatever app you're building. Perhaps most importantly, though, because it uses the natural language approach pioneered with Alpha, even the least tech savvy among you should be able to start programming in no time. While we'll clearly have to reserve final judgement for when Wolfram language is available to the public, it sounds like an ideal tool for a child to learn programming on. With its forgiving syntax and deep database, students could quickly and easily whip up simple, but surprisingly functional programs while still leaning the necessary procedure and structure for more advanced languages like Python or Dart. If you're itching for more details, hit up the source for Stephen Wolfram very, very long post on its development.
Daily Update for October 18, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Attention Pokémasters: Your iPhone just became a real-life Pokédex thanks to Wolfram Alpha and Siri
The massive information engine Wolfram Alpha just added a whopping 649 Pokémon to its database. For fans of the games, that fact is pretty cool all on its own, but if you happen to own an iPhone or an iPad with Siri, it's even more awesome. You see, thanks to Siri's ability to search Wolfram Alpha for information, your iDevice is now as close to a real-life Pokédex as you'll probably ever have. In the Pokémon television shows, movies and games, the lead character always carries around the iconic, all-knowing Pokédex which responds to voice and searches for information on any pokémon that appears. Your iDevice now works the same way: Activate Siri Ask "Search Wolfram for [insert pokémon name here]" Watch as Siri provides you with a ton of information, including its history, physical characteristics, stats and even full-color images That's it! It's a pretty nifty new feature for Pokémon fans, and combined with the fact that the new Pokémon X & Y titles just hit store shelves, it's a great time to be a Pokémaster.
Stephen Wolfram says he almost had a deal with Google, but it 'blew up'
As you may recall, Wolfram Research signed a deal with Microsoft a few years back that saw some Wolfram Alpha functionality integrated into Bing. As it turns out, it very nearly found its way into a certain other search engine as well. In an interview at The Next Web conference in Amsterdam today, Stephen Wolfram revealed that his company had tried to work with Google and "almost had a deal," but it "blew up." Unfortunately, he didn't provide any further details about when those talks took place or exactly what the potential deal entailed, and it doesn't sound like we can expect that deal to be revived anytime soon -- especially considering Google's own efforts that are increasingly overlapping with Wolfram Alpha. As Wolfram himself notes, though, the two companies do have something of a longstanding connection: Google co-founder Sergey Brin was actually an intern at Wolfram way back in 1993.
Wolfram Alpha expands Facebook analytics, takes a closer look at your social relationships
Have you ever wanted to know if you're the most popular amongst your group of friends? Or which of your pals lives the furthest from you? These are questions that can't be answered by Facebook's latest Graph Search, but they're perfect for the stats geeks over at Wolfram Alpha. The group started mining Facebook for data last year, but have recently expanded its analytics to include a closer look at your social relationships. Namely, they've identified five "network roles:" social insiders, outsiders, neighbors, gateways and connectors. Insiders share the same friends while outsiders don't, neighbors don't have a lot of buddies outside of your network while gateways do, and connectors are those that bridge two networks together, like a college buddy who went to the same high school. Combined with location, age and other info, this data unlocks an array of potential visualizations color-coded by different categories, letting you see patterns you might not have noticed before. If you think the analysis ends there, think again; by enabling a "Historical Analytics" feature, you'll be allowing Wolfram Alpha to continually collect your info so you can see how your Facebook profile changes over time. If you're not creeped out by that notion, jump on over to the rightmost source link and fill in the appropriate details to see just how well you know your "friends." Note: It seems that Facebook has limited Wolfram's API calls, so you might get an error when accessing the tool for now.
Wolfram Alpha lets you stalk yourself on Facebook, reminds you how noisy you are
You know Facebook's got dirt on you, it's one of modern life's unavoidable trade offs. Now though, thanks to Wolfram Alpha, you can data-mine yourself -- something its creator has been doing for years -- and get a true sense of exactly what the social network knows about you. You'll first have to head over to the computational knowledge engine, then search "Facebook report." Follow the prompts to give the app permission etc, and you'll be rewarded with a detailed breakdown. The data shows information about your interactions, friends, most popular photos, most common demographics and more. For example, you might discover that you know someone in the Philippines, have a clutch of non-connected friends weirdly in the same location, or that you mom is your top post commenter. Though you probably knew that last part already. Paranoid or curious? Jump on the source link to get started.
Wolfram Alpha releases first desktop PC app for Windows 7, makes homework even easier
Have a habit of letting Wolfram Alpha do your math for you? Well, say hello to one more tool in your computational arsenal -- the electronic homework lackey self-described knowledge engine is now available as a Windows 7 desktop app for $2.99 at the Intel AppUp store. In addition to providing desktop analytics on the works of the Bard, the Wolfram Alpha app features extended copy / paste support for graphics and queries, a full-screen optimized user interface and a special software keyboard with native support for special characters. If that isn't enough, the company also plans to drop even more knowledge at the AppUp center later this year in the form of "course assistant apps" for such geeky subjects as astronomy, physics and chemistry. Still got queries about the desktop app? Then satiate that thirst for information by imbibing in the PR after the break.
Wolfram Alpha now does literary analysis, breaks down the Bard's work
Literary geeks rejoice! Wolfram Alpha has given you the tools to examine the works of William Shakespeare in ways you've never cared to imagined. Ever wondered how many words are in the second act of Othello? Or what the longest word is in A Midsummer Night's Dream? The answers to such (largely unasked) queries are now mere keystrokes away, and not just for the Bard's writings, either. That's right, folks, computational analysis of the works from such luminaries as Melville, Dickens, and Twain are on tap, too. The folks at Wolfram Alpha are also looking to increase the number of supported titles, so head on down to the source link and let them know which ones you want to see.
Wolfram Alpha for iPhone 1.4 wows with image manipulation, Best Buy purchasing
Wolfram Alpha app (US$2.99) fans should be rejoicing today. Version 1.4 of the incredibly powerful analytics app is available and adds a number of new features, including image analysis and manipulation. Among the new goodies in Wolfram Alpha 1.4 are a new look for weather queries and the ability to search for and purchase items from Best Buy. Yep, that last feature is correct. You can now query Wolfram for things like "17 inch LCD monitor" or "LG Washing Machine" and get more information than you really ever wanted -- plus the ability to buy those items from the app. %Gallery-150800% Image processing capability, however, is the star of the show. The Image Input feature is a $0.99 in-app purchase that lets you add filters, view EXIF and histogram info about your photos, and even shows thumbnails of your images with contrast and colors adjusted. The app also creates thumbnails of various image effects, including negatives, binary, edges, grayscale, charcoal and embossing. Allegedly you should be able to do OCR of pictures of text, although I had mixed success with this feature. A photo of my keyboard was interpreted as garbage, except for the word "command" on the command key. Still, the image processing and metadata capabilities are outstanding and well worth the dollar for the in-app purchase. [via Engadget]
Amazon Appstore for Android celebrates a year of life, deals for a week
Whatever Google can do, Amazon can do... too? Sure seems it, as the latter is celebrating a rather momentous occasion by giving back to the people that have brought it this far: you (and you, and you!). The Amazon Appstore for Android has officially been alive and kicking for 12 months, and Bezos and co. are slashing prices for a week instead of tossing one forgettable party. We're told to expect rock-bottom rates on iconic titles such as Fruit Ninja, Wolfram Alpha, Splashtop Remote Desktop, Dr. Seuss's The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, TuneIn Radio Pro, TETRIS, PAC-MAN, The Lost City, MONOPOLY, AccuWeather Platinum and more. Birthday deals start today with one of the top paid apps, Plants vs. Zombies, at 67 percent off, and you can expect to see more in the coming days. Crack open that dusty wallet and hit the source link, vaquero.
Wolfram Alpha in-app purchase for iOS adds advanced image processing capabilities
Version 1.4 of Wolfram Alpha has just landed in Apple's App Store, and in addition to a visual refresh for weather queries and the ability to procure items from Best Buy, users will also discover a new in-app purchase option that brings image analysis and manipulation to the venerable analytics platform. For $0.99, the new Image Input feature allows users to add filters, perform color processing and OCR recognition, detect features and view EXIF and histogram information of their photos. The Wolfram Alpha app itself will set you back $2.99, so if you've yet to hop aboard, you can expect to plunk down just shy of $4.00 for the app and its add-on -- no doubt a small price for true photo junkies.
Stephen Wolfram reveals the personal analytics of his life
Stephen Wolfram may now be best known as the creator of Wolfram Alpha, but he's been involved with data in one way or another for decades, and it turns out he's been collecting plenty of data about himself all that time. Now, he's taken things one step further and made some of that data public, offering a detailed analysis on his blog of his daily email and phone use, and even things like steps, keystrokes, and the occurrence of years in the 230,000 odd pages of documents he's scanned. What's perhaps most interesting, though, is that Wolfram only sees this as the beginning of personal analytics. He eventually hopes to be able to ask Wolfram Alpha all sorts of things about his life, with it not only able to "act as an adjunct to my personal memory," he says, "but also to be able to do automatic computational history -- explaining how and why things happened -- and then making projections and predictions." Interested in doing the same thing yourself one day? Better start hanging onto all that data.
Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis
Wolfram Alpha has made some fairly big strides in its few short years of existence, but the so-called computational knowledge engine has now rolled out what founder Stephen Wolfram says is the "the single most important development for Wolfram Alpha since the original website launched in 2009." That development is Wolfram Alpha Pro, a new premium service that will run you $4.99 a month (or $2.99/month for students) and give you access to a wealth of new options for both input and output. On the input end, you can now upload images, audio and other files (over 60 types in all) for automatic analysis and a detailed report -- according to Stephen Wolfram, the ultimate goal being "to do what a top data scientist would do if given the user's data." As for output, you'll now be able to take advantage of a number of richer download options, including the ability to interact with and tailor the reports to your liking. As you might expect, however, that's just scratching the surface -- you can get a detailed look at the new service at the links below, or take it for a spin yourself with a free trial subscription.
Daily Update for February 7, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Stephen Wolfram on Siri
In a Monday afternoon briefing, Stephen Wolfram spoke about the direction of Siri and Wolfram Alpha integration. He explained that over time, the range of queries that users can ask Siri that are served by Wolfram Alpha continues to get broader. This is apparently a natural byproduct of using a cloud-based system with the Siri API. Wolfram stated that Siri queries are generally easy for the service to process. "Spoken queries [have] a different character from typed queries," he explained. "People are a lot less lazy in what they say than what they type." When users type, they put things into a natural shorthand. In spoken requests, they naturally fill in those missing pieces. The verbal noise likes "ums" and "ahs" are apparently easy to remove, while the extra spoken context words allow better translation to Alpha queries. Wolfram said he looks forward to deeper and broader developments with Siri.
Siri / Wolfram Alpha trick lets you know what is flying overhead
I'm a bit of an airliner freak, so I love looking up at the contrails of jets flying overhead and wondering where a plane might be going. I recently found out that Wolfram Alpha has the ability to tell you what airplanes are cruising around above you based on your position and its knowledge of where various airline and charter flights are located at any point in time. Since Siri has the built-in ability to work with Wolfram Alpha, I thought I'd see if I could just ask Siri to tell me about those flights overhead. It took a few tries and some thought about what to ask Siri, but I finally got it to work. Telling Siri to "Ask Wolfram what flights are overhead" produces the correct results. That query displays a Wolfram Alpha printout showing the flight or aircraft registration number of flights that are currently visible from where you're standing, their altitude, and the angle above the horizon. You also get information on what type of aircraft each is, how far away it is, and what direction to look, as well as a sky map showing where the planes are. %Gallery-140324% I then made an attempt to coax details out of Siri about individual flights. I thought I'd need to use the brains of Wolfram Alpha again, but found that by simply saying "Tell me about [name of airline] Flight [flight number]" prompted Siri to display a web page showing the departure airport and time of the flight along with the expected arrival airport, time and gate. The search isn't perfect. I often had flights between the West coast and Asia showing up on the search despite the fact that there was no way that the flights were going to be flying over Colorado. But as with many of the tricks we've demonstrated here at TUAW, this shows the surprising depth of knowledge that you have access to by asking Siri. TUAW editor Steve Sande is the co-author and publisher of "Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple's Intelligent Assistant," found on the iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Bookstore.
Wolfram Alpha search engine now tracks flight paths, trajectory information
If you've ever looked up in the sky and wondered where a plane might be headed, Wolfram Alpha might just know the answer. The search engine, which recently began incorporating data from the FAA can now, with a five-minute delay from real-time data, use a flight's speed, heading and altitude to offer a projection of a plane's position. A search for 'flights overhead' via the Wolfram Alpha web site or app will use your location to pinpoint flights that should be visible to you. That string currently only works if the flight has at least one endpoint in the United States, so tracking international flights might be limited. Even so, this should allow you to look up flight delays, check when the next flight will be, see a cool interactive sky map and track a specific flight, of course. You'll have no valid excuse for being late to pick a friend up from the airport ever again.
10 cool things you can do with Wolfram Alpha and Siri
Steve Sande and I have been collaborating on "Talking to Siri," an ebook that just recently hit the Kindle store. It's a how-to that will help you get the most done with your Siri intelligent assistant. We're sharing some of our favorite tips with TUAW readers. Today, we're looking at Siri's Wolfram Alpha integration. You can force Siri to use Wolfram by prefixing your request with "Wolfram." For example, you might say, "Wolfram, what is the square root of 2?" or "Wolfram, graph x-squared plus three." But there's a lot more that you can do with Wolfram than just math. Here are ten of our favorite Wolfram searches. These highlight the flexibility of this amazing information resource. Roll a Random Number. Say "Wolfram, random integer." Wolfram returns a random value between 0 and 1000. "Wolfram, random number" provides a 0 to 1 floating point value. Look up nature facts. Say, "Wolfram, what is the scientific name of a mountain lion?" It's Puma concolor. Rabbits are Leporidae, and Peacocks, Galliformes. Check upcoming holidays. Say, "How many days until Thanksgiving?" This returns both the number of days as well as a helpful calendar so you can chart out the time until then. Create a secure password. Say "Wolfram, password." Wolfram generates a difficult-to-crack 8-character password. Scroll down for alternates. If you need a longer password, you can append these together. Convert text to Morse code. Say, "What is Morse code for horsefeathers?" You'll see the entire sequence laid out for your tapping pleasure. Check your diet. Say, "How many calories in a small apple?" Wolfram will tell you that there are 75. Ask out about time zones. Say, "Wolfram, what is the local time in Jakarta?" Query about your chances. Say, "Wolfram, what is the probability of a full house?" For a random five-card hand, it's apparently 1 in 694. Have fun with pop culture. Say, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" or "Wolfram, who shot the sheriff?" Visualize colors. Okay, I've saved the best for last. If you work with colors, this can save you a lot of time. Say, "Wolfram pound sign E 9 7 4 5 1" (for Burnt Sienna / Tangerine) or "Wolfram pound sign 2 9 A B 8 7" (for Jungle Green). This will also convert the colors to RGB values and look up closely-matching brand colors from Benjamin Moore. Make sure to scroll down to catch all the helpful information.
Daily iPhone App: Wolfram Alpha
Games are popular on the App Store right now (check out the lists of top paid and free aps), but several readers have asked us to extend beyond games with the Daily iPhone App series. So, here you go. Wolfram Alpha for iPhone is a mobile version of the very useful "computational knowledge engine" service. Just like the online version, Wolfram Alpha for iPhone provides answers to your questions about math, almanac-style timetables, or just about anything else you need to know. Answers are provided in the form of text, images, tables, charts, graphs, grids, and so on. The app does require an Internet connection, unfortunately, but it's recently been tuned up and streamlined, so it should be faster than ever. The app has also gotten support of Facebook sharing, so if you find something interesting, you can make sure your friends see it as well. WolframAlpha can be super helpful whenever you're out and about. The universal app is available on the App Store for US$1.99.
