Wolfram Alpha is not a traditional search engine — rather, it is a "computational knowledge engine". That means it generates output from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links. Nonetheless, it produces some amazing answers to things you want to calculate or know about.
Watch this video to get a sense of some of the things it can do, and how it can help you.
The breadth of topics it covers is pretty amazing.
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Officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve
Board and the United States Secret Service unveiled the new design for
the $100 note. Complete with advanced technology to combat
counterfeiting, the new design for the $100 note retains the traditional
look of U.S. currency.
If you haven't seen one in person yet, here is what to expect.
Here is a link to an interactive graphic that lets you explore the features of the new note.
Here is a video from the new Currency Channel.
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Officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve
Board and the United States Secret Service unveiled the new design for
the $100 note. Complete with advanced technology to combat
counterfeiting, the new design for the $100 note retains the traditional
look of U.S. currency.
If you haven't seen one in person yet, here is what to expect.
Here is a link to an interactive graphic that lets you explore the features of the new note.
Here is a video from the new Currency Channel.
I have been using a software tool you might find useful. It solves a problem that you probably have, even if you don't think about it often.
A Cure for Information Overload.
It In the old days, you could photocopy something and put it in a file. So finding it was relatively straight-forward.
Today, you are faced with a different type of challenge (and chances are your filing system is so "1990s"). Nowadays, you might be looking for a picture, audio snippet, or video … a document (or more likely, just a part
of one) … or a scrap you saved (like a quote, web-link, or blog post).
Moreover, as you use the computer for more things (and a bigger percentage of the work you do), it gets harder to find a random "something" that you might be looking for.
Part of the problem is that we are getting more efficient at creating "stuff", so there is more of it. In addition, that stuff is a lot more varied than it used to be.
Capture
Everything to Your Personal Digital Memory.
Evernote makes it easy to store, organize, and find virtually anything. Even better, it is also good at sharing it with others (award-winning good at it).
Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screen-shot. It will be there when you need it.
Finding it Fast, Wherever You Are.
Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and searchable. That means you can find things quickly and easily.
You can search for items by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote even makes the printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too (for example, the text on a photo of your white-board).
There is an application program. However, you can also access your
information through a Web interface (wherever you are, even if you are away from your computers). In addition, there are versions that work on
various smart phones and Evernote
provides "Capture" buttons that integrate with Microsoft Outlook and whatever browser you
might use. What that means is that it's easy to use, and it's there
when you need to use it.
Here is a video showing you how it works.
One Tool That Takes the Place of Many Others.
I've tried dozens of programs that do similar things. In the old days, they were called "personal information managers".
Many of these tools are specialized, so to handle it all you might use a to-do list (or "Getting Things Done" organizer), Internet bookmark manager, screen-capture utility, document management system, and free-form database.
Evernote does all that, and virtually anything else you throw at it … yet, it doesn't cost you anything until you throw enough stuff into it to pass its generous monthly threshold. For what it is worth, I clipped over 200 items before passing the limit.
Bottom-Line: Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. For free. It's worth a try, you might like it.
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I have been using a software tool you might find useful. It solves a problem that you probably have, even if you don't think about it often.
A Cure for Information Overload.
It In the old days, you could photocopy something and put it in a file. So finding it was relatively straight-forward.
Today, you are faced with a different type of challenge (and chances are your filing system is so "1990s"). Nowadays, you might be looking for a picture, audio snippet, or video … a document (or more likely, just a part
of one) … or a scrap you saved (like a quote, web-link, or blog post).
Moreover, as you use the computer for more things (and a bigger percentage of the work you do), it gets harder to find a random "something" that you might be looking for.
Part of the problem is that we are getting more efficient at creating "stuff", so there is more of it. In addition, that stuff is a lot more varied than it used to be.
Capture
Everything to Your Personal Digital Memory.
Evernote makes it easy to store, organize, and find virtually anything. Even better, it is also good at sharing it with others (award-winning good at it).
Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screen-shot. It will be there when you need it.
Finding it Fast, Wherever You Are.
Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and searchable. That means you can find things quickly and easily.
You can search for items by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote even makes the printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too (for example, the text on a photo of your white-board).
There is an application program. However, you can also access your
information through a Web interface (wherever you are, even if you are away from your computers). In addition, there are versions that work on
various smart phones and Evernote
provides "Capture" buttons that integrate with Microsoft Outlook and whatever browser you
might use. What that means is that it's easy to use, and it's there
when you need to use it.
Here is a video showing you how it works.
One Tool That Takes the Place of Many Others.
I've tried dozens of programs that do similar things. In the old days, they were called "personal information managers".
Many of these tools are specialized, so to handle it all you might use a to-do list (or "Getting Things Done" organizer), Internet bookmark manager, screen-capture utility, document management system, and free-form database.
Evernote does all that, and virtually anything else you throw at it … yet, it doesn't cost you anything until you throw enough stuff into it to pass its generous monthly threshold. For what it is worth, I clipped over 200 items before passing the limit.
Bottom-Line: Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. For free. It's worth a try, you might like it.
The iPad is a revolutionary machine. I had a chance to spend time using one this weekend.
Overall, the experience was impressive and compelling.
The screen was beautiful. Looking at a website was
better than expected. For example, reading the New
York Times online (using their iPad App) was, in many ways, a
better experience than with the actual paper. Likewise, the e-book interface was stunning, easy
to use, and also more compelling than paper.
An Incredible "Consumption" Device.
At first glance, the iPad seems like an incredible tool to
consume media.
Here is a video review.
So, will I buy one? Not yet; and I do have some mixed feelings about this device.
So What Was "Wrong" With It?
To be sure, it is fast and powerful enough to do many of the things I do on a laptop.
However, I don't think that it's a great "creation" device (at least for me). In other words, I don't believe that I would want to use it to do extensive
writing, spreadsheet editing, or that type of "computer" work.
Also, its big beautiful screen makes the device "too big" for me to imagine carrying around.
One of the primary benefits of my iPhone is that I have it with me everywhere. That means I use it at the grocery store, while I'm waiting for my car at the car-wash, and to look up something during a business meeting or lunch. That wouldn't happen with the iPad.
Instead, I'd want one in my briefcase, another one in the living room, and another in the bedroom.
Again, the iPad seems designed to be a "consumption" device for media. As the price point comes down, I believe that consumers will buy several of them (much the way they have
TVs in different rooms).
Even though it so impressive and compelling, I will probably wait for its next generation before buying.
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The iPad is a revolutionary machine. I had a chance to spend time using one this weekend.
Overall, the experience was impressive and compelling.
The screen was beautiful. Looking at a website was
better than expected. For example, reading the New
York Times online (using their iPad App) was, in many ways, a
better experience than with the actual paper. Likewise, the e-book interface was stunning, easy
to use, and also more compelling than paper.
An Incredible "Consumption" Device.
At first glance, the iPad seems like an incredible tool to
consume media.
Here is a video review.
So, will I buy one? Not yet; and I do have some mixed feelings about this device.
So What Was "Wrong" With It?
To be sure, it is fast and powerful enough to do many of the things I do on a laptop.
However, I don't think that it's a great "creation" device (at least for me). In other words, I don't believe that I would want to use it to do extensive
writing, spreadsheet editing, or that type of "computer" work.
Also, its big beautiful screen makes the device "too big" for me to imagine carrying around.
One of the primary benefits of my iPhone is that I have it with me everywhere. That means I use it at the grocery store, while I'm waiting for my car at the car-wash, and to look up something during a business meeting or lunch. That wouldn't happen with the iPad.
Instead, I'd want one in my briefcase, another one in the living room, and another in the bedroom.
Again, the iPad seems designed to be a "consumption" device for media. As the price point comes down, I believe that consumers will buy several of them (much the way they have
TVs in different rooms).
Even though it so impressive and compelling, I will probably wait for its next generation before buying.
The terms "Internet
of Things" and "System of Systems" are concepts that help to explain a great deal about what
is happening, now, where the digital world meets the physical and
intellectual.
In the video below, from IBM, you get a glimpse of it …
Imagine if your alarm clock talked to your calendar and knows you
need to catch the
ferry in 1-1/2 hours to get to work, so it wakes you up. But, a half hour before it wakes you, it turned on the heater in your bathroom; and other sensors started your morning coffee and de-iced
the windshield in your car.
Here are some excerpts from the film:
“Over the past century, but accelerating over the past
couple of decades, we have seen the emergence of a kind of global data
field. The planet itself – natural systems, human systems, and physical
objects – have always generated an enormous amount of data, but we
didn’t used to be able to hear it, to see it, or to capture it. Now we can
because all of this stuff is now instrumented. And it’s all
interconnected, so now we can actually have access to it. So, in
effect, the planet has grown a central nervous system.
Look at that complex set of relationships among all of these complex
systems. If we can actually begin to see the patterns in the data, then
we have a much better chance of getting our arms around this. That’s
where societies become more efficient, that’s where more innovation is
sparked.
When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two
dimensions. One is to be more efficient, less destructive, and to
connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more
conscious, deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also
to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, and new forms of
social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information,
creation and transmission system, and the universe was hearing its
information but we weren’t. But increasingly now we can, early days,
baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to
us.”
This framework applies to many other things (for example, trading and markets). Expect to hear more about this type of insight and automation.
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