I thought about it all night and woke up wanting to share with you my thoughts.
1. It is not a search engine. I waste many hours on Google looking for answers. The world doesn't need another search engine. It needs a Knowledge Engine.
2. That it has enough intelligence that when I wrote the name of 3 companies down, it did it's best to compare them on certain baseline stats and then make some deep thinking analysis of the companies in comparison to the S&P500 and some kind of analysis on a portfolio made up of these stocks.
I was blown away at the results. This is not a website dedicated to stocks analysis so I did not expect the depth of the information I received.
So are there any problems?
The real problem was the micro hype that built up around the launch. Most of the stories used the word Google in the same story when talking about Wolfram Alpha.
I agree that normal people like me would not use WolframAlpha everyday because we just do not have needs. But as a student or a technical person or god forbid a blogger/reporter that needs to check facts I see that it would handy.
I do have to say I have a hard time saying WolframAlpha. It tends to roll off my tongue with an Alfra! Not sure why.
Some people think Alpha is the stage of development it is in. Might be bad from a marketing standpoint. Maybe, Maybe not.
I would like to see it evolve, so here is my top 10 list.
1. I would like to see links to where some of the facts came from so I can validate it or learn more.
2. I would like to know what the horizontal bars are that constantly fill. It made me think that it was still looking or still searching. I'm not sure it did.
3. I would like to see Sources referenced but not like wikipedia. I'm not a librarian and I don't care to see something in some academic documentation standard that dates back a thousand years.
4. I'd like to know if it's humble. Let it ask me if the results are right. Let me help define a new set of results. Not ones that it accepts as facts but ones that are contra or extensions of the facts.
5. I would like to see it embedded in Google. I know Google is going to do their own thing, they are arrogant that way, but why not license it and allow a search result to not just include links to pages, but when applicable a WA answer tab.
6. I would love to see Data Trending. If I ask a question such as "How many people visit cnet on Mondays" that it could answer it and let me change the date range to visually see it change. Then I'd like to do a question that connects such as "How many people bought coffee on Monday in San Francisco and read CNET while drinking the coffee" - See you need Google for many of the data points and WA for the engine to do the thinking.
7. I'd love a WolframAlpha Appliance that I can install in my office. That walks through my data and allows my team to ask it questions against it.
8. These are not normal daily queries for most, they are questions that many do daily to make decisions. Provide guidance in asking the question. A Google bar is not good enough. Give me a wizard.
9. I'd love to see it respond with a better guidance page when people ask it dumb questions. Something that says "Gee you seem to be asking for a search engine term, that's not what we are, may we suggest any of these search engines. We are something different. We are..."
10. I'd like it to become a classroom tool. Focus on the teachers. Provide video based training on how to use the engine in any class, any grade.
I believe that this is another huge leaping point. The engine will mature and we will all take it for granted just like we do with Google.
Watch this short clip of a Bay Area news piece on a new thing called reading the newspaper on your computer.
It's amazing how far we have come in such a short period of time.
Highlights of the video.
1. Tandy is the personal computer most seen on screen. 2. A few thousand people in the bay area own a personal computer. 3. $5 an hour connection fee. 4. 2 hours to download all the text. 5. An old guy is the computer user they show with the caption "owns personal computer"
CES 2009 Saturday & Sunday Report January 10 and 11, 2009
I left Macworld and attended CES.
CES is HUGE! Huge is too small of a word to describe it. It's Freaken HUGE! It's overwhelmingly huge. I think there are over 2,700 booths. I'm not kidding. Booths. It spans every corner of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Hilton Convention Center and the Parking Lot and the Sands. It's MASSIVE.
I had 2 days, fresh sneakers and lots of red bull. You will have to forgive this blog posting. It's going to be a long blurring run on sentence. (paul says - whats new?).
Most of these notes are for my own sanity. I record them as the day winds down so that I do not forget. There are photos and I'll work on getting them connected to the paragraphs.
LG SkyCharger - Part of LG's Eco Mobilization effort to Motivate, Educate and Activate. I call it event based marketing - The Wind - Turbines generate 1000 watt max output. The Sun - Solar panels feature an 880 watt array. The Tent is an pyramid open tent design. The center is a set of cell phone lockers where you plug in your phone and take the key. You return when your ready to pick it up. There are 12 110 A/h deep cycle lead acid batteries to provide each phone 4-6v of power. A very cool concept. I don't like when marketing departments take on GREEN and try to figure out how to leverage it into everything without it being a real critical component of the organization. But this is different somehow. It seems that they created a real brand-able need fulfilling device that can go to beach events and so forth. I want to borrow from this for the Jackson County Fair.
Microsoft
Surrounded by Security Guards. It's a very large space but laid out in a way that does a god job making you feel like there is a lot there, not a lot of empty space. Keep in mind 1/4 of the space is meeting rooms. Microsoft is one of those companies that is involved in many things and the layout was presented like a journey. It started with Windows showing off Vista and Windows 7, Windows Live and IE 8. I checked out Windows 7 and Live and it's very interesting to see how they bridge the desktop to the internet.
Cell phones were featured in the Mobility section. Lots of Samsung and HTC smartphone from what I could see. I didn't spend much time there. I have an iPhone.
The third stop on the journey was Television. I'll be going back here on Sunday. They featured Windows Media Center allowing you to Watch and Record TV on your PC and how to extend movies, music, photos to your big screen TV. They also showed off Microsoft Mediaroom with DVRanywhere Live anytime features.
Next was Gaming. I was impressed with how 90 % of gaming was taking the XBOX 360 squarely against the WII. It's not about horsepower, its about fun playability for the whole family. From Dueling Karaoke battles called LIPs and some cool game I need to spend more time with that allows you to build your own game. One Microsoft employee told me it was for kids. I smiled at her and thanked her for her words of wisdom. That aint for kids. It's a modeling tool for game creation. It's brilliant and the young woman from Schlage couldn't put it down.
Note: I played Halo Wars and loved how they took the FPS game and turned it into a RTS with deep backstory. The Halo franchise will grow to a new level with this game.
Music rounded out the final part of a disconnected journey. I will look at Zune later time permitting. I have no interest and do not see any application for clients. Did I mention I have an iPhone.
My journey was disrupted by a information booth of unhelpful Microsoft employees and security guards. I left the booth only to discover later on that the journey that curved serpentine like a conical shell continued past the information booth. A small car (make and model goes here) was presented as a game (bad call here - no line - no one understood it as a game - it definitely did not grab the crowd ) but I was intrigued with the car, as I am with most small electric or high fuel efficient cars in booths. Forget the booth babes, these things draw me. The car was in a section called Automotive. There is also a big tent with no one visiting outside promoting this concept of Microsoft in your car. Apple did it with ipod connectors in your car. Microsoft wants you to have your computer live with you in the car. We shall see.
Surprisingly the end of the journey was productivity. It was kind of stuck in there and forgotten about and I think it should of been after the first kiosk since it ties so nicely with Windows and Windows Live. They had to reboot the video looping demo while I was looking around. The video got stuck. It took 4 guys to do it. some TECH guy does the deed while security looks it over and watches the crowd. Nothing to see here - move along.
Inside the end of the journey was the touch screen table top venture Microsoft is getting into. I played with it. It's fairly responsive and for a few minutes I flung all the images around the screen while it was trying to tell me about products and offerings. I was happy to see that I didn't feel smudges. Think of the thousands of people who touched it before it. There was one kid there with Apple on his badge and he videotaped the thing in action, which makes no sense to me since you can see it all in action on the web. I guess the security guys were so busy watching over reboots they missed this one all together.
Remember last year when I told you the Apple booth flavor was different because of guards, well its the same here. I don't like standing there with security looking over my shoulder and if you don't think they are watching you one said my name just to make sure I knew, I was being watched. Damn name badges.
I always enjoy the companies and goods I find on accident.
One such company was Tritton (trittonUSA.com). They make headphones for gaming that when I put them on and played a game (I have no id which ones) the bass was so deep and the 5.1 surround sound (yes in the headphones) was so well done that I was actually startled at one point in the game when I ran around the corner and something moved BEHIND me. Trust me it changes everything when your hearing is part of the game play.
A small developer in San Diego (Paleo) released Merchants of Brooklyn which is a FPS using Cryteks CryEngine 2 and based on a few minutes of gameplay will do very well. It's loaded with over the top humor and action and was purposely developed with a comic book look and feel. I enjoyed the game and when i interviewed one of the employees while he was playing I found out that it will be on sale for only 20 bucks. If you love FPS games, check this one out. It's also nice to see an independent title.
One thing to check out is the APEX SC320 from simcraft. This hardware rig allows you to have a driving simulator in your living room. It's a true three dimensional experience with no latency. You have to use the software that they preinstall but the games look great and real and the motion physics in the game are definitely felt during play. Very cool.
Interactive TV
I spent a lot of time looking over solutions for interactive TV from the manufactures including interactive consoles in the TV to software from providers for the digital set top box.
Playjam.com boasts 45 billion homes using its software as a gaming network with over 500 games.
Electra entertainment provides Trove and iTrove as a way for me as a cable tv provider to provide entertainment interactively on the TV. I'll be checking that out.
Entropia was a online MMO gaming world that uses real money as currency in the game. Check it out at EntropiaUniverse.com.
Poloroid is back.
Can you believe it? The company that invented instant photography has a fun little POGO camera that teen girls are sure to enjoy. It lets you take a digital photo and instantly (under a minute) print a small photo to stick on something or give to someone. It doesn't use ink it uses ZINK. The ink is in the paper. Wild huh? Check it out.
Consumer electronics range from Walmart level electronics to the hip, cool, stylish, elite, expensive, artsy, chic kind.
Home based electronics and Greening technologies.
3D TV - Lots and lots of 3D tv going on. The LCD technology where the screen can now refresh at 120 hz or higher allow you to play any (ANY) movie from Pixar or CG created (because it is created in a 3D world) with special glasses and have an amazing immersive experience. More so than Caption EO. Haven't you noticed how many films are out in 3D? This is because it's becoming mainstream and quite good. I did 3D years ago with Sega glasses and medical images. This is the same concept but because of the high refresh rates you can do it at HD resolution.
I played a little of a new game called MirrorsEdge. Its unlike any FPS I have ever played. You can see your shoes and your run and jump to complete levels. It uses the PhysX engine by nvidia and is a full enriching gaming experience. I cant wait to see what else they come out with.
I was surprised!
Creative Labs. Remember them? the sound card people since the PC didn't come with one? Well they are back and about to take over. Move over Bose, the sound canceling headset I tried on was amazing. The deep rich sound from the GigaWorks Sound system was outstanding and new Vado HD poket video camera is a must have. 2 hours of solid state recording in HD. How is this possible. creative bought another lab Zii lab. Wait till you see what they are doing. Parallel processing that is 100 times faster, 100 times cheaper and 100 times more energy efficient cpus. WOW! I was impressed.
The chip has processing elements in the core that can be reprogrammed to task or shut off completely. Need HD then use all PEs, just doing something simple, how about one PE or two?
WOW! Keep an eye on this company again, I think great things are about to happen.
I found electronics for plants to let you know when it needs water, with a LED blink, but no IP.
Universal Laser Systems etched photos onto dogtags. ULSINC.com The laser is very cool and very precise. You can laser etch on laptops or anything you want to put a logo or words on. Very cool.
More IP TV
I met with Stacey Cook, CEO of Qtv with turns a PS2 (yes 2) into a set top box. www.Q-TV.com - The PS2 has dolby 5.1 sound so it takes your USB connected mp3 player and sends it to your speakers as well through your stereo.
ElectraTV.com has a channel for playing games PlayJam is the content. They are from England. They wouldn't talk to me.
I stumbled up a low cost, low power all in one PC called LimePC that is straight out of China. I ordered an eval unit of the NetPC in a box. Looks like I might be going to Beijing if this works out to work out a deal. Low Energy, Low Cost PCs.
NVidea also announced a NetPC box that got best in show runner up. But I could not find anyone that knew anything about it. They all stood there playing games.
A must check out is ClickFree Automatic Backup. You plug in the drive into the USB and the backsup software autoloads and automatically does an incremental backup. The first one takes the longest.
http://www.GoClickFree.com
There sure was a huge gathering of people at the Entropia Universe booth on Sunday. 3D online social network with a real cash economy. Hmmm....
ZvBox is a box that you plug into your computer and it uses the house's built in coax to boardcast a channel inside your home.
It might work great for a hotel as well but they didn't seem interested.
Lots of San Diego based companies were in the show - Qualcomm, Paleo and Entropic, watching the Chargers lose. I was happy, they were not.
Entropic makes the chips that goes inside the set top box. I'm noodling something here. Time to dust off the soldering iron.
The show was coming to an end.
Here is my final thought on CES. It's too big to be a community. I saw no crowd. I don't understand it. Everything under one roof (ok several roofs) from automotive electronics (I took lots of car photos for our new ENVI product) to Manufactures of the smallest component from all over the planet.
Do we consumers really need all those different choices in TV? What about everyone that invested in large TV's in the last 5 years. TV's are typically a 10-15 year purchase cycle for a family. Do we see that changing? Will we be adding TVs in everyroom?
Consumers demand high end, sophisticated electronics. You should see the depth and breath of the automotive section alone. It fills an entire convention center. Sony, Microsoft, Intel do more globally but take up less space. With less of a connection to the consumer or the chain that delivers for them.
Note: Intel did not have one single Intel Mac in their booth. Not even under a table. I asked them, where are the Macs?, they looked nervously across the 10 foot divide of carpet separating them from Microsoft's space and gulped.
It's time for CES to change and for the consumer to evolve.
I dedicated myself to getting the most out of the conference. I didn't rest to eat, drink or visit the booth babes (I did how ever take pictures as I ran by - hey it's me...) I found solutions for each of my businesses and organizations I work with. I made new contacts with companies in China, Korea, Australia and the US. I bought components, systems, Toys and Software.
Companies spent at least 100 million dollars in total there that week to market themselves and the one thing that sticks out in my mind right now is Erector makes IP based robots and I'm going to order 3 of them. (Erector did not have a booth - At least one that I saw)
below is a blog posting i made to a site about technology in the classroom, titled "The Pros and Cons of Technology Enhanced Learning".
What the heck is assistive technology? Isn't technology a tool, just like a pencil and a book. Isn't all technology assistive?
Distance Learning is not new. My dad did it when he got out of the Navy after the Vietnam War. It was a mail in class in electronics.
We should not teach technology classes. That would be like teaching a class on Pencil and Pen usage or How to open the book and read the book.
New teachers today should embrace technology as the latest set of tools to teach with. I hire many people, I don't hire them for technology skills I hire them for the ability to think, learn, process, challenge, push and lead all while using everything from the cell phone to the computer and the internet.
The poll you have also concerns me. The internet is just a resource. Cheating is a behavior. We don't spend enough time teaching about cheating and ethics.
Soon I will have a watch with more power than my cell phone which has more power than my computer.
Teaching today is about having the technology as a tool to the teacher, to enable and facilitate multiple modalities of learning. Something that just a few years ago would of been very difficult and slow to perform.
Today, a classroom can empower students to learn at their own pace, in the way that works most effective for them at the time.
Today's classroom has one limiter on the introduction of technology and putting limits on children while learning, the Teacher.
I hope you consider 2 things while looking at technology in the classroom.
1. myspace. hate it or love it, it is the future. Now, I'm not saying that myspace is the future, I'm saying that our children share more widely and rapidly then we could of even imagined. Having a great day, the whole class knows immediately, stuck on a problem, thinking about a boy, wishing you were somewhere else? mySpace allows real thoughts to be shared.
How do we harness that?
2. Cell phones, really I mean the iPhone. Take a small form factor device, add 5 radios and great software and you have everything you need to never leave a child behind. Instant access to everything at anytime from any location is the future. I'd like to see new teachers embrace the fact and replace text books as soon as a book size one becomes available.
Again, How do we harness that?
One final thought. Like you, I spend a lot of time with kids during the fair. Real kids from our valley. Not nerdy kids and I notice 2 things.
1. They embrace technology more than we give them credit for.
2. They multitask (thanks to IM) and do so very well. We adults judge good behavior on the student staying on task. I think that we will need to redefine success. Staying on task is not real in the modern world. Having tools to empower multi-tasking is where we need to go.
In the end, this is a good start on a blog. I'd like to see you grow it and engage in some meaningful dialog on the future of education and how technology will play a role in it, not if or should it, but how do you and your fellow teachers to be, embrace it and empower children to learn with the book of the future.
OS: Linux System/ Hardware Compatible with Windows XP
Processor: Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz, FSB 533)
Memory: DDRII 512 MB / 1 GB / 2 GB (see US configs below)
Storage: 80 GB / 120 GB / 160 GB / 250 GB (see US configs below)
Chipset: 945GSE + ICH7M
VGA: On-board Intel GMA 950, 1600 x 1200 maximum resolution
Networking: 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN, 802.11n WLAN, Bluetooth optional
SD/MMC/MS slot: SD, SDHC, Mini SD, (Micro SD through adapter) ; MMC, MMC plus, MMC4.x, RS MMC, RSMMC4.x (MMC mobile through adapter);MS,MS PRO Audio: Azalia ALC888 Audio Chip
Front Ports: USB x 2 Card Reader x 1 Headphone-out jack (WO/SPDIF) x 1 MIC x 1
Rear Ports: USB 2.0 x 2 Gigabit LAN x 1 DVI out x 1 Line-Out (L/R) with S/PDIF x 1 WiFi antenna
Accessories: 19Vdc, 4.74A, 65W power adaptor Mouse (optional) Keyboard (optional) VESA mount (optional) WiFi antenna Stand
Dimensions: 8.5" x 7" x 1" Net Weight: 2.2 lbs. Gross Weight: 6.6 lbs.
US Configurations and MSRP: $269 1GB memory + 80GB HDD Linux edition $299 1GB memory + 80GB HDD XP edition $299 2GB memory + 160GB HDD Linux edition
Availability: For the US, we're expecting to hit the market Mid July. For French-speaking Canada, a French Linux version will be available the following month.
One thing I find interesting is that both of these companies are losing money and yet together they can raise 14 Billion dollars to spark the 4G world.
Other investors are Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House and Intel and Google!
Wow!
I'm going to keep an eye on this one. I'm starting to see where Google is going.
WiMax promises to blanket entire cities with Web access for laptops,
cell phones and other consumer devices at fast speeds. Clearwire aims
to offer WiMax in a service area covering as many as 140 million people
by the end of 2010.
Sprint, which would otherwise have had to invest $5 billion on a
solo WiMax network, will inject its WiMax assets valued at $7.4 billion
into the venture, giving it 51 percent ownership.
Cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House and chip
maker Intel and Web search leader Google get a total of 22 percent of
the venture for their combined $3.2 billion.
Robert Redford is smiling in the New York Times. If you read into this, it has to do with legacy transition and market transition. The independent film market is exploding. I'm excited to be a part of it.
Click here to visit my first podcast. It's more of a rambling really, but it is the first one. Check back and watch for more links to my podcasts as I converge even more. TV, Internet, Real Life, Blogging and now podcasting.
I have to learn how to do better audio. I have to learn how to speak louder.
Use the comments system to let me know how the listening experience was for you. Also let me know if you have ideas for the podcast.
Lots of buzz on the web puts the damn monkeys in my brain.
The U.S. is moving to digital broadcast TV, so now companies are trying to buy up the bandwidth. Google and AT&T are at the table. With Yahoo's smackdown of Microsoft's $42B offer, I was joking with Paul that they should just buy the spectrum. Paul said that they don't know what to do with it. "Exactly, but they know that Google does", I replied. Funny Office Banter in nerdville.
So I was thinking. If AT&T get this and create a nationwide WI-FI/WI-MAX type of network, and all those Apple iPod Touches worked anywhere there was a AT&T service, wow! I can't sleep Im so excited.
Then couple that with the rumor that Starbucks is switching from T-Mobile to AT&T for hotspot provision. Again, WOW! I'm excited.
Now I have to convince Dena to let me buy some AT&T stock for my Valentines present.
In a shocking and surprise move (everyone expected mySQL to go public) Sun bought mySQL for 1 Billion dollars. For those of you that don't know, Sun is a 13.9 Billion dollar a year company and is the worlds largest contributer to the opensource community. mySQL is a foundational element of the opensource movement (it's part of the LAMP stack) and drives a gazillion websites out there. I'm a big fan of both companies and their offerings even though I don't use their technologies at Project A.
It's a brilliant move for Sun. They now have in there stable Open Office, Java , GlassFish, NetBeans and MySQL. They will become the provider to the development community which makes them a provider to all the end users.
The mySQL community will benefit greatly from this if Sun delivers everything it can to enhance this db to go head to head against Microsoft.
Part of me believes that Sun is building up a very strong stable to add to it's own value so that it can be bought by Apple. ;)
Disclaimer: I own Sun Stock. It hasn't done well for years and I almost sold it. I'll hold onto it for a couple more years to see what happens now.
Maybe this national statistic is like how the Mac market is only 4% of the over all market but in Ashland I swear it feels more like 30%.
I've been thinking a lot about tv lately. How people buy it, use it and watch it.
I go to circuit city and the walls are filled with HDTV, I go to Costco and the first thing you see is rows and rows of Big Screen TVs.
I admire the ones my friends have (with some envy) and I smile at all the people proudly pushing a cart around Costco with them, excusing themselves as they brush up against someone with their new TV.
So my conventional wisdom is that everyone is upgrading. But according to this statistic of only 2% I'm shocked.
It's the same percentage I hear on wine drinkers in the US. Only 2% of us drink wine.
We sit around at parties and throw around 720 versus 1080p or 1080i as if it matters.
We are geeks. Seeking the latest version because it seems better.
We wont grow beyond 2% until we stop talking about pixels and talking about how our lives are enhanced because of the size of the TV I have.
I guess I'll be apart of the 98% crowd for a while longer, but I can see myself going to Costco on days when I need a fix and loading a big boy onto a cart and pushing it around, bumping into people and excusing myself, waiting for the glare from the soccer mom and the proud appreciation and tech grunts from the husband that thinks he's the only one on the planet without a big screen.
