Countdown to the Wolfram|Alpha Launch

[artbasss]

nerds rule!!!!thanx!!!

[lednerg]

Hey, now it says:

Assuming kilobytes for "KB" | Use kibibytes instead

Well done. You're definitely on the ball. Now if only W|A would quit adding the word "and" into numbers over a thousand. 1001 = one thousand one, not one thousand and one. At least for American users.

[raunet]

5 stars .

[Chick6517]

omg that was amazing i wish i could do that but me i know how to do very few thing haha but ya cudos to you ... i think imma try to learn to do that [=

[TiniPaulini]

this is our future! don't stop it! it is our duty to use the human resources to create tecnology that brings us into a better future. Let's use our knowledge to build tecnology which helps us to be better men and mend our faults and.

But every new relevant tecnology should be controled independently!!!

greets from Austria

[lednerg]

Hey Wolfram|Alpha:

1 megabyte = 1024 kilobytes

Go ahead and ask Google. It is not 1000 kilobytes. Same goes for the megabytes to gigabytes conversion. The only people that use 1000 are storage device manufacturers as a way to exaggerate the capacity of their equipment. I sent feedback to you a while ago, but just want to point it out again here. A lot of your data storage and speed measurements are ending up wrong.

[lednerg]

Ah, nevermind. I just now learned about the kibibyte (KiB). It seems that the binary kilobyte we've been using since the 60's has changed it's name. Kilobyte is supposed to be reserved for the decimal unit, although that doesn't seem to have caught on everywhere. None of my computers seem to know about the switch to decimal, for example.

I wish Alpha would tell us that up top:

(Assuming "KB" is the decimal unit | Use the binary unit "KiB" instead)

[racl101]

Ok guys, how many days until it becomes self aware and concludes that humans are irrelevant and starts controlling robots and machines to start killing us? Any takers?!

[Dirtfire]

Well, in 'Terminator 2' it was 25 days.. :)

[racl101]

interesting! Or better yet... we cold ask the engine itself!

[rj6v]

Wolfram Alpha is an epic fail when you look up things not related to numbers.

[dippydawg827]

well it only can do what it was made to do. compute, not figure things out from nothing.

[rj6v]

What a nonsense.

If I search for "sunflower" and it only comes up with nothing but some latin names, then you call that "it was not made to figure things out from nothing"?

If I search for CNN and it comes up with something totally nhot related the CNN news station,then yu call that "it was not made to figure things out from nothing"?

Idiot...sigh

[coilgunner2]

I'm going to put this in caps, because people are very confused by how this new tool works.

WOLFRAM ALPHA IS NOT A SEARCH ENGINE

Wolfram | Alpha IS:

A COMPUTATIONAL KNOWLEDGE ENGINE.

I really hate using caps, but I want people to be able to see this.

[rj6v]

Don't act like a retard, all you do is copying what's in their logo.

A knowledge engine is an engine that provides knowledge. WolframAlpha only succeeds in that in a VERY SMALL part and basically with numbers and pretends to be more than it really is.

It's not a knowledge base at all, it can not provide me with detailed information about basic things like sunflower, abraham lincoln, addiction, global warming, etc

[rj6v]

heck...if you type Beatles you get "Music Performers, Development of this topic is under investigation..."

It needs to be developed? For Pete's sake, the data is available everywhere, but WA doesn't provide it and thatcall itself a knowledge base?

Do you really think a doctor can make any diagnose by just doing some math...seriously....sigh

[rj6v]

On their blog they say: "During testing, Wolfram|Alpha processed nearly 23 million queries; by our estimates, approximately 3 out of 4 gave satisfactory results"

3 out of 4 gave satisfactory results? My ass! lol

Just because their system knew that Beatles are "music performers" (and nothing else) is what they call a satisfying reply? hehehe

How the hell can they know what is satisfying for the user without asking them?

[nuclearspike]

rj6v: they are not claiming to be a knowledge base, but a computational knowledge engine. They can't tell you the life details of Lincoln because his life details outside of death, birth dates is not computational... ("determining something by mathematical or logical methods") which is what they are about.

WA is young, very young and already usable if you know how and when to use it. It will keep improving. Patience.

Do you also complain that your desk lamp doesn't puree your food very well?

[nuclearspike]

enter in WA & google: "how old was abraham lincoln when he died" G will take you to a page where someone else asked that question and you hope the person who answered gave accurate information (& be glad someone has already asked it!), WA will do the calculation itself based on facts it has stored. asking how he died is not computational. try "auto manufacturer profits" G will return junk, WA will return numbers that it computed knowing which companies are in that industry and their profits.

[nuclearspike]

It will not replace Google and it's not trying to. The failings you see out are outside of the scope of what it's intended to do. Agreed, your idea of a knowledge base of everything will be nice when we have it, in the mean time this is a big step toward that. As for it's intent: try "weather where michelle obama born when barack obama born" in both google and WA. Or put in "$1 in peru" into both. Or try "1 cup OJ + 6 oz sugar + 1 cup milk" in both and see which one produces something useful.

[jonno52]

Well, it works OK for me in Firefox as of today ... except the demo vid hadn't loaded after 2 or 3 minutes & I gave up so still don't really get what it's about. Anyway, good luck guys.

[TickleExpress]

4:26 Epic comb over

[982Munchie]

Okay, so really, it is not supposed to compare with a search engine like Google. But, wow, they say this will revolutionize the way we seek info and work with data.

Yawn... it can do your taxes and compare the GDP of Russia vs France, yadda, yadda, yadda.

More importantly, I could not find a single thing related to porn or Oprah on this watershed computational website....going back to Google. ;-)

[xarold]

I tested it this morning and works pretty neat, it is still somehow limited, but the results are cool

[mahunkey]

EPIC fail Wolfram, not been able to go on it yet.

It either doesn't load or crashes my Firefox.

Launch Fail.

[njb444]

I typed in "answer to the universe" and it responded 42, lol! I swear, go try it!

[DeepeeMe]

42 is the correct answer but a teenager would never understand it.

[rj6v]

...says the 14 year old...sigh

Hey smartguy, why don't you explain to all of us, including the non-teenager like me, why it should be 42....oh wait...you can''t? Thought so...EPIC FAIL

[DeepeeMe]

If you read underneath where it says 42 it says that it picked it from a book noob. So it doesn't say that 42 is THE answer it just tells you an answer from a book. Not itself. It picked the answer from another place - and if you read that book you might know what 42 has to do with it.

[monkeyfeck]

njb444: i thought you were joking, but it did answer 42. it will also answer questions about the airspeed velocity of a swallow.

[Dirtfire]

That 42 reference comes from the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' :)

[supermaucat]

Stephen Wolfram is a crackpot. Do some searching on 'wolfram crackpot new kind of science'

[Matekdk]

Wolfram Alpha is just so cool - but they have some load issues currently..

[Dirtfire]

Wow, I thought it would be up on the 18th.

I just tried to get on the website and it's not loading. Looks like it crashed. Doh!

[Ba3dadBoy]

Wow his eyes are really going at it. You can see him reading

[grazzellian]

He could've named it Wolphabeta search engine. It's catchy, it still retains his name [I mean the first good half of it] and it is a pun. WOLPHABETA; that's what it should have been called.

[InNeedOfActivity]

LOL. I like that.

Sounds like something out of a Douglas Adams novel though ;)

[TetuaMaana]

I love Google but this sounds amazing.

Good luck!

[TledgEs]

i cant wait! and yeah he does do that alot,

but it really doesnt bother me

[setaitransmedia]

go stephen!!!

I hope it doesn't wake up and become Skynet ( ^__^)

[watchmyshorts]

Boy, some peoples body language is simple annoying. Wolfram's handy are _all the time_ like he simulates throwing up. Drives me crazy watching this.

[scunner3rd]

I didn't notice it until you said. Now it hurts me to watch him

[loltehinternet]

4:10 and on sounds like the setup for a sci-fi horror movie. Especially the 3-second hesitation in stephen's reply to max's "Are you confident?"

[shiyarz]

what a geeks =)

[grazzellian]

Wolfram|Alpha!! That 's the problem. Name too difficult to pronounce. Kids won't be googling on it. Ehn, I mean semantically speaking.

[elpasi2]

I think it'll turn into wolfram after the alpha and beta phases are done.

[combomaster99]

Hmm yea u do have a point there ..

but kids aint that stupid : )

[nemoDaedalus]

That's why you can use Wolpha instead.

Try it, substitute "wolframalpha" in the url for "wolpha" (obviously, w/o quotes)! :D

[ananiasacts]

Wow. Our kids will finally be able to do their homework.

[FrostGibbon]

yes they will though they wont be able to do it w/o it

[shadowclq]

this is going to be insane. it does everything for you. this will have positive and negative affects on people for sure

[RailsTube]

How long until Google buys this? I can't wait to start using it. Imagine how much we will be able to grow from it.

[Loltax]

Just what we need, an even bigger monopoly.

[hyperman514]

It's going to be a long day waiting for this...

[spsanderson]

I neeeed it nooooow lol I can't wait I'll be checking in at work tonight

[iCookie1]

First question I'm going to ask: "How many idiots are there on YouTube?" HAHA :D

[mahunkey]

Looking forward to it, got a few things in my mind I want to try out.

How many Apes will fit in an olympic swimming pool?

Noticed the matching Shirt and Trouser combination, wonder if that was intentional?

[mrsimonford]

intentional or not, it looks ridiculous.

[ClemyNX]

Good luck!

[911funcom]

Thats sounds really good... cant wait to see this live tonight!

I just saw some presentations and I really do like it! Quiet impressive

[leoncariz]

were you guys this much excited when google was evolving? or any other search engine?

IMHO, you are just making a big fuss about it.

Maybe wolf guys should start with invitation-only approach.

[alanlsavoy]

It is not a search engine, it is a calculation engine. It is unique.

They did start with an invitation-only approach. The request link was at the bottom of the page.

[leoncariz]

It was my sarcasm about intivation-only approach. I think you guys are just making a big deal out of it. I know what it is and I've been following this project for last 6 months but still I don't see the necessity for the excitement and new era deal. There were semantic searches, calculation based searches in the past and still exist.

[InNeedOfActivity]

Yeah, really. This isn't the first search engine to use natural language processing algorithms LOL. I'm still kind of excited about it anyway. Let the people be excited! That's a GOOD thing! Especially for the Wolfram Alpha team ;)

[gabydewilde]

"were you guys this much excited when google was evolving? or any other search engine?"

I was drooling over Google patent search. Didn't sleep for months.

[Electroguy1]

We're potentially on the cusp here of a new stage in internet usage.

Been waiting for this for ages.

[JereHakala]

The url is too long and hard to remember.

[gabydewilde]

query: "The url is too long and hard to remember."

Answer: Press CTRL+D

[InNeedOfActivity]

I think JereHakala's comment is valid. Although I can't say I agree -- but that's for me personally.

Most product names are designed for your Average Joe "Six Pack" [[I only use this derogatory term frivolously. Sarah Palin was SERIOUS.]] in mind. Keep it simple & sweet & self standing.

Google didn't even bother correcting the spelling of GOOGOL. LOL! If you want a product to be widely successful you take into consideration what appeals to the broadest of audiences.

[InNeedOfActivity]

"You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public." ---- Scott Adams

A cynical sounding yet decent business motto. "Googol" kept that in mind. (I'm being partly facetious ;)

[InNeedOfActivity]

"Wolfram" on its own will be sufficient and simplistic enough.

[MichaelJLyons]

This is exciting!

[0supermaster0]

Wolfram alpha!

[smorgasbord3]

I hope it is that good that you....

[zammel777]

Will done lets have a look??

[gabydewilde]

It will be interesting to see how the corporate entities will propagate their lies into the system.

[Tschugge]

You can not propagate anything INTO this system. It's a closed sysem unlike Google!

[gabydewilde]

You mean it will just tell us Einstein was wrong, the correct Maxwell equations, give us all the details on cold fusion, anti-gravity, inertial propulsion, non equilibrium back emf, water clusters, steam engines, fuel vaporizers and the resonant frequencies of every disease?

query: what is the best crop for ethanol

answer: Hemp

query: what frequency to make earthquakes

answer: ELF Schumann frequencies. With a picture of HAARP and a historic graph.

kool, but I wont hold my breath. lolzz

[mrjazzycharon2]

I can't wait, too!

[jollygoodly]

Amazing! I cant wait