Comments on: Wolfram Alpha is Like My 5-year-old Niece

By: Tony Lawrence

Tony Lawrence — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:22:21 +0000

Wolfram is dangerous.

Example: I search for Sharon, Massachusetts. Wolfram tells me that it is at 42.11N, 71.19W, which is correct. It says the population is 5941 people - that was probably true sometime in the 50's.

If I search for "zip 02067" it finds that town again, but now the population is more accurately said to be 18049 people.

You can't trust Wolfram.

By: Mr Guest

Mr Guest — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:29:27 +0000

It's sorta of strange device. It's not that intuitive. If you give it vernacular language questions, it sorta gives a general response, or balks. If you type in specific math equations, like c2+2ac+6, it will try to solve the equation. In this latter aspect of its capability, it has some limited use for a select audience.

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Wed, 20 May 2009 14:33:00 +0000

[...] Wolfram Alpha is Like My 5-year-old Niece Wolfram Alpha – a new kind of Fail [...]

By: Wolfram Alpha Facts | Wolfram Alpha Facts

Wolfram Alpha Facts | Wolfram Alpha Facts — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:23:04 +0000

[...] Wolfram Alpha is Like My 5-year-old Niece [...]

By: Yuri Alkin

Yuri Alkin — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:34:19 +0000

If you want to get the inner geek happy with WolframAlpha try asking it some philosophical questions like “what it the meaning of life?” and “what are you?”. It's better at answering them than any other engine out there Thought at the moment it may be its most visible advantage.

http://connectionsblog.wordpress.com/2009/05/18…

Seriously though, the project has indeed a great potential and it'd be interesting to see it growing

By: Joe Hall

Joe Hall — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:34:18 +0000

@Sarah – Yeah her parents are pretty cool. They are the type that comment on blog posts that briefly mentions their child!

@Monica – All types of geeks FTW!

@Kenny – I have never used the Mathematica software. But, yes it looks impressive. Yeah, i think Wolfram has the rep of someone that can really flesh out a product, so we will see!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:20:09 +0000

Wow your niece IS awsome! She must have really amazing parents!!

By: Monica Wright

Monica Wright — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:57:37 +0000

Great post Joe. I get ya on the Doctor Who geekiness, I'm a Phish geek, and there a databases already out there that can tell you what song was played at what show and where it fell in a setlist, and how often it opened the first or second set, etc. Maybe it's phase 3. But I am amazed that your niece does division!

By: james joaquin

james joaquin — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:33:47 +0000

great summary of where Alpha is strong and weak. Thought you'd enjoy our Xmarks results for the top ten sites about Doctor Who, based on aggregate analysis of 700MM bookmarks:
http://www.xmarks.com/topic/doctor%20who

thanks,
james

By: Kenny Hyder

Kenny Hyder — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:32:51 +0000

Great post Joe, I'm a bit disappointed with WA's ability to answer simple questions as well, it seems that in it's current state, its an online version of Mathematica for the layman with a few added features. BUT, knowing Wolfram, it will one day grow into a very robust tool that I will learn to love… Or at least I hope so..

By: Happy Victoria Day! :: Christopher Ross

Happy Victoria Day! :: Christopher Ross — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:56:47 +0000

[...] more of a marketing front, Joe has a nice piece about Wolfram over on Marketing Pilgrim but I think the highlight of my week was a piece about how lame Burger King’s advertising [...]