Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Mathematica coming to the iPad

UK-born scientist and researcher Stephen Wolfram, best-known as the chief designer of the Mathematica software application and the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine, hinted yesterday that his company might bring the Mathematica application to Apple's iPad tablet.

As part of the 10th anniversary of his book entitled A New Kind of Science (NKS), Wolfram has also published select articles reflecting the future of scientific research (here and here).

Additionally, the company made a visual tweak to its Wolfram Alpha engine that replaces the circling dots that appear when it searches for answers with so-called cellular automatons which form a key part of NKS's arguments...

Siri Accounts for 25% of Wolfram Alpha Queries

Siri has been met with mixed feelings from consumers since it debuted on the iPhone 4S last Fall. While some folks think the feature alone is worth the handset's price tag, others find it to be little more than a novelty.

Well in case anyone was wondering how often 4S owners are actually using Siri, the New York Times has the answer. In a recent report, the site notes that 25% of Wolfram Alpha's queries come from Apple's digital assistant...

How to Use Siri to Help You Shop for Gadgets

We've seen Siri do everything from turn on a fireplace to control a TV set, so there's not much that Apple's digital assistant can do at this point that would surprise us. But all of these tricks require use of the Siri Proxy.

What about the average user that probably hasn't installed the proxy? Well, there's still Wolfram Alpha. The database allows you to do a number of things with Apple's new handset, and it just added another cool feature.

Siri Can Tell You If a Plane is Flying Above Your Head

File this one under "crazy things that Siri can do." Apparently, thanks to the magic of Wolfram Alpha, Siri on the iPhone 4S is able to give you flight path trajectories. The real kicker is that Siri can use your iPhone's GPS data to determine if there are planes currently flying about your area.

Now you have a new way to see if your friend is ready to get picked up at the airport!