Omkumar's blog

Are you serious? I came across this website Wolfram Alpha which was lauched officially today . It is a computational knowledge engine, claims the website. True. It can compute: math (any equation worded in anyway easily interpretable - do you remember your algebra involving imaginary numbers?) comparisons (between gdps of different countries, temperatures of different cities, usage of two words........ i mean the limit of comparison is sky-bound) plain search (search for a name say, "andrew" and see what you get). locations (like try to find where the International Space Station is) The owner Stephan Wolfram claims this is just the beginning. Do listen to Stephan's introduction about Wolfram Alpha. It is not just a search engine. It is a computation engine. To me it not only searches and gives you results, but also gives you all the relevant search results in a good group of categories. Type a word and it will give you the meaning, usage statistics, etymology and a speci...

An innovation to embrace or just Wrong timing? Amazon introduces its new Kindle DX - $489, 9.7" screen - easy to read newspapers, magazines and loads of features. If you compare Kindle DX with its currently available Kindle version, Kindle 2, the main differences are screen size and rotating display (just like IPhone or Blackberry Storm). Plus Amazon says it has native PDF support in DX as opposed to conversion method in Kindle 2. I dont know what the difference is here experience-wise. I am yet to see a Kindle. With the world moving towards more digital paper media, both Kindle 2 and Kindle DX are great innovations. I am sure our world going forward will no longer have hard paper copies (the trees can now thank us) and have digital thin boards which will display live videos and magazine articles (just like in sci-fi movies). But at the same time NYTimes is featuring a twitter-like Survival Strategies recommendations from people around the world and one of the most recommended st...

Here comes Dell's answer to Apple's MacBook Air - Dell Adamo (Latin for "To Fall in love with"). - Sleek look and sturdy design. - Edge-to-Edge glass monitor -very cool. They claim the lcd has an inbuilt 1.3 MP web cam. Wonder where that is installed as it looks completely glass. - Keyboard with Backlit keys - for a long time i was wondering when they would come up with backlit keys. Often times you have to turn off all the lights while working with your laptop in your bedroom. This will come in handy. I dont like the protrusion on the bag. Takes me to the older versions of the laptops. Dont know if Dell would have a good market given that Apple had already released Air and it is kinda too late. But price-wise it might be attractive. Here is a detailed review by Walt Mossberg of WSJ.