I’m very impressed by some of what it has to offer. In my mind, it’s more of a competitor to encyclopedias (and wikipedia, although not user-generated, well, not totally) than to Google.
The presentation of results is intuitive, and very usable. But the fact that it can’t find info on the simplest of queries is a little disturbing. Some sort of mashup, where Alpha’s results would be followed by Google-style results (links) would be perfect. Sort of like Google does when the query involves some sort of conversion/calculation, stock info, and weather info. Entering “Weather Berlin” in Google returns the weather forcast, in addition to the usual array of links.
Google hassomeresponses to Alpha, and I wouldn’t count them out just yet, they’ll have the stuff I mentioned above in no time.
Like I keep saying, it’s a very exciting time for people interested in technology, from social networking, to location awareness, extreme mobility, semantic knowledge and the cloud. Stay tuned!
Big vs. Small
“People tend to overestimate what they will accomplish in one year, but underestimate what they will accomplish in five.” (Steve Pavlina)
Similarly, most of us tend to underestimate the volumes (and to a lesser extent, areas) of large objects, and overestimate that of smaller ones.
The cliche that puppies help you meet women is true. Same goes for babies. Although puppies are cheaper, don't come with the 'dad' tag, and don't cost as much. If you're interested, go here to find out which puppy is best for meeting women? (May 31st, 2009, 0)
error logs full. uptime not guaranteed.
to do or not to do. ignore.
managed. by elimination. return.
pointer to an empty array. default.
intersections. overlaps. override. overload.
no user interface. no interaction. integration. no.
spaghetti. code. life. combustible mixture.
delegate. deteriorate. renegade. resolution?
purpose? purpose. what if? else. to do. tadaa.
spe.nt.
Focus is a paradox—it has distraction built into it. The two are symbiotic; they're the systole and diastole of consciousness. Attention comes from the Latin "to stretch out" or "reach toward," distraction from "to pull apart." We need both.
I can’t stand people wearing clothes with glitter and words like “bebe, baby, doll, girl, angel, princess” or any other language’s equivalent thereof. especially if those words are printed on the backsides of jogging pants. Just sharing.
People would be shocked for a week
I’d take center stage for a few weeks
I’d be mourned for a few months
I’d be remembered constantly for a year
I’d be an angel for 2 years
I’d be a sob for a few years
I’d be a sigh in 10 years
I’d be a blurry memory in 20
I’d be a distant memory in 30
It’d be as if I had never existed in 50.
Jim Morrison
“People fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend…”
We live in a world where athletes merit more respect than thinkers. Where movie stars get payed for a movie what scientists would would make for 10 nobel prizes, and where a guy carves statues out of 2 tons of cheese for the heck of it.
I’m not saying that the end result doesn’t look nice, and tasty, but WTF.
State of the smartphone. A pro-iPhone article. Interesting source of smartphone information. (May 20th, 2009, 0)
