Archived entries for nice work
IBM’s Smarter Planet
I’m liking IBM’s Smarter Planet. It is a bit self-serving for IBM (every topic has a serving of “How IBM is helping”) but the clean, Mondrian-like grids plus cool infographics makes it browse-worthy. Try it. You may learn something.
The Uniform Project: Sustainable fashion
Fashion trend you can dig: The Uniform Project is “an exercise in sustainable fashion” by Sheena Matheiken. She will wear the same dress every day for a year to raise fund and awareness for the Akanksha Foundation, a school project in India.
It helps that Sheena is a funky, thrifty, eBay fashionista. Checkout her daily photo post. Hell, not everyone can rock those knee-high socks!
Wolfram|Alpha
This thing is really intelligent! It gives you answers from food & nutrition to physics and linguistics. Even when we ask it if it sleeps, it says “no, I can’t.”
Try “bacon” or “gravy” and it gives you the nutritional facts. Try “Coca Cola” and it spits out all the company info. Try math or physics and you’ll be blown away.
A little tricky to figure out the right way to input your questions though. Maybe because we’re so used to keyword search, not smart, computational algorithm offered by this engine. The site offers some tips for good results:
- Wolfram|Alpha answers specific questions rather than explaining general topics
Enter “2 cups of sugar”, not “nutrition information” - You can only get answers about objective facts
Try “highest mountain”, not “most beautiful painting” - Only what is known is known to Wolfram|Alpha
Ask “how many men in Mauritania”, not “how many monsters in Loch Ness” - Only public information is available
Request “GDP of France”, not “home phone of Michael Jordan”
And the worst part is, I still get stumped on how to best enter my questions. Yes, I’m not as smart as Stephen Wolfram. 🙂