Wolfram vs. GOOGLE

Stephen Wolfram is a real prodigy. His latest innovation is aiming at the GOOGLE. Wolfram Alpha is scheduled to be released in May. Will it be a google killer or end more like the not so cool cuil?

Google is obviously trying to moving beyond searching, e.g. the hosting service of this blog. Google most important asset is still the dominant status in searching market. If google loses that, the foundation of the business is gone, no matter how well other services are doing.

Autoshapes in MS office

Autoshapes in MS office appears to be a nice feature, so that one can draw some basic charts without resort to another software package. However, autoshapes are never the ideal tool to do this job, and there are plenty of free/opensource alternatives out there. 

A major drawback is that they are so difficult to edit/manipulate, say, resize, caption, or move. One extra "new line" character may mess up the thousand page document. I would rather avoid autoshapes at all, at least for the large documents, and use some other software and then paste it into word document as a jpg or png. Or insert as an object.  I can get a  better chart and never have to deal with messy formatting.

Maybe it is just that I don't know how to use autoshapes?

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Iphone

What is the difference between a phone that can play mp3, and an music player that can dial a phone call?

No matter whether you like iPhone or not, perhaps you have to admit that iPhone redefined the smart phone. Whenever there is a major release of new mobile phone we will read the headline: "Will it be the iPhone killer?" As long as we continue to read such headlines, it seems iPhone is still the king.

Is the App market for iPhone as revolunary? Maybe not, it is not entirely new. Still, if it create a vehicle for thousands developers to make some extra revenue, that means an ally of thousands, or more, developers behind it.

How long will it last? We will see.

The Region of Unlikeness: Fiction: The New Yorker

Sentences to ponder:

When King Laius abandons baby Oedipus in the mountains on account of the prophecy that his son will murder him, Laius’s attempt to evade his fate simply serves as its unexpected engine. This is called a predestination paradox. It’s a variant of the grandfather paradox. At the heart of it is your inescapable fate.

The Region of Unlikeness: Fiction: The New Yorker:

So, the question is who will be the last man standing Last Man Standing. Here is one of the answers:

It’s a paradox that it’s the large, diverse nations such as the United States that have the greatest ability to maneuver in a crisis and turn on the proverbial dime. That’s good for us, of course, but if a new American Century is about to be born, it’s another sign that the world faces very serious challenges. And that’s not a cause for anyone to ­cheer.

RGE - Bernie Madoff is the Mirror of a Made-Off Ponzi Economy

Bernie Madoff is the Mirror of a Made-Off Ponzi Economy

Nouriel Roubini | Mar 11, 2009

A reporter contacted me today with the following question:

“I am a reporter and I am doing a story on Bernard Madoff's life after pleading guilty. As part of this I was wondering if you could comment on what significance he will have in the history of this period. Will he represent more than a scamster who stole a lot of money from a lot of people? As Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay came to embody corporate greed and deceit, what will Madoff symbolize? I would really appreciate your insights on this”.

Here is my answer fleshed out in full: