The opening version of Wolfram/Alpha is now online and ready for testing. As I mentioned back in March, while the name sounds like the IT department of the evil Lawyers company in Angel, Wolfram Alpha is a computer program that actually answers the question you ask. Or at least that is the goal, and they are off to a good start. For those who think this sounds like Deep Thought from Hitchhikers, my favorite answer so far: if you ask it what is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything it gives the correct answer. Thanks to Sci Fi Scanner for thinking to ask it that question.
It is Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Gameday today, and lots of people are playing. But here is a prototype of a toy I would like to start playing with. It is built with off-the-shelf parts totaling about $350; a camera, a small projector, a cell phone, and some colored plastic or tape for your fingers. But it combines them for functionality we have never had before, and in production it would cost around $100. They are calling it the Sixth Sense, and it is the first wearable computer I have seen that turns your environment and the things in it interactive. This project is from the MIT Media Lab, one of many they are developing to invent a better future. Thanks to Technology Story for the heads-up on that one.
March is SciFi Month in Second Life this year, and one of the activities is a themed photo contest. I found a list of 7 Locations for your photo shoot over at The Examiner, which included a few favorites and a few new ones. I should probably put together a fresh list of my favorites to post here; there are a ton of them! While the name sounds like the IT department of the evil Lawyers company in Angel, Wolfram Alpha is something else, as Fast Company reports. A computer program that actually answers the question you ask, rather than throwing a bunch of links onto a page. Good to know some people are still inventing the future in interesting ways.