Planes overhead • Hacker News Board

Re: Planes overhead

#21

Post by rjd » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:25 AM UTC

frisco wrote: post #3

Wolfram Alpha might be the most advanced piece of web technology nobody needs.

Nope, I've started building a procedure solar system generator, and I've found myself on it on a regular basis lately.

Its an amazing resource if you need what it has. So I assume as it keeps expanding I'll use it more and more.

Re: Planes overhead

#22

Post by sunjain » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:26 AM UTC

Simply Amazing!

Re: Planes overhead

#23

Post by antimora » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:27 AM UTC

I think the biggest problem with wolframalpha.com (besides its hard and long name) is functionality discovery. How am I supposed to know it's possible to measure "plane overheads", even if I am on their site?

Anyhow, from the website usage, it looks like it never took off: http://trends.google.com/websites?q=wolframalpha.com&geo...

Re: Planes overhead

#24

Post by ck2 » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:30 AM UTC

Try also sky chart

Re: Planes overhead

#25

Post by Causification » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:43 AM UTC

I like wolfram but except for a few circumstances it isn't the fastest way of doing anything, for me. It doesn't make the connection that if it has to throw away 90% of the input because it doesn't understand it, then giving a definition of and some charts related to the one word it did understand is not useful. This is especially painful when I'm waiting 30 seconds for the page to load over a slow 3G connection. An "I didn't understand what you asked" box that pops up almost instantly would make wolfram orders of magnitude better, for me at least.

Re: Planes overhead

#26

Post by lizzard » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:45 AM UTC

sehugg wrote: post #8

zitterbewegung wrote: post #2

Seems to work for satellites too http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=satellites+overhead

Be cool if you could say "when will the ISS next pass over this location." It seems to interpret that as "where will the ISS be at the next sunrise." "Next solar eclipse" works though.

You can get the next ISS flyover for your location on your phone if you sign up for this,

http://twisst.nl/what-is-twisst

It works really well for me, with the direction of the pass, expected brightness, whether the moon is up and so on.

Re: Planes overhead

#27

Post by mun2mun » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 6:54 AM UTC

frisco wrote: post #3

Wolfram Alpha might be the most advanced piece of web technology nobody needs.

Right now :)

Re: Planes overhead

#28

Post by nazgulnarsil » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 7:34 AM UTC

frisco wrote: post #3

Wolfram Alpha might be the most advanced piece of web technology nobody needs.

pocket mathematica on my smart phone (for certain tasks). VERY useful in a pinch.

Re: Planes overhead

#29

Post by meadhikari » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 7:38 AM UTC

frisco wrote: post #3

Wolfram Alpha might be the most advanced piece of web technology nobody needs.

http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica-home-edition/

That strongly suggests somebody do need it.

Re: Planes overhead

#30

Post by Dobbs » Sat, Nov 12, 2011, 8:25 AM UTC

Just realized wolfram alpha works really well for doing complicated data conversions, particularly data transfer rates.

    100 Terabytes a month in megabits a second.