Mathematica

Wolfram Research came out with a $250 Home edition of Mathematica. Regular licenses of Mathematic were expensive and out of reach for individual users, except in the academic market.

I used to own three different academic licenses of Mathematica in the past (1.0, 2.0, and 4.0) for the PC and Mac. I tried installing the last copy of Mathematica that I had and was unable to activate it, and the Mathematica support would not issue a new license because I was not a current student. I thought about paying for a course in the local community college just to get a student id, so that I can purchase an academic license of Mathematica, all for less than the price at retail.

This version is 7.0, and it follows quickly from version 6.0, which only seemed to have been released less than two years earlier. Apprehensively, some of the recent advances seem to touch on work that I have been doing, equational theorem proving in 6.0, sat-solving and discrete calculus in 7.0. Most recently, Wolfram Research have been working on a project called Wolfram|Alpha, a computational knowledge engine. I have always felt that it was a matter of time before the evaluation engine would be applied to natural language.

Comments

[Michael Stern]

Is your concern that Wolfram will anticipate your work and produce a packaged solution before you do? There haven't been any large changes in Mathematica's symbolic capabilities in years. You may benefit from phoning Wolfram and asking to speak with their relevant product managers. They tend to play this sort of thing close to the vest but if your interest is narrow enough, they may be willing to discuss what they're working on.

[Mike G.]

It seems to be $295 rather than $250. But in any case, that certainly makes picking up a copy a no-brainer for me.

[Wes]

Thanks for responding, Stern. No sooner did you become my facebook friend, then you are reading my blog.

Well, I am not worried. My software is a bit different from what is being developed in Mathematica.

I was just making myself aware of the changes that are occurring in technology, notably the trend towards more symbolic capabilities in software.

[dierk hirschael stor]

Raivo Pommer-Eesti
raimo1@hot.ee

Bonibanker

Neun der zehn Manager mit den höchsten Zulagen hätten sich zur Rückzahlung bereit erklärt, von den Top 20 wollten 15 ihre Boni nicht behalten, teilte der New Yorker Staatsanwalt Andrew Cuomo mit. Nach seinen Schätzungen entspricht dies einem Betrag von 50 Millionen Dollar.

Cuomo bedankte sich bei den rückzahlungswilligen Managern für ihre Einsicht. Diese hätten richtig gehandelt und "dem Land gegeben, was es braucht". AIG hatte Anfang März bekanntgegeben, am Ende des vergangenen Jahres den größten Verlust der US-Wirtschaftsgeschichte gemacht zu haben. Das Unternehmen verlor im vierten Quartal 2008 rund 61,7 Milliarden Dollar (rund 49 Milliarden Euro). Für das gesamte vergangene Jahr beläuft sich der Verlust auf knapp 100 Milliarden Dollar.

Laut New York Times flossen nach Worten des New Yorker Generalstaatsanwalts Andrew Cuomo rund 47 Prozent der Prämien an
Amerikaner.

Die Zeitung hatte zuvor berichtet, vor allem Manager aus der Sparte für Finanzprodukte wollten auf umstrittene Boni in Höhe von 30 Millionen Euro verzichten. Die Sparte gilt als hauptverantwortlich für die hohen Verluste des einstmals weltgrößten Versicherungskonzerns, den die Regierung mit Steuergeldern in Höhe von etwa 180 Milliarden Dollar vor der Pleite bewahrte.

[Wes]

Raivo, I translated your comment and got this:

"Nine of the ten managers with the highest bonuses had agreed to repay, of the top 20 wanted 15 Your bonuses not keep New Yorkers informed of the prosecutor with Andrew Cuomo. According to his estimates, this corresponds to an amount of 50 million U.S. dollars.

Cuomo thanked the repayment willing managers for their insight. This would have acted properly and "the country what it needs." AIG had announced in early March, at the end of last year, the biggest loss of U.S. economic history to have made. The company lost in the fourth quarter of 2008 approximately 61.7 billion U.S. dollars (around 49 billion euros). For the entire past year, the loss amounted to nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars.

The New York Times went after what the New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo about 47 percent of premiums to
Americans.

The newspaper had previously reported, especially from the manager for financial products division wanted to controversial bonuses of 30 million euros refrain. The division is considered to be primarily responsible for the high losses of the once world's largest insurance group, which the government with taxpayers' money amounting to some 180 billion U.S. dollars before the Pleite preserved."

I am not sure how this is relevant to my post. Is there a specific question you intended to ask me?

[raivo pommer-estonia.-www.google.ee.]

Raivo Pommer-eesti.www.google.ee

raimo1@hot.ee

Miillionenrente

Der auf Druck der US-Regierung geschasste Wagoner erhält zwar keine Abfindung, er hat aber in beinahe 32 Jahren bei General Motors Pensionsansprüche von 22,1 Millionen Dollar erworben. Dazu kommen weitere ausstehende Zahlungen, so dass Wagoner mit etwa 23 Millionen Dollar aussteigt.

Im Bochumer Opel-Werk wird den Angaben zufolge derzeit ein Sparbeitrag der Belegschaft in Höhe von rund 14 Millionen Euro diskutiert.

Hierfür müssten die Mitarbeiter auf ihre Tariferhöhung vom Februar in Höhe von 2,1 Prozent verzichten. "Rick Wagoner war Teil des Problems bei GM. Dass Fehlentscheidungen nun vergoldet werden sollen, ist niemandem zu vermitteln", sagte der Bochumer Opel-Betriebsratschef Rainer Einenkel. Er verwies auf "Wagoners verfehlte Modellpolitik".

[raivo pommer-www.google.fi]

MAY DAY FINANCE

Hundreds of thousands of European workers feeling the pinch of the economic crisis rallied at May Day protests Friday from Moscow to Berlin to Istanbul.

Violence and clashes between police and angry protesters disrupted some events, including in Greece, Germany and Turkey. But overall participation fell short of what many countries' unions had hoped for on May Day, a public holiday in many countries that has long celebrated the social and economic achievements of labor movements.

Many of the protesters complained about rising unemployment and lost benefits, but few specifics appeared to emerge from the demonstrations about what governments should be doing to fight the global crisis.

In Paris, fractious French labor unions came together for the first time in decades to stage a joint march that ended at the Place de la Bastille. Up to 300 smaller demonstrations were planned across France, and police said turnout in Strasbourg, Nancy, Metz and Besancon was many times higher than last year's May Day events.