
Stephen Wolfram Uses This - flapjack
http://stephen.wolfram.usesthis.com/
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m0nastic
I'm hoping some day that he goes into more detail about the system he uses to
catalog conversations. I'm actually trying to work on a project similar to
that.

Wil Shipley talked about it upon meeting him at Ted in this blog entry:
<http://wilshipley.com/blog/2010/03/ted-2010.html> (towards the bottom of the
entry)

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bretpiatt
Yeah, I'd love a Xobni Desktop, maybe they can make it happen. The only
problem I have with Xobni now is I find myself forcing important things I want
to find later through email so I can easily locate it.

If a "Dropbox" style product would also index everything I send it so I could
have a search experience like I do with Xobni I'd certainly pay extra for it.

~~~
jseliger
_If a "Dropbox" style product would also index everything I send it so I could
have a search experience like I do with Xobni I'd certainly pay extra for it._

This sounds very similar to DevonThink Pro: <http://devon-
technologies.com/products/devonthink/index.html> , which I use daily, mostly
along the lines that Steven Berlin Johnson describes here:
[http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/movabletype/archives/0002...](http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/movabletype/archives/000230.html)
.

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sophiebits
> _What would be your dream setup?_

> _Mathematica + Wolfram|Alpha everywhere!_

That's a funny dream, considering he charges a few thousand for a copy of
Mathematica. I'm sure he'd have a larger user base if it were less expensive
(or free…).

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tzs
$300 for home use.

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gecko
That's still literally more expensive than the main computer I use at home.

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Synaesthesia
Well Mathematica is really ridiculously feature-rich and sophisticated
software.

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portman
_"I've also had systems built for me personally. One of the more important is
my archiving and searching system, which includes 25 years of email (and 20
years of keystroke data), as well as searchable scans of all my archived paper
documents."_

What do you think he means by "20 years of keystroke data"?

~~~
Donald
Wolfram seems to keep a searchable index of all his keystrokes.

From the 12 December 2009 issue of New Scientist:

"I'm an information pack rat," he [Stephen Wolfram] confesses. Recording our
interview is just the tip of his peculiar obsession with documenting every
moment of his life. "I have a keystroke logger that has collected my every
keystroke for the last 22 years," he says. "Every day I get an email that
tells me how many keystrokes I typed the previous day into each application. I
find it slightly interesting." He shrugs off my suggestion that it's a way of
securing his immortality; he believes that soon everyone will be doing it.

~~~
philwelch
That sounds rather Nixon-esque.

Which, if any historians become fascinated with Wolfram, would be an amazing
boon.

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shin_lao
Am I the only one to think that Mr. Wolfram manages in few words to appear to
be both pretentious and unfriendly?

~~~
JabavuAdams
I don't get that from this article. The one time I met him (at StartupSchool),
he seemed like a really pleasant person I'd like to invite over for dinner. He
was not faux-humble, but he was also not boastful.

Now, from other publications like NKS, I do get the vibe you mentioned.

~~~
shin_lao
In the introduction:

 _My main job is being CEO of Wolfram Research. I spend most of my time
figuring out technical and strategic things, sometimes short-term and sometime
very long-term._

Compare with:

"I am the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research."

Which contains exactly the same amount of information (because strategic
planning is the job of a CEO, isn't it?). No subtle "Well everything I do is
pretty heavy and it doesn't fit in this little paragraph, you see?"

Nitpicking, I know, but that's how I feel when I read the §...

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BoppreH
I loved the "interview" and also the website. I have always wondered what the
great people use on a daily basis.

But it could use some sane URL organization. Sub domains are horrible for
quick "select and erase/replace" actions, though I understand the final result
is quite beautiful.

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SoftwareMaven
This (FTA) would be creepy to see roaming around: <http://anybots.com/>

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Groxx
Needs a laser _drawing_ tool (think laser light show) to be even remotely
useful, not just a pointer, else how do you describe something they haven't
seen?

"No, the $circle_7 goes _below_ the $resistor_3_12, inscribed in $heptagon_3,
like in a fronkit. What? Never seen one? Oh hell..."

Until then, good luck _designing_ anything collaboratively. I like the hat-
like look to the top, though. Personality without uncanny valley, and still
highly functional in design; perfect for something like this.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
The solution to this is digital white boards. If you are going as far as
Anybot to enable virtual participation in design meetings, I think it would be
reasonable to go all the way.

~~~
Groxx
I'd _love_ it. One of my profs has one, but it's mildly crummy, and I've never
yet seen a good one nor an open source one. Not that I've been looking.

Know of any good ones? ie, fast + network access for shared whiteboarding?

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zmmz
Been a fan of the setup for a while, thanks for the engaging interviews.

Wanted to let you know that your rss feed seems broken.

~~~
paxswill
It was broken for the past couple days (that I noticed) but I got this post.

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there
in response to the last "the setup" interview posted here, i created a
"setups" subreddit for people to post links to their own articles describing
their workspaces

<http://www.reddit.com/r/setups/>

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long
I find it incredibly goofy that he uses Mathematica for everything.

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jcsalterego
Yes but where's the cellular automata? Those things can do _EVERYTHING_

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nanairo
Once you've got that much money, and therefore don't need to make a choice,
this kind of information becomes a lot less useful.

It would be like wondering which car a top class football player drives, or
which flight tickets the USA president uses.

:(

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gcb
This was the most uninteresting usethis.

He barely touched the thing his usethis would be most interesting, the fact
that he claims to record so much.

He may be a good mathematician and project manager. but hardly fun for a
usethis

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powellc
I like a man who spouts off about how great it is to use software builds that
are (gasp!) an hour old! That's so 1337 dude! Welcome to the world of open
source, douche bag.

I appreciate that I probably shouldn't be nagging on the guy who built
Mathematica. But seriously? webMathematica? yawn.

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atuladhar
How do you down-vote around here?

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nkurz
You gain the privilege after you've accumulated enough 'up' votes for comments
and submissions. The exact number changes over time due to inflation.

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xtacy
Interesting; I didn't know that. Right now it's at about 200.

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prs
Exactly at 200 - Once you have 201 karma points, downvoting functionality is
unlocked.

