Siri, Apple’s digital assistant technology exclusive to the iPhone 4S, currently accounts for nearly 25 percent of all search queries conducted through the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine. According to The New York Times:

Less than three years ago, Dr. Wolfram created a new kind of search engine, called Wolfram Alpha . Unlike Google or Microsoft’s Bing, Wolfram Alpha does not forage the Web. It culls its own painstakingly curated database to find answers. [...] the technology has come a long way, including delivering many answers for Siri, the question-answering personal assistant in the Apple iPhone 4S.

Originally geared towards math and science queries, Wolfram Alpha has expanded functionality to cover tasks like unit conversions, statistical data aggregation, and consumer-oriented activies such as displaying local show times or calculating distances. This has made it far more useful to mainstream consumers — the kind likely to have an iPhone 4S and Siri.

Apple sold over 37 million iPhones last quarter and the iPhone 4S took the top spot in terms of smartphone popularity, so it’s no surprise that a full quarter of searches on the service are from Apple’s digital assistant. And with smartphone adoption hitting massive growth — paired with speculation that Apple has plans to bring Siri to future iOS devices — it doesn’t seem all that far-fetched to imagine Wolfram working overtime just to provide curated results for Apple products.

Source: NYT

QuickMath is a new tweak that allows you to do simple math functions within iOS search. If you’re a Mac user you’re probably already use to this kind of functionality within Spotlight. I’ve definitely caught myself a time or two swiping to search on my iPhone to do a simple math problem and quickly realizing that I can’t.

Once you install QuickMath there is nothing to configure. Just swipe on over to search and type in your math problem. Hit search and the solution will show up in the search bar. It’s a bit quicker than searching or paging through for the Calculator app in my experience. Maybe this math tweak will be enough to make Leanna jump over to #TeamJailbreak?

QuickMath is available in Cydia for free.

[Free - Cydia Search Link]

Geom-e-Tree is a great geometry app that creates fractals-like trees and has been updated with new themes.

Create an infinite number of fractal-like trees with a few simple gestures. Surprise yourself and friends with the variety and complexity of the patterns you discover just by changing the number, angle, and the common ratio of your tree’s branches. It’s math and it’s art – and it’s totally captivating.

• Touch the screen to make your tree grow and change.
• Watch your tree morph in real time.
• Increase the number of branches for fuller trees.
• Lengthen or shorten the branches to make the canopy change shape.
• Spread the branches up to 359 degrees for kaleidoscopic patterns.
• Choose from 20 serious, zany, colorful themes.
• Explore the many levels of this geometric landscape on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad!

We’ve added rainbow and “psychedelic” themes, some wild black and white themes (Magpie and Op Art), as well as a few monochromatic themes (India Ink and Pop Sticks). The new Themes tab displays all the themes and allows you to choose one for the current Tree. The Arboreturm remembers the themes of newly added trees. Geom-e-Tree also includes all the themes from our new version of Geom-e-Twee!

In mathematics, a fractal is is geometric shape that is split into parts, each of which is a smaller copy of the whole. This app is great twist on that idea and it’s fun to watch your trees grow. They even snuck in some famous fractals! Even my 11 month old daughter enjoys this app – she stared at it in awe of the colorful trees growing.

Geom-e-Tree is available on the iPhone and iPad for $1.99. The junior app, Geom-e-Twee is available on the iPhone and iPad for free for a short time.

Screenshots and video after the break.

[Geom-e-Tree - iTunes link] [Geom-e-Twee - iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Elevated Math is an iPad app that teaches you math. It has over 150 math lessons in topics such as numbers, geometry, algebra, probability, SAT and more. There are also career-oriented videos featuring professionals who use math in their jobs.

• Numbers and Operations – 40 lessons on whole number operations, integers, fractions, decimals, factors, decimal operations, exponents, powers, computational fluency of fractions, ratio, proportion, and percent.
• Measurement – 12 lessons on attributes and tools (the units, systems, processes, applications of measurement, and estimation), and perimeter, area, and volume.
• Geometry – 22 lessons on points, lines, angles and triangles, characteristics of geometric shapes, coordinate geometry and spatial visualization, and transformation of shapes
• Algebra – 90 lessons covering the concepts found in a middle grade Algebra 1 class. Patterns are represented and analyzed, and linear functions are represented with tables, graphs, verbal rules, and symbolic rules. Nonlinear relationships are studied, as are polynomial, exponential, and rational functions. Expressions are manipulated and simplified, and equations and inequalities are solved. And much more…
• Data analysis and probability – 9 lessons include selecting and using appropriate statistical methods for data analysis, developing inferences and predictions based on data, and applying basic concepts of probability typically covered in grades 6-8.

I’ve spent a little time with Elevated Math, and, as a math teacher, I am rather impressed. Kids and adults alike can learn math with this app. Elevated Math Press also includes additional materials, like teacher notes and student study sheets, on their website for free.

If you pick this on up, let us know what you think! Screenshots after the break!

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Highlights from a report from a report by Strategy Analytics:

• iPhone tops AT&T sales chart at 13% of AT&T’s device sales
• 4th best-selling phone in U.S., selling 1.1 million units. Total # of iPhones sold: maybe 1.325 million
• based on current trajectory, iPhone will be #1 best-selling phone in the next quarter or two
• current #1 is still the RAZR V3
• two age segments standing out that are purchasing iPhone in droves: 20-30 and 50-60.

Having owned a RAZR and been frustrated with the poor software shipped on it, I will do a little dance when it’s no longer #1.

According to an article in ComputerWorld, the iPhone handily beat other smartphones (printable version) in almost all of the usability categories. The iphone competed against the HTC Touch (Windows Mobile) and the Nokia N95 (S60 Symbian) in usability tests performed by Texas-based Perceptive Sciences. Their test group was with ten people that had never used any of the three phones, so it’s unfortunately a fairly small sample size. The article title gives the net result away, but read on for the highlights from their test.

The averaged scores show the iPhone’s overall usability dominance:

• iPhone: 4.6 out of 5
• HTC Touch: 3.4 out of 5
• Nokia N95: 3.2 out of 5

The tests are certain to be fodder for various discussion sites, since there is a legion of interesting facts and money quotes from the test (as quoted by Tom Thornton and Tim Ballew, test administrators from Perceptive Sciences. Note that all emphases are added)

• The iPhone deftly won the speed test:

  “Testers were about twice as fast doing specific tasks on the iPhone, which is pretty remarkable.”

• Some members of the test group couldn’t use basic functions of the HTC Touch:

  “That’s pretty basic functionality, but we had people who couldn’t complete a call at all“

• The N95 won in functionality (and the iPhone lost in this section) but its wins came at the cost of usability. The key usability issue for the Nokia?

  “People had a hard time turning it on. Only 30% of our sample group could turn it on right away.”



• The iPhone wasn’t without its gripes, however. The largest one was that the functionality that the iPhone had was basic:

  “It has really basic functionality. For example, the camera functionality is pretty basic. We’re starting to see more third-party apps, but they’re Web-based, and some aren’t very good.”

• The usability test was based on true usability: how user-friendly the device is to use, and how easy it was to learn.

  “People can eventually learn to use any device. But that’s not true usability. We wanted to see how long it took to figure out how to use the phones. That’s the difference between learnability and usability.”

The basic functionality as a win for overall usability has been an Apple trademark for a long, long time. More features doesn’t make for a better device, that’s a cornerstone of good user interfaces.

[via]

figure 1: his errors. let me show you them.

Now that Apple has posted their sales numbers, some analyst doubters are poking their way out.

First up is Ted Wallingford of downloadsquad, who forgot that the 10 million mark goal is for the end of 2008, not 2007, and he’s just not excited about the hype anymore. When the sentence read this:

In order to achieve this feat now, he needs retail to sell 9 million units in four months

I could understand the premise of the article. But when it’s changed to this:

In order to achieve this feat now, he needs retail to sell 9 million units in four 16 months

ZOMG! They’re going to have to sell an extra two million at the same rate in the next year and a half. The comments there are worth a read.

And this sales analysis article is crud too, as noted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball (I’m pleased to note that we’re sponsoring his RSS feed this week). I would also hope that a stock analyst can work with graphs that are something other than linear. Otherwise… it may be time to find a new analyst. Here’s a hint, they don’t call it the “demand curve” for nothing.

figure 1: a typical college student. this picture was taken mid-survey.

You’d never guess it was true before a survey indicated it, but students are more likely to buy the iPhone now that it’s $200 cheaper. 4% of kids were going to get an iPhone once their contract expired, which jumped to 11% on September 5. Those purchasing within the next month or so jumped from 2% to 4% in the same timespan, and those planning to get an iPhone skyrocketed from 0% to 0.5%. That last increase is practically infinite.

Markitecture notes that the RAZR had about 6% of the phone market at its peak. Ars Technica doesn’t note the margin of error, but 6% of the global phone market (around 1 billion phones) is 60 million phones. At $500 each that’s 30 billion dollars. Granted, not net profit. If Apple is looking for 20% profit margins, as they’re wont to do, it looks like they’d potentially grab about 6 billion dollars.

It’s starting to look like Jobs set the bar low in January when he announced he was looking for 1% of the global phone market. Of course, one doesn’t like to set goals and then miss them, it makes one look bad. But, that’s part of what makes watching Jobs fun. When they destroy the 1% goal, he’s going to act like the most astounded person in the world. Whaaaa?