While I was galavanting around globe at conferences in Munich (Qt Developer Days), London (the Symbian Smartphone Show), and Boston (SD Best Practices), it's a good thing that someone got some work done. For instance, fellow blogger and Dr. Dobb's contributing editor Mike Riley did yeoman's work covering the International Mathematica User Conference 2008  and, unlike me, coming back with something more than a hangover. (No kidding, I really did think there was an afternoon session on Embedded Linux and C++ at the Augustiner Keller Beer Garden. If not, what were all those programmers doing there?)

What Mike came back with were some great audio interviews on topics ranging from Stephen Wolfram reflecting on his book "A New Kind of Science" in a two-part interview, to Kris Carlson explaining why he likes using Mathematica's functional programming capabilities.

I've been posting the audio interviews all morning, and I still have some to go. Here's a list of what's available now; check back as I update it over the days to come.

• Stephen Wolfram: Part 1
• Stephen Wolfram: Part 2
• Eric Schultz on the on the Mathematica Essentials Palette and the future of digital educational materials .
• Kris Carlson on "Why We Die: Simulation of the Evolution of Senescence
• Schoeller Porter on the grid and cloud versions of Mathematica .
• Thomas Roman on "Mathematica Visualization in a Theoretical Physics Problem - Negative Energy in an Unusual Quantum State"