wolfram alpha
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Holy Grail 2.0

May 15, 2009

Wolfram Alpha debuts this week. Its creator insists that it's not trying to take on Google and that it's not even a search engine, it's more of an answer machine. But the tech world is still abuzz about whether Wolfram Alpha is the next Google. All the hype made us wonder about the web's holy grail: the search for the next big thing in search. Brooke investigates.

Click here for the extended interview with Danny Sullivan, editor of searchengineland.com

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[1]
Posted by: alex May 16, 2009 - 11:36PM
Brooklyn

Ask Wolfram Alpha about Brooklyn, NY.

It says that Brooklyn has 7711 people, rather than 2.5 million.

Why? Because it doesn't know about Brooklyn, NY. The only Brooklyn it knows is Brooklyn, CT -- which I've never heard of. (However, it *does* know about Kings County, NY -- which is another name for Brooklyn.)

There are many many things that it doesn't know about, not just dog breeds.

[2]
Posted by: Don May 17, 2009 - 07:13AM
MA

Well, first I tried "450 rods feet" in an attempt to convert one linear measurement into another. Wolfram followed with a series of questions about what I really meant by "feet".

I then entered "450 rods = ? rods". Wolfram then searched and searched and searched. Meanwhile I entered the same into Google. In a flash (actually 0.18 seconds) it came up with the correct answer, 7425 feet. Wolfram was still searching and after several minutes a message said it was unavailable.

By way of consolation, the Microsoft and Yahoo search Well, first I tried "450 rods feet" in an attempt to convert one linear measurement into another. Wolfram followed with a series of questions about what I really meant by "feet".

I then entered "450 rods = ? rods". Wolfram then searched and searched and searched. Meanwhile I entered the same into Google. In a flash (actually 0.18 seconds) it came up with the correct answer, 7425 feet. Wolfram was still searching and after several minutes a message said it was unavailable.

By way of consolation, the Microsoft and Yahoo search engines also failed.

[3]
Posted by: carlos May 17, 2009 - 10:42AM
santiago de chile

at least give em time to grow.

is just a matter of time.

[4]
Posted by: jimm wetherbee May 17, 2009 - 04:37PM

Perhaps you should have asked Google "What is the answer to life, the universe and everything." Like DeepThought, Google Calculator comes up "42," and does so much faster. :-)

[5]
Posted by: markbnj May 17, 2009 - 11:35PM
sos-newdeal.blogspot.com and markbnj.blogspot.com

Hey Guys. The guy behind wolfram also invented one of the most widely used math programs in the scientific world

and unlike microsquish, it works, it was not bought, and over successive versions it gets better.

[6]
Posted by: Sleet01 May 20, 2009 - 07:22PM
Seattle, WA, USA

I love how the Illinois State A.G. couldn't answer what laws Craigslist broke.

[7]
Posted by: Mike Johnson May 22, 2009 - 12:02AM

Re: Search engine CUIL.COM

After hearing about this search engine alternative

to Google I decided to check it out.

But I could not for the life of me REMEMBER THE NAME.

I had to navigate to the onthemedia.org interview page

to see the name again.

Perhaps their search engine did not live up to expectations

because THEY PICKED SUCH A POOR NAME FOR THE SITE!

Best Regards,

Mike

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