New Search Engine answers questions

IIMII · 15-05-2009 02:51PM #1

New search engine to go live

Irish Times
Fri, May 15, 2009
Internet users are expected to get their first glance of a new type of search application which is likely to revolutionise the way people get information online today.
Unlike Google which retrieves webpages based on supplied keywords, Wolfram Alpha is, according to its developer Stephen Wolfram, a “computational knowledge engine" which promises to deliver specific answers to questions.

While it is not being officially launched until Monday, internet users will be able to follow a live webcast later today which will show the service going live.

Rather than being a search engine as we traditionally know it, the online service allows users to posit specific questions which it answers by retrieving the response from structured data.

Therefore, if an individual wants to know what the population of Dublin was in 1932, how many internet users there are in Asia or how much the movie Godfather II grossed at the box-office, for example, Wolfram Alpha will tell you.

It works almost like a cross between a search engine such as Google and an encyclopaedia and as well as offering responses to scientific questions also covers.

Rather than replacing search engines, the service is expected to co-exist with them and serve as an additional source.

The online service has been developed by Stephen Wolfram who also developed Mathematica, a leading application for doing complex math on desktop computers.

Wolfram Alpha is expected to handle about 175 million queries a day, or five billion per month.
© 2009 irishtimes.com

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0515/breaking47.htm

MrJoeSoap · 15-05-2009 02:56PM

Questions like...

"Why was this posted here?"

Stercus Accidit · 15-05-2009 03:04PM

Google can do that too.

You simply put 'wiki' after your search term.

Spastafarian · 15-05-2009 03:04PM

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Questions like...

"Why was this posted here?"

Because this is the internet?

3qsmavrod5twfe · 15-05-2009 03:09PM

I wonder what its going to do when I start inputting questions like:

How long is string?
Why does cheese?
What time should I leave work at today?

In the words of some random Dub in the Amstel ads - "This is going to be great!"

AnonoBoy · 15-05-2009 03:15PM

First question I'm going to ask it:

Where's all the white women at?

Schism · 15-05-2009 03:19PM

But then... Who was phone?

phasers · 15-05-2009 03:40PM

First question:

your gay lol

ShooterSF · 15-05-2009 03:42PM

Search engine:
Did you mean you're gay!?

.

Turd Ferguson · 15-05-2009 03:45PM

I accidently 99mb rar file. What do I do?

chin_grin · 15-05-2009 03:54PM

I think I'll ctrl+c, ctrl+v the word "copypasta" in to it a million times and see if it crashes..........Then I'll be king.

phasers · 15-05-2009 04:01PM

Turd Ferguson wrote: »

I accidently 99mb rar file. What do I do?

search engine wrote:

An Hero

.

chin_grin · 15-05-2009 04:04PM

phasers wrote: »

.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! BOOM HEADSHOT!

Rabies · 15-05-2009 04:25PM

phasers wrote: »

First question:

your gay lol

oh ha ha ha... I get it now. Where is the question.

I see

weirdo!

phasers · 15-05-2009 04:30PM

Rabies wrote: »

oh ha ha ha... I get it now. Where is the question.

I see

weirdo!

reported for personal abuse

speedboatchase · 15-05-2009 04:30PM

Why?

CreepingDeath · 15-05-2009 04:32PM

I've been expecting this sort of search engine for a while.
There's been open source natural language parsing engines avaliable for a number of years.

But I wonder how they'll treat
a) Religious questions
Eg. Does God exist, or how many Gods are there ?

b) legal questions
eg. Who killed OJ Simpsons wife ?
The search engine may commit libel if it doesn't say "allegedly" or "nobody has been convicted".

Should be interesting though !

chakotha · 15-05-2009 04:39PM

Might be good. They're serious folk. They wrote Mathematica 10 or more years ago. We did it for a while in college.

It will do symbolic mathematical calculations as well as numerical. You can throw all sorts of integrals and things at it and it will do them symbolically. Very clever stuff.

http://www.wolfram.com

So this new project has probably been in development for some time. Look forward to seeing it.

IvyTheTerrible · 15-05-2009 04:43PM

There's an interesting piece about it (called "Alpha") in the New scientist, I'll look it up.

Seemingly it's more reliable than wikipedia because the data is verified but there are problems with certain searches.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227075.600-ask-alpha-quizzing-the-worlds-first-answer-engine.html

IIMII · 15-05-2009 04:44PM

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Questions like...

"Why was this posted here?"

Because 'here' will give you an idea of the sorts of mad questions that will be asked.

Keith186 · 15-05-2009 07:46PM

Will be interesting to see how it works alright.

You can ask questions on Google too using the * function but this should work better.

e.g. tullamore is in county *

Works ok for basic stuff

15-05-2009 07:49PM

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Google can do that too.

You simply put 'wiki' after your search term.

am i missing something?

how many people live in dublin

hardly an answer

ElBarco · 15-05-2009 08:21PM

What about the burning issue of the day - where did I put down my keys?

Mr Benevolent · 15-05-2009 10:07PM

hardly an answer

Too lazy to move your eyes down the screen?

1,661,185

Four-Percent · 15-05-2009 10:09PM

phasers wrote: »

reported for personal abuse

Overreact much?

Graham_B18C · 15-05-2009 10:15PM

Confab wrote: »

Too lazy to move your eyes down the screen?

Ah yeah but ya had to look for that, I want a nice search engine that brings an answer to me on a nice little platter! Right there, no looking!

ScumLord · 15-05-2009 11:37PM

Whatever happened to ask.com?

I'd like to ask it,
what do you think of this?
I am Amn't I?
Can you find me a decent source of weed?

dsane1 · 15-05-2009 11:38PM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

First question I'm going to ask it:

Where's all the white women at?

If you go to the golden pages online directory and type in your question ,you will get the answer !

ScumLord · 16-05-2009 12:25AM

dsane1 wrote: »

If you go to the golden pages online directory and type in your question ,you will get the answer !

Ireland?

My name is URL · 16-05-2009 12:27AM

I beta tested this.

imo it'll be mostly of use to academics and students, the algos behind it though are really sweet =p

Kinetic^ · 16-05-2009 12:36AM

My name is URL wrote: »

I beta tested this.

imo it'll be mostly of use to academics and students, the algos behind it though are really sweet =p

Algos eh, take your gibberish elsewhere sonny boy!

New Search Engine answers questions

Comments