Launched: WolframAlpha works to answer user questions

by Stevie Smith - May 18 2009, 15:50

With both Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. lagging well short of market leader Google Inc. when it comes to the online search sector, and ambitious upstarts such as Cuil failing to find any traction, what hope for WolframAlpha – yet another search application looking to eat into Google’s dominance?

Unlike the usual keyword search queries entered into conventional search engines, WolframAlpha arrives as a totally free online service that differentiates itself by utilising computational power to quickly sift through massive databases and actually answer questions posed by its users.

The brainchild of British-born computer scientist Stephen Wolfram, the WolframAlpha platform is able to deal with specific requests to provide information such as computing distance between cities, returning the populations of countries, and even relaying orbit data related to NASA’s space shuttle.

Although clearly still moving through development and attempting to thrust its roots into the search market across a wide range of varied content, we here at The Tech Herald put WolframAlpha through its paces regarding the worlds of technology and science, and were met with predictably mixed but promising results.

For example, while the search engine couldn’t tell us when the Nintendo Wii videogame console launched in the United States, it instantly delivered the headquarter address of Sony Corporation in Japan.

Similarly, while a search for the world’s most powerful supercomputer led us into an information cul-de-sac, WolframAlpha had absolutely no problem telling us that the moon is 393,847 kilometers from the Earth. It even provided a handy unit conversion for those who prefer miles.

When playing within WolframAlpha’s proffered usage guidelines, queries tasking the platform with mathematical calculations were answered with ease, as are company stock searches, and basic background information requests on geographical destinations and sporting and media celebrities.

For us, WolframAlpha can’t currently compete with Google’s strength in depth, mainly because its content range isn’t rich enough at this point in time.

However, its ability, when it comes to fact finding, is extremely promising and, with Dr. Wolfram (49) insisting that his search system isn’t a Google rival, we think WolframAlpha could have legs as a reliable medium between Google and Wikipedia... and we’ll certainly be using it again.

The Tech Herald: Wolfram Alpha looking to maul Google search

 

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