Genius new "search engine" / knowledge engine

[Alex Franke]

WolframAlpha is live now -- it's very cool, and focuses on computable knowledge.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/ -- lots of fun to explore.

Examples:
* "#8 screw" shows details, pilot hole sized, even a diagram.
* "Hard maple" shows you everything from alternate names to shear strength.
* "Distance from Earth to moon" gives you the current distance -- not just a keyword search.
* "1 banana + 1 granola bar + 12 oz diet coke" shows you essentially a nutrition label for those items.
* "hubble telescope" shows you the current location, velocity, period, etc, -- even a diagram of its current position in the sky from where you are.
* "H20" (or any chemical formula) shows you detailed properties, even 3D structure.
* "x^2 sin(x)" shows plots, derivative, integral, alternates, and more. You can also, for example, see the steps used to find derivative.
* "C minor 7th" shows you details, visual representations, and even allows you to hear the sounds.
* Lots more...

Edit: "Wolfram," by the way, is for Stephen Wolfram, famous for Mathematica and other things.

[crokett]

Needs work. After searching for ridge vent and ridge vent roofing I got this back:

Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input.

The same search in Google gives me lots of info, including how-to links.

I do see where WA is going though.

[stormdog74]

This is pretty cool - thanks for sharing.

[herb fellows]

The birthday thing is a nice parlor trick, but I also got a lot of 'not sure what you're talking about' answers.

[pierhogunn]

I typed in "what is the meaning of life"

I got back 42

I typed in "To what question is 42 the answer"

I got back nothing

[Alex Franke]

Needs work. After searching for ridge vent and ridge vent roofing I got this back: [snip] The same search in Google gives me lots of info, including how-to links.

As crokett suggests, I should point out that it's not intended to replace your typical search engine. It doesn't go out and collect links to content -- it just collects data, and then uses that data to come up with answers. So it's intended to provide objective, quantitative answers, rather than a list of possible answers or links that match the keywords you type. It's like Google's math, conversion, and public data tools, but not at all like Google's search tool.

So in Google, if you type if "NC accountant" you'd get a zillion links to content ranging from accounting firms and job databases, to articles that talk about accounting and resumes, etc. On WolframAlpha, you'd get information specifically pertaining to accountants in North Carolina (e.g. number employed, salary information, etc), and that's it. No links to external content.

For the "roof vent" example, I would expect to see building code related to roof vents in your area before I'd expect to see pictures and how-to's. (It's not there, but it's the kind of thing I'd expect to see at some point -- it's the type of question it intends to answer.)

[scmhogg]

I typed in "what is the meaning of life"

I got back 42

I typed in "To what question is 42 the answer"

I got back nothing

Are you sure you weren't logged in to Deep Thought?

Steve