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Wolfram Alpha Search Engine – The Next Google Killer?

Posted on May 15, 2009

Many, many search engines have sprouted up over the years, each with their own little quirky feature that sets to distinguish themselves from Google. Many of them are touted as “Google killers” – meaning they’re so hip and/or effective that they’ll quickly take market share away from Google’s core business – search.

Wolfram Alpha is getting the same hype. But is it for real this time? Personally, I don’t think so. Though WA offers a very interesting way to search, and arguably, goes even beyond search with its mathematic abilities, it’s doubtful that it will topple the search engine giant.

What’s the distinguishing feature of Wolfram Alpha? Well, its mission is to “make systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone”. Allow me to decipher: Basically, what they’re saying is that Wolfram Alpha sets out to be a calculator, an encyclopedia, an historical archive and a search engine all in one. For example, typing in “Michael Jackson” doesn’t just give me a list of website I can visit to learn more about him; it immediately brings up factual information about the singer himself – occupation, age, place of birth, timeline, etc. Pretty neat!

Check out a video where the creator, Stephen Wolfram, gives some insight into the new way to search:

Categories: Tech, Videos

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