Wolfram Alpha...Better than Segway!

The last time I heard this much hype about how something was going to forever change the world all we got was a Segway...and the world hasn't changed much at all. 

But the Wolfram Alpha sounds different. 

For those who haven't yet heard, the Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, takes the firststep towards what, many consider to be the internet's Holy Grail (so as not to confuse you, it's only Hackers who consider the Holy Grail to be your PIN) -- aglobal store of information that understands and responds to ordinarylanguage in the same way a person does. 

Here's an excerpt from yesterday's edition of "The Independent"   If you'd like to learn more about Wolfram Alpha, here's a link to the WolframAlpha Blog

An invention that could change the internet for ever

Revolutionary new web software could put giants such as Google in the shade when it comes out later this month. Andrew Johnson reports

Sunday, 3 May 2009

The biggest internet revolution for a generation will be unveiled this month with the launch of software that will understand questions and give specific, tailored answers in a way that the web has never managed before. Although the system is still new, it has already produced massive interest and excitement among technology pundits and internet watchers.

Computer experts believe the new search engine will be an evolutionary leap in the development of the internet. Nova Spivack, an internet and computer expert, said that Wolfram Alpha could prove just as important as Google. "It is really impressive and significant," he wrote. "In fact it may be as important for the web (and the world) as Google, but for a different purpose.


Wolfram Alpha will not only give a straight answer to questions such as "how high is Mount Everest?", but it will also produce a neat page of related information – all properly sourced – such as geographical location and nearby towns, and other mountains, complete with graphs and charts.

The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram. If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you. Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer. Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale. Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing. If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out.

Dr Wolfram, an award-winning physicist who is based in America, added that the information is "curated", meaning it is assessed first by experts. This means that the weaknesses of sites such as Wikipedia, where doubts are cast on the information because anyone can contribute, are taken out. It is based on his best-selling Mathematica software, a standard tool for scientists, engineers and academics for crunching complex maths.

"I've wanted to make the knowledge we've accumulated in our civilization computable," he said last week. "I was not sure it was possible. I'm a little surprised it worked out so well.""It will understand what you are talking about," he said. "We are just at the beginning. I think we've got a reasonable start on 90 per cent of the shelves in a typical reference library."
The engine, which will be free to use, works by drawing on the knowledge on the internet, as well as private databases. Dr Wolfram said he expected that about 1,000 people would be needed to keep its databases updated with the latest discoveries and information.

Dr Wolfram, however, did not rule out working with Google in the future, as well as Wikipedia. "We're working to partner with all possible organisations that make sense," he said. "Search, narrative, news are complementary to what we have. Hopefully there will be some great synergies."

Worldwide network: A brief history of the internet

1969 The internet is created by the US Department of Defense with the networking of computers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute.  (damn, they forgot to mention Al Gore...he must be steaming! Hmmm, I wonder if steaming causes global warming?
1979 The British Post Office uses the technology to create the first international computer networks.
1980 Bill Gates's deal to put a Microsoft Operating System on IBM's computers paves the way for almost universal computer ownership.
1984 Apple launches the first successful 'modern' computer interface using graphics to represent files and folders, drop-down menus and, crucially, mouse control.
1989 Tim Berners-Lee creates the world wide web – using browsers, pages and links to make communication on the internet simple.
1996 Google begins as a research project at Stanford University. The company is formally founded two years later by Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
2009 Dr Stephen Wolfram launches Wolfram Alpha.

Related articles

• Wolfram Alpha Computes Answers To Factual Questions. This Is Going To Be Big. (techcrunch.com)
• Google Crashes Wolfram Alpha Debut Party (cbsnews.com)
• Wolfram Alpha is Not the Next Google. It's Something More. (themoderatevoice.com)