A couple of weeks ago, I gave a try to Wolpram|Alpha (by Wolfram Research, the same guys from ‘Mathematica’ software), thinking that it would be another ‘Google killer’ with low possibilities to survive, but after my first round of questions… wait… there is something good here.
WA is not about indexing pages and bring links, its about compute answers based on algorithms, statistics or simulations, WA is like the ‘Deep Thought‘ super computer from ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, indeed my first search was “what’s the answer of the universe?”
And of course it immediately displayed: 42.
(Sadly, the engine was not able to tell me what is the problem to solve with “42″)
WA have a RESTful API, that developers can use (previous registration) to include the results in all kind of applications. Just imagine the potential use of this API, data and algorithms are there, and you just will need to integrate them and create valuable information.
If you are interested in what’s behind this project, check the following video:
This is Billy Tobon, broadcasting some thoughts on dev, crossfit, arduinos and other stuff that cross my mind.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting article. Broken link in the article though, the “what’s the answer of the universe?” URI is missing an ‘h’.
Cheers,
Fixed!!!
Thank you.