In the last three months, I’ve discussed Wolfram|Alpha one-on-one with well over 300 people from all over the world and all walks of life. Wolfram|Alpha is a service unlike any other, and people’s reactions reflect this. When simple analogy is not possible, the discussions take on a whole different tone than that of a typical product introduction.
Here are some of the reactions floating around the web. They reflect the diversity of conversations I’ve had in my one-on-ones. What’s your take?
“While search engines like Google, by and large, find things that already exist on the Internet—Web sites, photos, videos, blogs—Wolfram|Alpha answers questions, often by doing complex, and new computations.” —From The New York Times Bits blog
“Wolfram|Alpha comes in and gives searchers something they have been missing. You can search for very specific things in the realm of science, math, geography, demographics, and so on and get not just the answer, but detailed information from real sources. There is really nothing like this out there at this scale.” —From Search Engine Roundtable
“While many of the demo queries may feel like ways Wolfram|Alpha is being put through its paces, rather than reflecting real life queries, I’m pretty confident we will see some amazing uses of its calculating abilities. As Twitter cofounder Biz Stone recently called Twitter ‘the messaging service we didn’t know we needed until we had it.’ Similarly, Wolfram|Alpha may become the search service we didn’t know we needed—and in particular, the search service we may use in ways completely unexpected from what anyone is envisioning.” —From Search Engine Land
“…[Wolfram|]Alpha excels at not just retrieving the stored data but performing various appropriate numeric calculations on the data, and displaying the results in beautiful graphs and easily comprehended tables for the user.” —From Semantic Universe
“[Wolfram|]Alpha, however, will probably be a worthy challenger for Wikipedia and many textbooks and reference works. Instead of looking up basic encyclopedic information there, users can just go to [Wolfram|]Alpha instead, where they will get a direct answer to their question, as well as a nicely presented set of graphs and other info.” —From ReadWriteWeb
“The next query shows off how the engine can be used for health issues. A search for LDL 180 (a measure of your ‘bad’ cholesterol) displays a graph depicting how that figure stands relative to the general population. Wolfram[|Alpha] then shows how the engine can perform the same task for a different age range.” —From TechCrunch
“Luckily the demo video embedded here walks through a lot of the possibilities this search engine offers, and those possibilities are mind-blowing, especially for a data lover.” —From Lifehacker
All this buzz is of no use till the time we can actually see what is WF ?
its crime in internet to hide something…its knowledge…its not yours…share it
Referring to an above comment, an LDL of 180, compared with the rest of the population, does not help people understand that:
1. LDL stands for Low Density Lipoprotein, not cholesterol,
2. the cholesterol molecules within all the 5 major groups of lipoproteins (which enable transport of fat and cholesterol through the water based blood) is identical,
3. protein particle traffic patterns through the blood and interaction of these protein particles with proteins on cell surfaces has always been the correct issue,
4. LDL particles vary widely, by size and other characteristics, in their propensity to drive atherosclerosis,
5. Only oxidized LDL particles within the lining of the arteries attract white blood cells and promote disease,
6. early childhood levels, before atherosclerosis begins, is very low, typically about ¼ of low adult levels
7. atherosclerosis does not produce artery narrowing, instead that artery narrowing is a result of repeated plaque rupture and blood clots which narrow or close the opening
8. etc.
The may still be marked room for improvemnet.
However, I do appluade Stephen Wolfram’s powerful effort and the work of the Wolfram|Alpha Team, without yet seeing the actual performance.
M Alvis, thanks for providing such a thorough backdrop for LDL. Note that we will have community options for discussion, related links for context, a full source list providing links and citations to more reference materials and all variety of other ways to go deeper into the knowledge.
Hi,
Looks awesome. But how confident can we be of the data shown? Are sources displayed along with the data, or perhaps a confidence level?
Good luck with the project!
A.
Yes, Abbass, Wolfram|Alpha provides a full source list on computations using or referencing data.
think this could be another exciting development. can already see other applications for it
This is going to be released shortly right!! Any release date mentioned!!
Like @Mark Paine I’m longing for full accessability. Hoping for the new search-engine to come up the sooner the better!
In the meantime thanks for the newsletter.
The ultimate questions for me,
Is there a levity field container for a gravity field?
Can a gravity field contain and restrain a black-hole?
Is there more than our planet, system, galaxy, universe…?
Does math/science consider levity beyond gravity%~?
!HAVEFUN!
It would be worth permitting to login with exclusive email allocation …….@wolframalpha.com to your regular members and contributors.
Look forward to D-Day.
ILAZAIR
At this point, rather than attempting to build hype (because I wasn’t able to get into the webcast) and there ins’t anything to see or experiment with, I’d appreciate less communication until you are ready for debut. Until there is some commercial, scientific or academic use clearly indicated and available for testing, this all could be something or nothing. Let me know when you are done.
42
***Finally something that computes not just a glorified file system!!!!!!***
Lets see it work
KW: you will be shocked
When will it go beta?
I am going to suggest a different name for Wolfram|Alpha, more descriptive of its function:
Scholar
HOW CAN WE INVEST IN Wolfram Alpha ?? IS it on the stock market?
I’m really looking forward to using Search|Alpha. It’s the thinking man’s search engine. I already have a number of questions I would like to ask it and see how it performs.
I believe it will have that ‘addictive’ quality. People will try a standard ‘Google’ type search to start with, they when they see the results they will want to ask more complex questions and on many different levels.
If ever we thought that one day the Internet would become ‘alive’ this is that first true step.
It is a bit strange to sign up for one thing (information on when WolframAlpha becomes available to me) and end up getting something completely different (information about blog updates). There is no reason for me to subscribe to your RSS feed now, is there?
thanks for quick, regular news update. I am eager to see this a wonderful new searching engine for the needed comprehensive and mathematical abilities for my research and widen information availability for deep and comprehensive data. if it really meet my expectation , then it will be the big event ever in 2009.
I am eager to actually see a demo of Wolfram/Alpha. WHen will you have it up and running?
I’m interested if the team see the product as for occasional use (say 1-5 times a day per company), or if it’s OK to use it as a regular part of a business process (say 10 times an hour per user for a repetitive query). I don’t have a specific application (yet).
I agree, let us see the real thing or stop send the teaser emails. Email after email is getting old fast.
Thanks or the links, of course. But don’t you think it’s also a bit ridiculous, echoing response for a service yet unavailable?
Reading over the possibilities of Wolfram l Alpha, brings about some ‘exciting’ and hopefully ’soon to be available’ thoughts. I am wondering if there is a projected release date?
> I just want to know, If i ask it for the ultimate answer to the ultimate of life, the universe, and
> everything…. what will it’s answer be? ~.^
==> 42
There are a lot of search engines based on FAST and other technology that are dependent on symantic analysis, coding of stories, taxonomies, etc. I look forward to seeing how this stacks up against Factiva, ClearForest, and other companies in this space.
Obviously, one difference is that Wolfram Alpha is aiming at all knowlege available through the internet, rather than at defined subset streams, or selected sites on the Internet as Relegence does.
I look forward to seeing how they compare. I’m also surprised that most commenters see this as a google replacement, rather than in the context of the vast amount of work being done on search for financial and other applications. Has anyone here ever used Factiva.com?
You should check this out.
http://start.csail.mit.edu/
Most of the answers are “I don’t know”
I am looking forward to Alpha. Is it called alpha because this is just the beginning, or because it’s the best place to start searching? Regardless, its great - I saw it in Champaign.
There is one snag tho - the web is a very imperfect place to gather information and even when its correct its often poorly presented. It will be interesting to see if Alpha has enough artificial intelligence to winnow the wheat from the chaff ! Regardless, it has the potential to be my search engine of choice, so Google either watch out or make Stephen a very, very, good offer.
Hopefully, this is the start of a new business direction for WRI and its employees. It would be nice to think Alpha could provide foundation income that allows the Mathematica Developers to continue development without an other commercial influences. For me its essential that Stephen Wolfram maintains independence between WRIs customers, and his users customers! This will ensure Mathematica and WRI develop in directions that ensures the free flow of ideas and information from users to developers.
Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing Alpha go live and become the most talked about search engine…….
I am a student, so I need more knowledge and I think Wolfram l Alpha will help me
What about items like Genealogy. Will Wolfram|Alpha be able to do all of my Ancestry, help find missing links, build my family tree? All very exciting though.
I’m on a committee assessing the impact of the current H1N1 potential pandemic on our (smallish) organization - and just asked myself the question “at the current rate of growth, how long would it be until 1% of the world’s population has been infected?”. I took the data from CDC and WHO and threw in a graph. It would have been nice to have a few curves under differrent assumptions. I doubt the Wolfram Alpha could have produced what I needed in one bite, but certainly could have been the research assistant and produced some fairly impressive backup information.
Daily reports of wonderfulness are becoming tiresome. Links that go to empty panels are pointless. Being told repeatedly that I’m not worthy of viewing content is insulting. “Interesting Outputs” aren’t, because I can’t see them, so they’re pointless to provide.
Execution and delivery are paramount. Puff talk and blog postings don’t count. All we’ve been told is there are certain problems being solved, and the tool to solve them is coming real soon. My newspaper carried an ad for Craftsman hammers at Sears today; at least someone still delivers on their promise.
I’m opting out.
I look forward to seeing how WFA will function, when is the launch date?
All my best!