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John Gapper: Wolfram Alpha’s challenge to the search engines

May 22nd, 2009 9:18pm
by morning call

John Gapper, the FT’s chief business commentator, says that Wolfram Alpha’s structured database poses long-term questions about the usefulness of internet search:

If all the data on the internet are simply too messy to be analysed and structured, Google will be unable to produce a service rivalling Wolfram Alpha in clarity and reliability.

This would not spell the end for Google and other search engines. But it would mean that search itself – on which we rely to map the internet – had bumped up against its natural limits. Let battle begin.

May 22nd, 2009 9:18pm in Internet | Permalink | Comment

So what exactly IS a “computational knowledge engine”?

May 19th, 2009 1:40am
by Richard Waters

Whoever devised the “soft launch” plan for Steven Wolfram’s new search engine - er, computational knowledge engine - deserves a bonus.

Since Wolfram Alpha was shown off informally to a group of online writers earlier this month, the hype has been building fast. Before long, the question was inescapable: Has the Google-killer finally arrived? Continue reading "So what exactly IS a “computational knowledge engine”?"

May 19th, 2009 1:40am in Internet | Permalink | Comment

Desperately seeking real-time search

May 14th, 2009 9:45pm
by Chris Nuttall

As people increasingly transmit and relay news over the web through services like Twitter, real-time search, which gives the ability to find a clear signal for breaking news among all the static, is becoming a focus.

Google introduced some time-based filters this week to address this. A “Show options” link at the top of results pages unveils a new sidebar when clicked. Continue reading "Desperately seeking real-time search"

May 14th, 2009 9:45pm in Internet | Permalink | Comment

Is this the future of search?

May 13th, 2009 6:22am
by Richard Waters

Where should Google draw the line between satisfying your search query itself, and pointing you towards some other website that can satisfy your query?

The answer to that question could have a big impact on the bottom line of many publishers around the Web.

This issue was raised by some of the new search features that Google showed off at an event at its Mountain View headquarters on Tuesday (some of which are shown here.) Continue reading "Is this the future of search?"

May 13th, 2009 6:22am in Internet | Permalink | Comment

Why differentiating Microsoft search will be hard

March 3rd, 2009 5:53pm
by Richard Waters

It has been a consistent refrain from Microsoft execs over the years that internet search can be made much better. Users spend a lot of time fishing randomly through unrelated pages for the information they want (true) and often come away empty-handed (also true).

But trying to beat Google by building a better mousetrap will be incredibly hard. Microsoft is about to start internal trials on a new search service (Kara Swisher has an internal email describing the effort). There are two reasons why this will probably fail to change the competitive position with Google.

Continue reading "Why differentiating Microsoft search will be hard"

March 3rd, 2009 5:53pm in Internet, Software | Permalink | Comment

It’s the data, stupid

November 21st, 2008 4:19pm
by Rob Minto

Google has made two very interesting moves this week. The first was to close Lively, the company’s version of Second Life. The second was to launch SearchWiki, or personalised search results.

On the surface, these don’t look related. Closing the virtual world Lively might look like a simple investment call, but Google hardly has to worry about cashflow. The company has many projects that on the surface don’t make a great deal of money.

Google said: “we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.” The company also added that: “We’ve learned a lot about how users interact in rich social environments, and we hope you’ve enjoyed your time with Lively.”

Not learning enough, it seems, to keep the party going. And learning about people is what keeps the company growing, which is where SearchWiki comes in. Lively didn’t give Google enough data to chew on. If it had, it would still be going. But SearchWiki is a potential data goldmine.

With SearchWiki, users can now remove and promote search results directly in the Google page, make comments, and allow people to view what others have done. Google’s search algorithms may be the secret sauce, but adding this layer of user feedback adds another whole dimension to what Google knows about us. Given the millions of Google account holders and the billions of Google searches, it might well be the most direct and largest customer interaction project ever devised. Don’t like that search result? Kill it, or say why.

It’s only just launched, and there are already over 100 SearchWiki notes on Obama. And the data is flooding in. For example, the Wikipedia page on Obama, the second link, has 17 positive votes, two negative, and four comments, including, “I disagree with the suggestion that this be the first result. Google’s general pattern is that the site belonging to the search target comes first, and the best site about the target (often Wikipedia) comes second or third. Search for [ibm] or [yankees]. This pattern makes sense to me.”

Of course there are huge ramifications for spam tactics, coordinated action, censorship and the like. But the overall message from Google this week is loud and clear: we don’t do things just for fun - there has to be some payoff. And that payoff is data.

November 21st, 2008 4:19pm in Internet | Permalink | Comment

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