wolframalpha.com is now live!

Discussion in 'All Other Search Engines' started by boxieblue, May 16, 2009.

  1. #1
    (sorry if this is a repost but i didnt really see any other wolframalpha related thread)

    the much hyped search engine that claims to compute data related to your search query and give you specific answers instead of links like on other search engines is now ready for public use. i just tried it out a few minutes ago.

    it sometimes fails to make sense of my inputs, and says "wolframalha doesn't know what to do with your input".....that gets a little annoying, coz i try to be as specific as possible without using too many(or TOO few) words.

    but sometimes it gets one of its "eureka" moments and manages to tell me exactly what i want....
    for example i asked it, among other things, the distance between two (specific) cities. it gave me an accurate distance in miles, km, feet and so on.... but then it started to show-off! it began telling me how long sound, light...oh and yea, a PLANE, take to cover the distance. all this before i even clicked on "more".

    it is still new though, and in test mode. and you might keep getting the overloaded error. all in all, it looks like a good development, though nothing earth-shattering yet. but i still have to try it out thoroughly, once the "overloaded" messages stop.

    what do you think of the site?
     
    boxieblue, May 16, 2009 IP
  2. Badlands07

    Badlands07 Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Can't seem to get the site to load - maybe it got too much attention and traffic - not good, sounds like Cuil all over again.
     
    Badlands07, May 16, 2009 IP
  3. dannywwww

    dannywwww Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Same here, loads either a blank page, or won't load at all. Though, surely they knew they would receive so much traffic on opening day, since it's been posted all over the news, etc; you would of thought they would of had it all under control, such as more servers to take the traffic load.
     
    dannywwww, May 16, 2009 IP
  4. boxieblue

    boxieblue Peon

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    #4
    i don't think so. the only thing cuil had to brag about was that their founders were former google employees. other than that it was just like any other search engine.
    a search on wolfram, though, will show you exactly what the person is capable of.
    so no, i don't think this is another cuil


    well i suppose there is only so much traffic they could handle. besides, they have said it is in testing mode....
    try again tomorrow and see if it works. coz it worked well for me earlier today. i guess it depends on the time
     
    boxieblue, May 16, 2009 IP
  5. Lotos1

    Lotos1 Peon

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    #5
    This is not a good start. The page does not even open after a dozen tries. If you want to start a reputable business, then you need to have professional hosting and give a good 1st impression. The concept of this search engine is good, but I think the slow loading times and technical issues will overshadow its usefulness. Nobody wants to wait 10 minutes to get a search result, that is just reality.
     
    Lotos1, May 16, 2009 IP
  6. Ikki

    Ikki Peon

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    #6
    I tried searching "nokia n95 hacks" (I own a N95) and it didn't show any results. What does exactly this "search engine" do?
     
    Ikki, May 16, 2009 IP
  7. boxieblue

    boxieblue Peon

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    #7
    thats strange, coz it orks for me everytime without a glitch (unless u consider the "sorry Dave" errors)


    it is built to give you factual information, solutions to mathematical probs etc.
    you can ask it for (2*sin60)/43 or, if you wanna have some fun, you can scourge your math textbook for some really tough problems.

    you can ask it the distance from your home to the moon, you can ask it how many calories you burnt today by walking 7 miles.....but for some stuff, strangely, it gets just to confused and says "wolfram|alpha isn't sure what to do with your input"
    the following article will give you more information about it
    http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/05/16/wolframalpha_web-based_service_goes_live
     
    boxieblue, May 16, 2009 IP
  8. Slincon

    Slincon Well-Known Member

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    #8
    wolfram alpha is a dud.

    But also the type of searches you should make aren't just simply placing in keywords, but asking it more complicated questions like relative questions that require categorical matching, like math questions and historical dates etc.

    I think wolfram oversold itself, but right now they're clearly controlling the level of information it spits out - it's very controlled. They're only showing information for a small database of information, which means they're worried about people uncovering inaccuracies so they're probably going to slowly release the information as they get more positive media attention.

    If this system was to work, seo would become a lot more interesting as you'd need to fake a lot more than just backlinks.
     
    Slincon, May 16, 2009 IP
  9. boxieblue

    boxieblue Peon

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    #9
    lol, not a lot of people have any faith in wolfram do they! :D
    well, i would rather wait a couple of months and see how it goes for them....they do seem to have a good concept
     
    boxieblue, May 16, 2009 IP
  10. RadioBounce

    RadioBounce Banned

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    #10
    I don't like the domain but it will make a good research tool when it comes to my Geography coursework :(
     
    RadioBounce, May 16, 2009 IP
  11. boxieblue

    boxieblue Peon

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    #11
    yea! that's right, actually. and it will be pretty helpful for maths too. just check out what it can do with mathematical inputs!! and you thought the google calculator was great :p
     
    boxieblue, May 16, 2009 IP
  12. ginx

    ginx Member

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    #12
    Its working for me now.It wasn't working for me a few hrs back.It fun :D
     
    ginx, May 16, 2009 IP
  13. dmi

    dmi Well-Known Member

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    #13
    I love it! Really original...
     
    dmi, May 16, 2009 IP
  14. renlok

    renlok Well-Known Member

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    #14
    look like a good idea its actually a really useful site.
     
    renlok, May 16, 2009 IP
  15. magda

    magda Notable Member

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    #15
    It isn't a listing of web pages in the style of google - it's not about typing in a keyword and getting a list of sites that feature that topic.
    It's more a rival to wikipedia in many ways - it collects information from the web in answer to questions
     
    magda, May 17, 2009 IP
  16. longcall911

    longcall911 Peon

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    #16
    Very interesting application. Right now its knowledge base seems very narrow, but deep. If they can broaden the KB and resolve traffic issues, it could become very popular.

    /*tom*/
     
    longcall911, May 17, 2009 IP
  17. oxidati0n

    oxidati0n Peon

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    #17
    It's down, can't access it. Sucks. :( Looks really good though.
     
    oxidati0n, May 17, 2009 IP
  18. indyguidedotinfo

    indyguidedotinfo Notable Member

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    #18
    not to bad. Serps wont have anything to do with this. Its just cool for encylopedia knowledge

    its actually kind of fun. who is bill gates ' gives a whole bio on him
     
    indyguidedotinfo, May 17, 2009 IP
  19. Sem-Advance

    Sem-Advance Notable Member

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    #19
    ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............

    :eek:
     
    Sem-Advance, May 17, 2009 IP
  20. narci

    narci Peon

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    #20
    Ok........... Its cool but not much that i expected.
     
    narci, May 17, 2009 IP