Search Overload

May 16th, 2009  |  Published in Uncategorized, demographics

I write about search a lot. Let me clarify that. I write about what can be found with search, not the search itself. I write about techniques and tools.

So it will come as no surprise that I read a huge amount about new search technologies and new tools. A whole honkin’ lot. I used to crack up when I ‘d hear people say honkin’ in my MidWest days :) But I digress.

Suffice it to say, I read a lot about search.

In the past several weeks, I have seen about a kabillion articles about Wolfram/Alpha – a “computational knowledge engine.” You think I’m exaggerating? Maybe a little, but here are some highlights: Note that this is a small percentage of the stories out there, these are all from this week, and the Google Stories all pin them against W/A. Oh my!

One Man’s Answer Newsweek

Wolfram Alpha Is Live!! Digital Media Online

New “Search Engine” WolframAlpha Testlaunched Last Night ShortNews.com

What Exactly is Wolfram Alpha?

Wolfram Alpha is live; give us your impressions CNET News

Wonky Wolfram|Alpha Best Left to the Geek Clique E-Commerce Times

Wolfram/Alpha launches: Can it break out of niche-ville? ZDNet

Wolfram Alpha is ready for you to try CrunchGear

WolframAlpha is now live! Gadget news and reviews

Today’s webtip: see history unfold

Wolfram Alpha Goes Live, But Not As Exciting As Would Have Expected

Wolfram Alpha Opening Delayed but now launched

New Web tool wolframalpha launches test run

Wolfram Alpha Launch Webcast Tonight 7 PM CST May 15, 2009

Buzz Out Loud 975: Beauty is in the eye of the Boholder 1000

Wolfram Alpha Launch Webcast Tonight 7 PM CST May 15, 2009

Wolfram|Alpha: The Un-Google

Putting Wolfram Alpha To The Test: Not Super-Impressed (But Here TechCrunch

Wolfram|Alpha Prepares for Launch

Real-time search: the next big thing Brand Republic

New search engine to go live

Is Wolfram Alpha the new answer to Google?

Will Google outage force users to other search engines?

Google Confirms Disruptions to News, Gmail, Search PC Magazine

Google suffers major failure Computerworld

Wolfram Alpha to Launch Friday Evening MIT Technology Review

Wary Google Announces New Search Tools

How Wolfram Alpha Compares to Google, Wikipedia

Wolfram|Alpha Unbox

Wolfram Alpha to Launch Live on Justin.tv Mashable

Wolfram Alpha review Telegraph.co.uk

Read all ‘Innovation & entrepreneurship’ posts in Cutting Edge CNET News

Google Squared and Wolfram Alpha

Jon Honeyball [PC Pro]

Google Search Gets Smarter

Google Introduces New Filters, Refine Search Results

Google Search Evolves – But Has Google Finally Lost its Core Focus? ReadWriteWeb

Hulbee search engine targets Google

Dell-Powered Supercomputer to Boost Web for Wolfram Alpha Launch

Wolfram/Alpha details engine’s computing power

Smarter Search with WolframAlpha

Wolfram Alpha to Run On Supercomputers PC Magazine

Physicist Set to Unveil ‘WolframAlpha’ Web Site, a New Kind of

Wolfram Alpha gets supercomputer boost

Wolfram Alpha Opens for Searching On May 18th

Search Insider Summit: The Future Of Search Engines

Wolfram|Alpha To Be Launched On 18 May

Wolfram Alpha and other ways to enhance database journalism Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard

New software system expected to bring revolutionary change to Internet

J’accuse: ‘Flimkien… Direzzjon’, Cut & Paste

Creating A Mind-Monster Is Harder Than It Looks

I felt so bombarded that I vowed not to write about it.  But today, the highly respected Gary Price of Resourceshelf sent out a brief description and a link to his mini-users-guide and I realized that I was being stubborn (imagine that).

So I’ve given in. Sold out.

I have to admit (reluctantly) that Wolfram Alpha really may be the best thing since sliced bread. Try it (everyone else is). It’s pretty honkin’ amazing.

Go look and take a few minutes and watch the W/A screencast.

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