Wolfram Alpha – Google on Steroids

Jon Perry

After two months of waiting, Wolfram Alpha has an operational site. No, it’s not a search engine. It’s more. Wolfram Alpha allows you to make complex mathematical computations, query logic and getting data on many subjects. Not only does it provide the information, importantly it provides you with the data source.

I entered the query, World Population, China Popluation, United States Population. It provide me with the analysis below. Clicking on each box at Wolfram Alpha’s site, provides you where the source information originated. This is very important when it comes to documenting research.

Put in your birthdate. It will compute in milli-seconds how many years, months and days have passed since you were born. Look on the bottom right of the data. It will also tell you what phase of moon we were in on your birthdate.

My excitement with Wolfram Alpha isn’t just the site itself. It shows the powerful potential and possibilities that exist with the Internet. What will the next 10 years on the web look like? I think Wolfram Alpha gives us a glimpse.