“Computer, can I catch anything from green women?”
“Yes, so take protection, Captain.”
So, Kirk straps on the phaser.
Wolfram Alphais working towards that.
It doesn’t just spew back a few hundred thousand sites where youmightfind the answer.
Here’s the response I got to entering the nameStephen Harper.
You’ve got all the basics about Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper.
There is one mistake though - he’s not the head of state.
The Governor General is, in Canada.
I find it interesting that the data is presented in the form of an image.
I went ahead and clicked on P.M. Harper’s birthday.
This is what I got!
It is a serious research tool.
Where it really shines is when you start presenting it with inquiries of an academic nature.
I’m working on a project involvingethylene glycol.
Don’t ask, I do weird stuff sometimes.
Just searching on the term presented me with more information than I wanted but it was clear and concise.
I did learn a thing or two about good old C2H6O2 though.
But here’s some interesting things I didn’t know.
That’s kind of weird.
Apparently, it also has approval status as an experimental drug?
!Hey I’m sick, maybe I need some antifreeze.
I feel a quart low.That just sounds like a bad idea.
I digress, again.
So maybe you’re not a science person, maybe you’re a money person.
Wolfram also shines on returning specific information related to the markets.
To show you it’s capabilities, all that I have entered are the two wordsMicrosoftandApple.
Here’s what was returned in a matter of seconds.
And on and on it goes.
I feel compelled to remind you though, that this called WolframAlphafor a reason.
It’s still in a testing phase and you may encounter errors.
There really isn’t enough server power behind it right now to answer all requests immediately.
But at least you’ll get a cute glitch notice.
I can definitely see how this will become the research tool of choice for a lot of people.
