I’m sure many of you have heard about Wolfram Alpha. It was quite hyped before it’s launch which was last Friday. I think many people are confused about what it actually is. Usually it’s compared with Google which doesn’t make any sense because they are two completely different things. Google is a search engine and Wolfram Alpha is like an advanced calculator. Basically what it does is, it uses existing data and presents it and modifies it to your needs. For example, time zone or currency conversions etc. The cool thing about it is, it doesn’t just settle for a single answer, instead it offers extra information like graphs and other useful facts.

I really like it and found it very useful, although there are still some issues left. Biggest issue is the input interpreter which doesn’t understand everything. You need to learn a kind of language in order to make successful queries. Also in some cases even though you try any possible combination, it just won’t connect the dots. But it’s a new product and hopefully will continue to evolve.

I highly recommend checking it out. Looking through the examples helps a lot in getting started.

Wolfram|Alpha
http://www.wolframalpha.com