New Search Engines to Try Out
By Lark Birdsong
Birdsong Information Services
May-June,
2009
A couple of new search tools, engines or computational knowledge engines have been released within the last few months. One is by Wolfram Alpha and the other is by Microsoft, called Bing and replaces Microsoft Live.
Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha is a computational search engine Wolfram Alpha Computation Search Engine that provides knowledge, facts, data, information, statistics, and comparisons on a variety of subject matters. His long-term goal is to make “all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.” Examples show searches that compare two stocks, input a specified date or place, input the name of a sports team, mathematical computations, money and finance, physics, socioeconomics and more. What you get in the search results is a lot of data or information for that specific search.
Try it out and you will see it is different from most search engines you have been using. Click on the examples tab up top and then look into the subject matters of interest to see how to put in a search. Also of note, at the bottom of the page, there is the ability to review source information and download results to a PDF.
Bing
Bing is the successor to Microsoft Live Microsoft's Search Engine Bing
Here is some of what Microsoft has to say about starting over with a new search engine.
“So, why a new search engine? Why the new name? Why now? ….We took a new approach to go beyond search to build what we call a decision engine. With a powerful set of intuitive tools on top of a world class search service…. presented in a more organized way to simplify key tasks and help you make important decisions faster…..And features like cashback, where we actually give you money back on great products, and Price Predictor, which actually tells you when to buy an airline ticket in order to help get you the best price ….” Some early reviews indicate that Bing is not much different that www.live.com was from a search results perspective.
This is not to say the Bing.com does not have useful information. I ran a familiar search in both Google and Bing and found a piece of useful information in Bing that was not in Google. It is always good to validate important information with several different sources.
Want to Play?
To compare a Google and Bing search side by side follow this link Bing and Google Side by Side Search Comparison. I learned about the resource from T.R. Halvorson at [trh@midrivers.com] and have found it a good resource to compare search results.
To review the features of Google, Bing and Yahoo click here Compare Bing, Google, Yahoo. "We compare top features of three search engines-Bing, Google, and Yahoo--in the ultimate search engine battle royale.”
I learned about this resource from Barbara Fullerton at 10K Wizard 10k Wizard via Sabrina I. Pacifici at Be Spacific and have found it a good resource to look at search features of three giants in search technology.
Try some of your searches in both Wolfram Alpha and Bing so you can see how to use them. It is usually a good idea to run important searches in different engines as you will get different results. Also, keep in mind you save time when you start with a computational search engine, search engine, or search tool that matches your search purpose.
My Newsletter, Twitter account and Blog have different information Birdsong Info Blog Twitter is used to provide sources of information in 140 characters.
My blog tagline states I am “Hoping to Nudge Good Thoughts and Information into the Worldly eCloud.” Should you need assistance with research, online or Internet training or managing your information overload please contact me.
Lark Birdsong
Birdsong
Information Services
Web
page:www.larkbirdsong.com/ … newsletter
Blog: http://www.birdsonginfo.com/ …blog
Twitter:http://twitter.com/lebird …micro blog
[Email:lark@larkbirdsong.com]
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/larkbirdsong
A couple of new search tools, engines or computational knowledge engines have been released within the last few months. One is by Wolfram Alpha and the other is by Microsoft, called Bing and replaces Microsoft Live.
Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha is a computational search engine Wolfram Alpha Computation Search Engine that provides knowledge, facts, data, information, statistics, and comparisons on a variety of subject matters. His long-term goal is to make “all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.” Examples show searches that compare two stocks, input a specified date or place, input the name of a sports team, mathematical computations, money and finance, physics, socioeconomics and more. What you get in the search results is a lot of data or information for that specific search.
Try it out and you will see it is different from most search engines you have been using. Click on the examples tab up top and then look into the subject matters of interest to see how to put in a search. Also of note, at the bottom of the page, there is the ability to review source information and download results to a PDF.
Bing
Bing is the successor to Microsoft Live Microsoft's Search Engine Bing
Here is some of what Microsoft has to say about starting over with a new search engine.
“So, why a new search engine? Why the new name? Why now? ….We took a new approach to go beyond search to build what we call a decision engine. With a powerful set of intuitive tools on top of a world class search service…. presented in a more organized way to simplify key tasks and help you make important decisions faster…..And features like cashback, where we actually give you money back on great products, and Price Predictor, which actually tells you when to buy an airline ticket in order to help get you the best price ….” Some early reviews indicate that Bing is not much different that www.live.com was from a search results perspective.
This is not to say the Bing.com does not have useful information. I ran a familiar search in both Google and Bing and found a piece of useful information in Bing that was not in Google. It is always good to validate important information with several different sources.
Want to Play?
To compare a Google and Bing search side by side follow this link Bing and Google Side by Side Search Comparison. I learned about the resource from T.R. Halvorson at [trh@midrivers.com] and have found it a good resource to compare search results.
To review the features of Google, Bing and Yahoo click here Compare Bing, Google, Yahoo. "We compare top features of three search engines-Bing, Google, and Yahoo--in the ultimate search engine battle royale.”
I learned about this resource from Barbara Fullerton at 10K Wizard 10k Wizard via Sabrina I. Pacifici at Be Spacific and have found it a good resource to look at search features of three giants in search technology.
Try some of your searches in both Wolfram Alpha and Bing so you can see how to use them. It is usually a good idea to run important searches in different engines as you will get different results. Also, keep in mind you save time when you start with a computational search engine, search engine, or search tool that matches your search purpose.
My Newsletter, Twitter account and Blog have different information Birdsong Info Blog Twitter is used to provide sources of information in 140 characters.
My blog tagline states I am “Hoping to Nudge Good Thoughts and Information into the Worldly eCloud.” Should you need assistance with research, online or Internet training or managing your information overload please contact me.
Lark Birdsong
Birdsong
Information Services
Phone
#[303-884-8666]
Web
page:www.larkbirdsong.com/ … newsletterBlog: http://www.birdsonginfo.com/ …blog
Twitter:http://twitter.com/lebird …micro blog
[Email:lark@larkbirdsong.com]
LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/in/larkbirdsong
Should you need assistance with information
or research please contact me at:
or 303-884-8666
