Google Wins Rights to Aussie Algorithm

rcbutcher writes to tell us the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Google has just acquired the rights to a brand new text search algorithm invented by a University of NSW student. From the article: "Orion works as an add-on to existing search engines to improve the relevance of search and won praise from Microsoft founder Bill Gates last year. [...] Orion finds pages where the content is about a topic strongly related to the key word. It then returns a section of the page, and lists other topics related to the key word so the user can pick the most relevant."

Comments

What about Slashdot?

[TheComputerMutt.ca]

Something like this could be used to check if the content of first posts is related to the story or not. ;-P

His future is so bright, he's got to wear shades!

[n8k99]

Google just bought your script before Microsoft could do more than praise it; I would suggest you duck before the chair hits the fan.

Re:World Domination Algorithm

[David Hume]

Hmm, so let me get this straight, google just hired another computer scientist who has developed an amazing algorithm to search the web. Thats putting to many eggs in one basket, I think. Lets hope they don't "break."

Yes, because the opportunity cost associated with hiring this guy are so great that Google won't be able to do anything else.
 

Re:His future is so bright, he's got to wear shade

[David Hume]

Google just bought your script before Microsoft could do more than praise it; I would suggest you duck before the chair hits the fan.

Actually, Gates praised the algorithm in order to fake Google into wasting millions of dollars on it. The algorithm is actually punk ass shit.

You don't think that Gates would say anything publicly before buying all the rights if the algorithm were any good, do you? :)
 

What's with the headline?

[dfn_deux]

Since when are "wins" and "buys" interchangable verbs?

Re:What's with the headline?

[kyb]

I agree. When eBay sends me an email saying "Congratulations, you have Won!", I read "Congratulations, you're prepared to pay more for this item than anyone else in the entire world". I suppose they phrase it nicely just to stop you from feeling like a loser.

Very fishy

[smallpaul]

First, it is funny how various countries are putting a nationalistic spin on it. Israeli newspapers are focusing on the fact that the inventor is an Israeli. Australian newspapers are focusing on the fact that he is Australian. Only the national newspapers are spinning this as "revolutionary technology."

Second, the description sounds alot like what Google and others do already.

Third, buying a single algorithm is not generally such a big deal. Maybe it is reasonably valuable. Maybe so valuable that Google paid ten million dollars for it. In the big scheme of things, that's chump change for them and for their competitors.

The whole thing sounds overhyped to me.

Re:Very fishy

[flyingsquid]

First, it is funny how various countries are putting a nationalistic spin on it. Israeli newspapers are focusing on the fact that the inventor is an Israeli. Australian newspapers are focusing on the fact that he is Australian. Only the national newspapers are spinning this as "revolutionary technology."

Yes, but bought by an American company. USA! USA! USA!

Re:Very fishy

[Ohreally_factor]

I'm just extremely proud that the inventor was a man.

Re:Very fishy

[Anarchitect_in_oz]

Australia is a multi-cultural nation, we claim anyone as ours if they are here at the time of doing something interesting.

Except Russel Crowe, he turned out to be complete knob and we don't want him anymore, so now he's a New Zealander again.

Re:World Domination Algorithm

[moosesocks]

Mod parent up.

This is more likely than not the motiviation behind this move.

Even if google doesn't need this guy, you can be assured that Yahoo, Microsoft, and co. DO need this guy, and the fact that he may very well indeed positively contribute to Google's search algorithms makes it a good choice for google to hire this guy. In short, the risks associated with not hiring him are far too great.

I for one am glad that Google is finally acquring technologies relating to their original business model rather than their string of oddball acquisitions lately...

Re:Uh.....

[patio11]

Now THAT would be an interesting premise for a cyberpunk short story. "Got a new quantum prime sieve. Tears down the hardest ICE in a matter of nanos. What you got?" "The best Starcraft AI ever." "I'm not a fan of the old school." "Hmm... in that case, a steganographic algorithm so powerful it can hide fourty-five terabytes in your rand() seed?" "Oh, that sounds good" "6D Pong, default settings?" "Your algorithmical distinctiveness will be added to my own."

Re:Challengin other search engines

[Wellington Grey]

It's entirely possible that the media sources we trust to be accurate are actually riddled with errors.

::Clasps hand over mouth in mock shock and horror::

-Grey

Re:Uh.....

[Ohreally_factor]

I couldn't tell if your fictional geeks were comparing penis sizes, wagering, or negotiating a marriage.

Other algorithms have been around...

[tgv]

The guy must have invented something absolutely bloody amazing. I mean, it's not like similar technology hasn't been around for ages now (check contributions to the TREC (http://trec.nist.gov/) conferences. Some of the submissions reach a level of sophistication Google can only dream of. And the algorithms are published.

So, what's up with this "Orion" thing? What insanely great insight into language processing can a CS student have that whole teams of experts still didn't get?

Re:It's an Australian invention

[NoMaster]

Actually, it's more complicated than that:

if ((GeolocateSourceIP=="USA") && (ResultIncludes("crikey")) rank++

Australians don't say "crikey!" (much - unless we're toying with the Seppos ;-); we don't drink Fosters (unfortunately, Australia's best-selling beer is VB, which is even worse...); and we don't all ride around in kangaroos (we have wallabies, which are smaller and easier to park...)

Truth be told, the typical Australian is less like Steve Irwin, and more like that other great Australian export - The Wiggles. Next time you meet an Australian sneak up behind them, make your hands into pistol-shapes, rotate them vertically in front of you, and scream "WAKE UP, JEFF!" in their ear. They'll appreciate it ;-)