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"Understanding" Search Engine Enters Public Beta

Posted by kdawson on from the do-what-i-mean dept.

religious freak sends word of the public beta of Powerset, a closely watched San Francisco startup that promises an "understanding engine" to revolutionize Web search. An article in SearchEngineLand points out that Powerset is reaching higher than for mere "natural language." Techcrunch has more details and analysis. For the beta, Powerset makes available all of Wikipedia to search — not all the Web. It's said that their understanding engine required a month to grok Wikipedia's 2.5M articles. The Web is currently at least 8,000 times as large.

24 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. My first search by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "No results found for naked pictures of Natalie Portman. How does that make you feel?"

    1. Re:My first search by i_liek_turtles · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know, but I did pull up a Southern cooking website!

    2. Re:My first search by Mr.+Bad+Example · · Score: 2, Funny

      > "No results found for naked pictures of Natalie Portman. How does that make you feel?"

      Petrified.

  2. Next step.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since Powerset can only search Wikipedia, the logical next step is to put the entire web on Wikipedia. Who's up for the job?

    1. Re:Next step.... by maglor_83 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think we need to split it up by domain name. I'll start with wikipedia.org

  3. The Web is currently at least 8,000 times as large by nog_lorp · · Score: 5, Funny

    Any day now, Wikipedia will surpass The Web's growth rate, and set a course for the day when Wikipedia will be BIGGER THAN THE WEB.

  4. Jargon pisses me off... by KGIII · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I hear the word "grok" one more time I'm gonna have to kill someone...

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    1. Re:Jargon pisses me off... by Molochi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Grok.

      Grokgrokgrok.

      Pics or it didn't happen.

      --
      "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
  5. Re:The Web is currently at least 8,000 times as la by nog_lorp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Party pooper.

  6. Re:I'm Unimpressed by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    I asked it "who won the election in 2004?" and it understood the question, in a way:

    The current mayor is Jardir Silva Vidal who won the election in 2004 against Reino Martins de Oliveira

  7. Obviously still buggy. by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Funny

    Your tests are interesting, but you're not really parsing the responses in the right context. They're problematic. Keep in mind this understanding engine understands the world in a way that was hatched out in San Fransisco.

    Who is David Bowie? I trust that it came back with, "aka Ziggy Stardust, normal family guy"

    Who played the villain in the first Die Hard? Well, obviously, the villain is "capitalism."

    Billie Jean King and Madonna ... like I said, it's San Fransisco

    Who was the organist for The Beatles on Abbey Road?

    You had it at "organ," and it got distracted. What they need is some dev guys from Toledo to collaborate, and provide a little cognitive counterweight to the understanding engine. OK, maybe not Toledo. Maybe Atlanta.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  8. Re:The Web is currently at least 8,000 times as la by Molochi · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear Captain Obvious,

            Please send this fine fellow your password for future posts.

    --
    "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
  9. Personally I hate all made up words by Infonaut · · Score: 3, Funny

    grok is just the beginning.

    I hate all made up words. Database, modem, gigabyte, daemon, ethernet... they all suck. And the word suck sucks, too. Bring me back to the days when we all communicated with grunts, before all of this linguistic b.s. started.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  10. Re:But it doesn't give results any differently by mrbluze · · Score: 4, Funny

    I asked 'Where do babies come from' and it just gave me back a bunch of articles with that string somewhere in their text.

    Funny, when I was a boy I asked my father the same thing and he gave me a few articles with pictures of women wearing string. My conclusion: It's amazing what can be done with just a few bits of string.

    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  11. Re:But it doesn't give results any differently by The+Great+Pretender · · Score: 4, Funny

    I tried "What are anal warts". Google gave me a response faster than I could start and stop my timer, with the second answer being Wikipedia. Powerset is still, hold on..., yep still hung up on the question.

    --
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
  12. Oh man. it's down. by redtuxrising · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anybody got Google cache for this new search engine?

  13. Re:I'm Unimpressed by textstring · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wrong. The correct answer is "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?", when a search engine gets that right then I'll be impressed.

  14. Re:But it doesn't give results any differently by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    A lot of us are hung up on the question. So apparently it understands the question.

  15. Re:But it doesn't give results any differently by glittalogik · · Score: 5, Funny

    I asked it a question I got in a trivia contest - what countries have four-letter names? (There are 10, and google's first link is to a list of 'em)

    Powerset's first response? "Fuck."

    Funny, that was my response too, but at least I got 5 or 6 of them first...

  16. Finally, a definitive answer! by hereschenes · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who shot first?

    --
    More like... nerdular nerdence!
  17. Asking about earthquakes while in China by Lost+Penguin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your screen goes black; "Don't Panic"

    --
    I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
  18. Re:I'm Unimpressed by AlexBirch · · Score: 2, Funny

    You need to use the Canadian method. Ask "who won the election in 2004, eh?" and this comes to the top: http://www.powerset.com/explore/semhtml/2004_United_States_presidential_election_controversy,_voting_machines?query=who+won+the+election+in+2004%2C+eh%3F

  19. Re:I'm Unimpressed by bytesex · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did the filesystem kill his wife ?

    --
    Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
  20. Impressive by mrrudge · · Score: 4, Funny

    Q: What the hell is a 'factz'
    A: Did you mean 'What the hell is a fact?'

    Quite