Wolfram Alpha: A new slant on Web data

The online "computational engine" supplies answers to factual, data-intensive questions but also does math in the process. Is it really a Google rival, or something different?

Wolfram Alpha searching for its niche

One week after its debut, CNET readers found the service hard to use and not all that helpful. Wolfram is no Google, but it's no Cuil, either.
• Wolfram Alpha is live; give us your impressions
(Posted in Webware by Tom Krazit)
May 22, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Firefox add-on puts Alpha in your Google

Curious to use Wolfram Alpha, but don't want to give up Google as your main search engine? Now you can use both at the same time with this Firefox extension.
• Ads appear on Wolfram Alpha
(Posted in Webware by Josh Lowensohn)
May 20, 2009 1:29 PM PDT

Wolfram Alpha launches amid glitches

Myriad problems prevented Wolfram Alpha from going live Friday evening as expectations for full service were reset for Monday.
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Tom Krazit)
May 15, 2009 6:03 PM PDT

'Snag' could delay Wolfram Alpha launch

Stephen Wolfram says a large-scale traffic simulation test failed, which puts the planned Friday debut of the new online tool in question.
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Michelle Meyers)
May 15, 2009 2:27 PM PDT

Wolfram Alpha gets supercomputer boost

Two supercomputers--one of them the 66th fastest in the world at present--will power the Wolfram Alpha site for search, calculation, and data crunching.
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Stephen Shankland)
May 12, 2009 12:17 PM PDT

Wolfram Alpha shows data in a way Google can't

CNET News editor Rafe Needleman and reporter Stephen Shankland discuss their ups and downs with the search engine that computes.
(Posted in Webware by Rafe Needleman and Stephen Shankland)
May 5, 2009 12:04 AM PDT

Video: Wolfram Alpha, first hands-on

CNET's Rafe Needleman gets a look at the eagerly anticipated new computational search engine, Wolfram Alpha. Is it a Google killer? No, but it has the potential to change the way we view data on the Web.
May 5, 2009 4:02 PM PDT

Google crashes Wolfram Alpha debut party

Mathematica maker publicly demonstrates a Web service to dig into data like stock prices or mortality--but Google launches a similar service on the same day.
• Google adds new depth to complicated searches
• Mathematica 7 arrives with built-in human genome
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Stephen Shankland)
April 28, 2009 1:45 PM PDT

Wolfram Alpha: Next major search breakthrough?

Stephen Wolfram has come up with a new and potentially revolutionary search paradigm for finding answers via the Web.
(Posted in "="" rel="">Outside the Lines by Dan Farber)
March 8, 2009 8:42 AM PDT