Google Killer?

So, there has been some buzz lately about the next big thing, Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha LLC announced Monday the general availability of Wolfram|Alpha, a "computational knowledge engine" available on the Web that shares code with Mathematica, Wolfram Research's renowned technical computing software.

I've been following this a bit myself and I think it will take a very big leap to topple Google, and an even larger leap to replace it as my home page. That being said, it may have some future advantages over Wikipedia. I would love to have a bit more organization in the data on Wikipedia. Inevitably I do find what I'm looking for but sometimes it's in no logical order and 3 pages deep. Google gives me too many results and Wikipedia makes me work to find it.

The next big leap will be the one that can almost anticipate what you are looking for and then bubble those results to the top. Here's an example of where I hope technology is going.

The iPhone has an app called Shazam where you can simply hold the phone up and it will identify the song it hears, let you buy it, share it and watch the video. Damn cool if you ask me and almost reason enough for me to buy one.

How does this relate to online search software?

Well, I would like a similar experience when finding information.

1. Take me to the facts
2. Bring up recent news items
3. Find related youtube videos
4. Find related products to buy from places like Amazon

For example, let's say someone just told you how cool "Angels and Demons" is so you search on it and...

Hey look at that, through a Google search;

First link is the official site
Wikipedia page
YouTube video trailer
links to Books.google.com and Amazon.com
and even a news article on how this movie will damage the Catholic church

Good luck finding anything better than that, I don't anticipate my home page changing anytime soon, no matter how great a few people say something is.

Hat Tip: Bex

Google Does It Again

Never ceases to amaze me when something new shows up on Google.

So type in your favorite team followed by schedule and BAM! the current game stats show up.

How cool is that?

My Own Version of the Bucket List

So my friend Bex recently wrote about his Bucket List and since my big Four Zero is only a few days away I thought I would share my modified version.

Instead of listing accomplishments I would like to do before I die my list consists of things I have never done and want to keep it that way.


1. Break a bone, yes I even made it through the skateboarding and skiing years

2. Take any illegal drugs, I'm not trying to be a prude and I'm sure I'm missing out on something amazing but people that know me already assume I'm high as a kite.

3. Go to jail, I've visited but always from the outside

4. File for Bankruptcy, not quite as uncommon lately

5. Foreclose on my house, see #4

6. Get divorced for the 2nd time, done it once don't need to repeat it for the experience.

7. Get bit by anything requiring medical attention, snakes, bears, ROUSes

8. Eat Lutefisk, see #6

9. Own a riding lawnmower or snowblower

10. Have a gym membership, see #9