I can’t do more than point to some links, but Google’s pre-emptive response to Wolfram|Alpha [1] appears to be about to launch.
It is discussed by the BBC [2], ZDNet [3], SearchEngineWatch [4] and Inquisitr [5] . The Beeb says
It takes information from the web and displays it in a spreadsheet in “split seconds”, something Ms Mayer said would normally take someone half a day to do.
During the demonstration, a query for “small dog” was typed into the search box. Seconds later a table popped up showing photographs of various dogs, their origin, weight and height in a clear and simple layout.
While this product is described as “transformative”, Google would only hint at the specific techniques that ituses to drive this feature.
There’s a video demo on Tech Crunch [6], which hints at how it will all work.
Can the Slaw community let us know what we should think of all this.
Meanwhile we wait with bated breath for Wolfram|Alpha [1]