A new way to search the web

There has been a lot of buzz among those who use the Internet for research about a new search portal debuting this week.

Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine, as it does not look up answers to questions from a database or try to match key words to words used on web pages.

Instead it mathematically computes answers and creates relevant visualizations on the fly from a knowledge base of structured data. The farther you get from hard sciences, the less Wolfram Alpha will be able to help. But for those looking for the length of an American football field, fast measurement conversions, the weather history of Chicago, stock comparisons, the chemistry of gold, the mathematical properties of pi, or even the velocity of an unladen swallow (for fans of Monty Python), this can be a very helpful place to stop.

To get some ideas of just what this engine can do for you, check out this screencast video made by creator Stephen Wolfram. It might give you some time and work saving ideas.

Some fun queries: meaning of life ; 7PM CST ; hello ; football field divided by tyrannosaurus rex length

Try it out!