I just happened to be checking Twitter as I wrapped up work and, noticed a story at calacanis.com and, it did interest me. I also caught the end of a live broadcast and, decided to participate in this little challenge. I always enjoy comparing new products especially products that make claims like Powerset.
Powerset currently has a site based search engine for Wikipedia. So, this is going to be fun. Lucky for me, I don't have to go to the Wikipedia site itself for my answers. (Read the recent Geek Media bulletin to the community to understand why none of us are using Wikipedia). I'm going to do my own comparison using the formula at the original story and post my screen shots. We'll see how it stacks up on my end.
The question I am picking is "When was the first radio broadcast?" (Yes, I know this answer). Here we go...
First time I'll use Powerset's Wikipedia search engine, Yahoo and Google making sure to put in the site:wikipedia.org command in the Yahoo and Google searches.
This did not help me much at all. Looking through just the first page of results showed nothing that would help me.
Well, the second and third result on Yahoo using the “ site:wikipedia.org” command gave me good results. Time for my favorite search engine, Google.
Result #2 gave me a helpful answer.
Before I go any further, here is an amusing observation. Both Google and Yahoo showed me an article on the history of radio . Wikipedia's own search engine (Powerset) did not show me that article in the results.
Now, let's try Yahoo without the “ site:wikipedia.org” command
First, second and third results were very helpful. Go Yahoo! Now, Google time.
Google came through for me without needing to put in the site command. First result was perfect and exactly what I needed. I don't know about you all but, I am sticking with Google.
Want to see the original post that spawned this? Look no further then this long URL; http://www.calacanis.com/2008/05/13/the-official-verdict-on-powerset-or-what-would-i-do-if-i-was/
2 comments:
Interesting comparison. Note that Powerset isn't intending to replace Google; we're just trying to improve your Wikipedia experience. Note that you don't have to type in a natural language query to see Powerset's semantic search in action. Try just a topical query and notice that we bring back Factz. Also, navigate to one of our enhanced Wikipedia pages. . . then maybe write another post :)
Hi Mark, I will admit the enhanced pages are great. The navigation and extras are very nice indeed. I will write another post replying to this and see if the search improves. Stay tuned :)
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