David Talbot of "MIT Technology Review" visited Wolfram Research last week, personally tested the "computational knowledge engine" search engine Wolfram Alpha, and compared the differences with Google's search results one by one. For example:
"Microsoft Apple": Wolfram presents a table and image comparing Microsoft and Apple stock prices and their trends. Google gives news including Microsoft and Apple.
"Sydney New York": Wolfram provides a table comparing the distance between the two cities (measured in miles, kilometers, miles and nautical miles respectively); a map listing the optimal flight route, with a trip span of (0.4 circumference of the Earth), flight time, sound travel time (?), the time it takes for the beam to travel through the fiber optic cable (74 milliseconds), the time it takes for light to travel in a vacuum (53 milliseconds), as well as population, local time and altitude. Google's information is relatively confusing, including maps, flight routes, Sydney Chamber of Commerce, etc.
"10 pounds kilograms": Wolfram couldn't understand the meaning. It thought it was "10 pounds" times "1 kilogram", which gave the result as 4.536 kilograms squared, or 22.05 pounds squared. Google gives a metric conversion website. When adding an in word ("10 pounds in kilograms"), Wolfram gives the correct answer, 10 pounds = 4.536 kilograms, and the volume of 10 pounds of water. The funny thing is that it also tells you that 10 pounds = 1.8 times "A New Kind" of Science (by Wolfram)" book weight. Google results: 10 pounds = 4.5359237 kilograms.
Reprinted from http://www.wolframalphacn.com