Wolfram/Alpha: Nerd-Powered Web Gadget of the Future?
After personal-computer technology took off in the 1980s, visions of artificial intelligence danced in pop culture’s head.
Some brat in his bedroom pranked NORAD into War Games. The gamer reality of Tron booted up, while Hackers, Sneakers and other digital archetypes fought for advantage in The Matrix.
In the so-called real world, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google fought for primacy in the search game, where smart and dull surfers punched questions into their computers and waited for a response. Until now, the computer has only been able to communicate back using links, text, videos and ads.
June 16, 2009, 4:30pm


