Better search technology for Wikipedia

May 12, 2008 20:31 GMT  ·  By

Wikipedia is quite a popular service these days and this has a serious impact over the software market as some software companies developed applications especially to work on the online encyclopedia. Powerset is one of them but it may provide a really interesting alternative to the main Wikipedia search technology because it comes with advanced search features that could help you get exactly the information you want.

'How does it work?' you may ask. Well, Powerset works just like a search engine only that it allows you to enter all kinds of queries, including regular keywords, expressions and even questions. That's why when searching for "what is softpedia? " you get a very relevant answer: "Softpedia is a site that indexes information and provides downloads for many games, drivers, mobile phones, and software for the Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms, as well as PDAs and other devices. The site also indexes major technology, science, health, and entertainment news both from ticker servers and from in-house sources."

"Instead of being limited to keywords, Powerset allows you to enter keywords, phrases, or questions. Instead of just showing you a list of blue links, Powerset gives you more accurate search results, often answering questions directly, and aggregates information from across multiple articles. Finally, instead of leaving you at the search page, Powerset's technology follows you into enhanced Wikipedia articles, giving you a better way to digest and navigate content quickly", the developers described Powerset.

At this time, Powerset only allows you to search for Wikipedia content but, according to Web User News, the developers are currently considering an expansion so new services may be added very soon. So, before deciding if it's useful or not, give it a try and let us know what you think about it.

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The front page of Powerset
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