Wolfram Alpha Builds Ring Around Google

Wolfram Alpha, the computational search engine that offers answers to explicit questions rather than links to sites that might tell you the answer, just got a lot more relevant. And it's all due to the growing antagonisms among Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOG).

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that from now on, users can access Wolfram Alpha's computational technology when they use Bing to search for certain specific answers. Bing program managers Tracey Yao and Pedro Silva wrote that with the new technology, users can now calculate their body mass index or answer such questions as how many calories are in that hamburger you're going to fry. (We'll refrain from commenting on the irony of using some of the most sophisticated new algorithms in the world to feed your vanity. Wait, no we won't.) The technology is being gradually integrated into Bing's search page, and should be up and running in the next few days.

Meanwhile, Singularityhub.com's Aaron Saenz reports that Wolfram Alpha has now debuted a search app for Apple's iPhone, giving Apple's customers the chance to wield their wicked smart, if not perfectly user-friendly, search engine.

Obviously, Apple and Microsoft will take any advantage against Google they can get, and Wolfram Alpha may one day be a formidable tool in the search wars. But, as Saenz points out, not yet. "As cool as [Wolfram Alpha] may be, I don’t find myself using it very often at all," he writes. "When I do, it’s often to play around rather than find desperately needed information. Still, I admire the technical prowess of the site, and there’s no doubt in my mind that at some point this sort of expansive knowledge and computational database will be necessary and popular."