Wolfram|Alpha and DuckDuckGo Partner on API Binding and Search Integration

WolframAlpha ^ | 4/18/11

[LibWhacker]

Today, in conjunction with DuckDuckGo, we are happy to share that Wolfram|Alpha and DuckDuckGo have entered a new phase of our relationship as official partners. As a result of this partnership, DuckDuckGo will expand Wolfram|Alpha integration into its search site and will maintain the now-official Wolfram|Alpha API Perl binding.

Users of the up-and-coming search site DuckDuckGo know that the site is unique because it doesn’t track history, contains less spam, features a cute bow tie-wearing duck, and provides zero-click information that immediately pops up under the search box. Since the release of the Wolfram|Alpha API, DuckDuckGo has been gradually integrating Wolfram|Alpha’s computational knowledge engine into its offerings, providing users with dynamically computed facts.

Our friendship began when Gabriel Weinberg, Founder of DuckDuckGo, volunteered to be an early Wolfram|Alpha tester. He went on to develop the now-official Wolfram|Alpha Perl API binding and began featuring select Wolfram|Alpha functionality on DuckDuckGo.

“Integrating Wolfram|Alpha into DuckDuckGo was a no-brainer decision, as it can provide instant answers for a broad range of general search queries that are otherwise not easy to get answers to. That’s because Wolfram|Alpha does deep processing of a lot of non-web datasets”, said Weinberg.

“Our primary goal with the launch of version 2 of the API in January was to open Wolfram|Alpha to all developers and their broad spectrum of clever ideas”, said Wolfram|Alpha’s Schoeller Porter, Architect, Developer Relations. “Gabriel and DuckDuckGo exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit by integrating Wolfram|Alpha’s computed knowledge into web search in a compelling, relevant, and ingenious way. We’re excited to be a part of DuckDuckGo’s continued growth”.

So what does this new partnership mean for you? If you are a DuckDuckGo user, you’ll start to notice expanded Wolfram|Alpha integration. DuckDuckGo will start adding more Wolfram|Alpha functionality and datasets based on users’ suggestions. If there’s a specific topic area you’d like to see integrated into DuckDuckGo, your suggestions are welcome.

If you are a Perl developer with creative ideas for integrating Wolfram|Alpha into your application, you can take advantage of the free Wolfram|Alpha Perl API binding. “The Wolfram Perl API gives you a straightforward Perl object-oriented data structure to work with that is based on the Wolfram|Alpha output”, said Weinberg. “The Perl API abstracts away the connecting and parsing aspects of working with the Wolfram|Alpha API, giving you a straightforward Perl object-oriented data structure to work with in your programs”.

Wolfram|Alpha and DuckDuckGo are looking forward to sharing future integrations and API development.

[LibWhacker]

Heads up for Freepers who like to keep semi-up-to-date on the latest search engines out there. Never heard of this DuckDuckGo myself, but... I like it! And throwing in with WolframAlpha, it promises to be a very interesting partnership indeed.

[Hootowl99]

Took it for a test drive using a few search types that drive me crazy with Google (lousy hits and loaded with spam quality hits) and are functional with Dogpile (my default search engine).

Liked the duckduckgo very well! Amazed at the speed and accuracy of the search.

[Baynative]

I just learned of the Wolfram website and have been through the introduction. I am looking forward to using this when ever I can to get away from google as much as I can.

[Baynative]

Just tried my first inquiry at Wolfram by asking for UN Agenda 21. It stumped them - I got nothing at all.

[Fresh Wind]

Any idea how to get DuckDuckGo into the Firefox search engine list?

[TheOldLady]

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[LibWhacker]

Go to the DuckDuckGo website. Left click on Firefox’s drop down menu icon in the search bar, then click ‘Add DuckDuckGo.’

Okay, now that I figured that out... How do I delete crap I inadvertently added??? :-)

[LibWhacker]

As they say in their little introductory tour, it's a computational engine, not a regular search engine. If the query doesn't involve a computation of some sort or looking up a numerical answer of some sort, you're out of luck.

And, unfortunately, not every question having a numerical answer can be answered with Wolfram Alpha. Not even close. Otherwise, what would the world's mathematicians do all day? ;-)

But apart from that, WA can't answer anywhere close to all the mundane numerical questions one might ask. There are just too many of them, and too many of them are of no interest to anyone and never would be.

But there is a remedy. If you need the answer to some question and think others might also be interested, WA is definitely open to user suggestions.

It happened to me. A couple of years ago, I was trying to no avail to find total border lengths and shared border lengths around and between various countries. So I submitted it to WA but got no response. I would check in every once in a while to see if they had gotten around to adding it. Nothing. Yeah, they must've had a good laugh at me.

Now today I check and, WOW, it's all there... shared border lengths, total border lengths, even the lengths of coastlines around islands and such, which I threw in at the last minute to keep them on their toes.

So, on the one hand WA has been a little bit of a disappointment, because everything isn't there. But on the other, try to imagine writing the program yourself. OMG, it'd be a massive undertaking and would take me about a billion years. So... Good job, Wolfram Alpha!

[Fresh Wind]

Thanks!

It’s easy to get rid of unwanted search entries, click the down arrow to see the whole list, then select “manage search engines”. Then select the offending item, then click remove.

[LibWhacker]

Oh, thank you!