Google Squared is Live

Re:Google Squared is Live by khandekars on Wednesday June 03, 2009 @11:03PM (#640887)

Nice. I searched for four scenarios. Apparently, one can train the engine, as discovered in the 4th scenario. In that, it said that it couldn't automatically build a square about the topic and asked me to enter up to 5 examples. I entered Alan Turing, Alan Perlis, John McCarthy, Donald E. Knuth, C.A.R. Hoare. I was delighted to see that Google Squared built the square and added names of Norbert Weiner and Claude Shanon to it.

This is a good application of machine learning.

  Scenario 1: "renaissance artists" florence
    Squared: http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=%22renaissance+artists%22+florence
    Web Search: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22renaissance+artists%22+florence&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=%22renaissance+artists%22+florence&aqi=&fp=1mZ_-PL2Zjc

  Scenario 2: "open source" "cryptographically strong" "random number generators"
    Squared: http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=%22open+source%22+%22cryptographically+strong%22+%22random+number+generators%22
    Web search: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22open+source%22+%22cryptographically+strong%22+%22random+number+generators%22&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=%22open+source%22+%22cryptographically+strong%22+%22random+number+generators%22&aqi=&fp=1mZ_-PL2Zjc

  Scenario 3: "string theory" problems
    Squared: http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=%22string+theory%22+problems
    Web search: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22string+theory%22+problems&aq=&oq=&aqi=&fp=1mZ_-PL2Zjc

  Scenario 4: "mathematicians" "computer scientists"
    Squared: http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=mathematicians+%22computer+scientists%22
    Web Search: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=mathematicians+%22computer+scientists%22&aq=f&oq=%22open+source%22+%22cryptographically+strong%22+%22random+number+generators%22&

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Re:Google Squared is Live by JimmyL on Thursday June 04, 2009 @01:36AM (#640998)

Google Sets (http://labs.google.com/sets) was one of the earlier things available in Google Labs, back when it was just a dumping ground for weird stuff (as opposed to one for non-mainstream features). I'd guess this is where the technology used to generate the square from the samples comes from.

I also wouldn't call it training, for what it's worth. I punched in the same query, and was asked (like you were) to provide some samples - shouldn't (ideally) it know that it's not known this before, and use the samples you suggested?

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Re:Google Squared is Live by vidarh on Thursday June 04, 2009 @05:42AM (#641159)

Would you trust a single input for immediate future use?

If so, Google Square has some Viagra to sell you...

In other words: A single user can never be trusted when they know nothing else about you - if they did, the spammers would be out in force as soon as it got any traction at all.

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Re:Google Squared is Live by wizard_2 on Thursday June 04, 2009 @09:28AM (#641322)

Yea but like for the "wiki search" they can trust you know what you want to see.

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Re:Google Squared is Live by khandekars on Thursday June 04, 2009 @06:04AM (#641176)

Aha, thanks for the recollection about Google Sets. Your guess looks plausible.

I agree with vidarh's point about spam potential, re: reusing previous samples.

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Re:Google Squared is Live by paraschopra on Thursday June 04, 2009 @01:08AM (#640980)

Great, I tried the same query. Description says Alan Turing was born in Orrisa, India but Place of Birth field says London. I think such inconsistencies might limit the use of Google Sqaured for serious research.

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Re:Google Squared is Live by potatolicious on Thursday June 04, 2009 @03:00AM (#641066)

I used it to compare televisions (I'm thinking about buying one) and it was surprisingly useful. It definitely reduces a lot of the noise around doing side-by-side comparisons of multiple products. The data was VERY complete, I am impressed.

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Re:Google Squared is Live by khandekars on Thursday June 04, 2009 @05:44AM (#641161)

I'm not sure, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

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Re:Google Squared is Live by paraschopra on Thursday June 04, 2009 @05:55AM (#641169)

Oh sorry, I re-read the article. It says Alan Turing was conceived, and not born, in Orissa, India. Apparently, Google is better than humans at interpreting text :)

PS: I am not sure if place where Alan Turing was conceived is an apt information. Why would anyone want to know that?

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