Recently the Semantic Web Blog let readers know about the IntelliVocab app from Faqden Labs. The semantics-infused app for the Android, iPhone and iPad, is aimed at helping students prepare for vocabulary sections of SAT, GRE and GMAT tests.

The company now is aiming to re-purpose the data-meaning and

collaborative interaction principles behind the technology to address needs at opposite ends of the spectrum: The grammar-school set and job-seekers. “Fundamentally from our perspective our technique is not to use core semantics like RDF triples and all, but we are building products based on the essence of the Semantic Web,” says founder Irfan Mohammed. “That is, to have meaning to the data so you can personalize the experience.”

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Announcing Semantic Tech & Business Conference - San Francisco 2012

Semantic Tech & Business Conference is returning to San Francisco in June! Join us from June 3-7 for complete coverage of Big Data, Linked Data, Extreme Information Management, and Semantic Web. From breakthrough approaches to solving business problems to the big data implications of fast–evolving technologies, SemTechBiz provides you with an unparalleled interactive experience and delivers tangible business value. We're offering a special early rate when you register by February 17. Sign up now!

TV viewers familiar with CBS’ The Big Bang Theory (pictured above) may recall last week’s episode, where one of the characters comes up with an idea for a smart phone app to help solve differential equations. Being that the main characters are all geeks, the app is supposed to solve the kind of incredibly complex problems that only the most brilliant mathematicians and scientists try to tackle. As one character puts it, it will appeal only to about 70 people in the entire world, which means that if it takes off, they could potentially become “hundred-aires.”

Well, in one of those life imitates art moments – sort of – WolframAlpha has just released the first set of a series of “Course Assistant” apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, including calculus and algebra. Where the real deal departs from the TV script is that WA is tackling subjects that have appeal to a lot more of the masses than what The Big Bang guys were working on. Just think back to high school – and college, too, in the case of the Calculus app – and you’ll know what we mean. There’s also a music theory Course Assistant app in the first set of releases.

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This Keynote is presented in six parts.

Moderated by: Carla Thompson, Guidewire Group
Speakers:
Andrew Tomkins, Yahoo! Search
Peter Norvig, Google
Riza Berkan, hakia
Scott Prevost, Powerset division of bing
Tomasz Imielinski, Ask.com
William Tunstall-Pedoe, True Knowledge

Semantic technology changes the rules of the search marketspace, but exactly how, and by how much, are the key questions. Announcements are made daily for new companies with niche search applications, and clearly lots of start-ups are betting they can gain enough market share to create value for their investors. Meanwhile the major players are rapidly adding semantic enhancements to existing services to improve relevancy, create new query services, improve ad targeting and provide more customization options for users. The field is full of innovation, competition and new investment.

This Keynote Panel session brings together major incumbents with promising upstarts to assess the current and future state of the semantic search market. Can semantic technology open up truly differentiated search services? Will success be won with technological advantage, creative branding and positioning, or sheer market dominance? The executives represented on the panel bring deep technical expertise and business savvy.

PART I: Introductions and Differentiators

Executive Round Table: Semantic Search – PART I: Introductions and Differentiators from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

PART II: Why do we need to change search?

Executive Round Table: Semantic Search – PART II: Why do we need to change search? from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

PART III: How do you measure the "Semanticity" of a search engine?

Executive Round Table: Semantic Search – PART III: How do you measure the “Semanticity” of a search engine? from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

PART IV: Search vs. Answers

Executive Round Table: Semantic Search – PART IV: Search vs Answers from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

PART V: New Services – Wolfram Alpha

Executive Round Table: Semantic Search – PART V: New Services – Wolfram Alpha from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

PART VI: New Services – Bing and Siri

Executive Round Table: Semantic Search – PART VI: New Services – Bing and Siri from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

Russell Foltz-Smith, Business Development for Wolfram|Alpha sits down with Nova Spivack of Twine.com to discuss the recent launch; what Wolfram|Alpha is (and is not) and where the much talked about project is heading from here. How is Wolfram pursuing distribution, licensing deals, etc.? What will their API look like?

Wolfram|Alpha – An Interview from Semantic Universe on Vimeo.

New semantic web tag format announced Bluhalo, UK The semantic web has come to the fore of certain companies’ development efforts in recent times, with new search engines such as Microsoft’s Bing and Wolfram Alpha making use of semantic technology to deliver more relevant results to users.

 Wolfram Alpha has been launched and is available for the public to try. I sat down to play with it.

FIrstly (using the rare American adverb here – don’t be confused), you can’t expect Wolfram Alpha to act like Google. It is a new kind of search engine, as one should expect from Stephen Wolfram. Wolfram is famously the inventor of Mathematica and author of A New Kind of Science.

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Stephen Wolfram generously gave me a two-hour demo of Wolfram Alpha last evening, and I was quite positively impressed.  As he said, it’s not AI, and not aiming to be, so it shouldn’t be measured by contrasting it with HAL or Cyc but with Google or Yahoo. 

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