Powerset released a service for searching Wikipedia that illustrates the capapbilities of the semantic search engine they are developing. From their site “Powerset’s goal is to change the way people interact with technology by enabling computers to understand our language. … Powerset is first applying its natural language processing to search, aiming to improve the way we find information by unlocking the meaning encoded in ordinary human language. … Powerset’s technology improves the entire search process. In the search box, you can express yourself in keywords, phrases, or simple questions. On the search results page, Powerset gives more accurate results, often answering questions directly, and aggregates information from across multiple articles. Finally, Powerset’s technology follows you into enhanced Wikipedia articles, giving you a better way to quickly digest and navigate content.” http://www.powerset.com/
See Steve Arnold’s comments on Powerset at:
http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/05/12/powerset-available/, and on the rumored interest from Microsoft at:
http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/05/10/lets-assume-microsoft-acquires-powerset/.
(Steve is the author of our Beyond Search report: http://gilbane.com/beyond-search.html).