Today is the day Wolfram Alpha went live. Some people have called it a Google killer, but these people are all journalists and haven't been paying attention.
Wolfram Alpha is basically a HUGE database compiled from loads of information on the internet. Instead of providing you with links to pages to answer a question, it just gives you the answer in a simple, usable format, along with any extra information you could want to know. Average age of someone called Nick, just search 'name nick'. Want to know what happened on your birthday? Just search it. Average salary for Finland? It's there.
It's definitely worth checking out the search examples page to get an idea of the enormous potential this engine has as I've inevitably quoted some really boring searches, there is LOADS of juicy stuff in there.
Google and WolframAlpha will sit alongside each other, both offering different ways of searching the web, each one subtly more suited to certain situations. It's certainly not the end for Google, but it is the beginning (or next step if you use Ubiquity) of the view that the internet is a single entity that can be directly queried, rather than have to be navigated using millions of incongruous pages.
Brilliant.
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