Search startup ready to challenge Google

"Powerset, is... aiming to outshine the Internet's brightest star with a new search engine built to outsmart Google.

After nearly two years of hushed development, Powerset is finally providing a peek at a 'natural-language' technology that is supposed to make it easier to communicate with search engines.

Powerset's algorithms are programmed to understand search requests submitted in plain English, a change from the 'keyword' system used by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and the owners of the other leading engines.

The distinction means Web surfers will theoretically be able to get more meaningful results by typing more precise search requests in the form of straightforward questions like 'What did Steve Jobs say about Apple?' instead of entering an ungrammatical mishmash like 'Apple Steve Jobs said.'"

Search startup ready to challenge Google - Yahoo! News