Powerset was working on building a natural language search engine that could find targeted answers to user questions (as opposed to keyword based search). For example, when confronted with a question like "Which U.S. state has the highest income tax?", conventional search engines ignore the question phrasing and instead do a search on the keywords "state", "highest", "income", and "tax". Powerset on the other hand, attempts to use natural language processing to understand the nature of the question and return pages containing the answer.
The company was in the process of "building a natural language search engine that reads and understands every sentence on the Web".[3] The company has licensed natural language technology from PARC, the former XeroxPalo Alto Research Center.[4]
On May 11, 2008, the company unveiled a tool for searching a fixed subset of English Wikipedia using conversational phrases rather than keywords.[5]
In a form of beta testing, Powerset opened an online community called Powerlabs on September 17, 2007. Business Week said: "The company hopes the site will marshal thousands of people to help build and improve its search engine before it goes public next year."[6] Said The New York Times: "[Powerset Labs] goes far beyond the 'alpha' or 'beta' testing involved in most software projects, when users put a new product through rigorous testing to find its flaws. Powerset doesn’t have a product yet, but rather a collection of promising natural language technologies, which are the fruit of years of research at Xerox PARC."[7]
Powerlabs' initial search results are taken from Wikipedia.[8]
Steve Newcomb was the COO and co-founder of Powerset. Prior to joining Powerset, he was a co-founder of Loudfire, General Manager at Promptu, and was on the board of directors at Jaxtr. He left Powerset in October 2007 to form Virgance, a social startup incubator.
Lorenzo Thione (born in Como, Italy) was the product architect and co-founder of Powerset. Prior to joining Powerset, he worked at FXPAL[11] in natural language processing and related research fields. Thione earned his master's degree in software engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.[11]
Ronald Kaplan, former manager of research in Natural Language Theory and Technology at PARC, served as the company's CTO and CSO.[13]
Ryan Ferrier is a member of the founding team of Powerset. He managed personnel and internal operations. After 2008 he went on to co-found Serious Business, which made Facebook applications and was later bought by Zynga.
Another Powerset alumnus, Alex Le, became CTO of Serious Business and went on to become an executive producer at Zynga when it bought the company. Siqi Chen founded a stealth startup in mobile computing after leaving Powerset.[14]
Powerset attracted a wide range of investors, many of whom had considerable experience in the venture capital field.[16] The company received $12.5 million in Series A funding during November 2007, co-led by the venture capital firms Foundation Capital and The Founders Fund.[17][18]
^Helft, Miguel (2007-01-01). "In Silicon Valley, the Race Is On to Trump Google". The New York Times.
^Powerset Blog : Microsoft to Acquire Powerset July 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
^Helft, Miguel (2007-02-09). "In a Search Refinement, a Chance to Rival Google". The New York Times.
^Powerset Debuts With Search of Wikipedia - NYTimes.com. Bits.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.
^Hof, Robert (2007-09-17). "Powerset: Move Over, Google". Business Week.
^Helft, Miguel (2007-09-17). "Powerset to Skeptics: Try Us". The New York Times.
^Kopytoff, Verne (2007-09-17). "Power is turned on, a bit, at Powerset". SFgate.com (San Francisco Chronicle).
^ . Archived from the original on October 14, 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
^. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
^ abc . Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
^ "MoonEx aims to scour moon for rare materials". Los Angeles Times. 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2011-04-10. MoonEx's machines are designed to look for materials that are scarce on Earth but found in everything from a Toyota Prius car battery to guidance systems on cruise missiles. ... The company is among several teams hoping to someday win the Google Lunar X Prize competition, a $30-million race to the moon in which a privately-funded team must successfully place a robot on the moon's surface and have it explore at least 1/3 of a mile. It also must transmit high definition video and images back to Earth before 2016. ... should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013
^Powerset press release, 2007-03-17 October 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
powerset, company, mathematical, concept, power, this, article, needs, updated, please, help, update, this, article, reflect, recent, events, newly, available, information, december, 2015, powerset, american, company, based, francisco, california, that, 2006, . For the mathematical concept see power set This article needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information December 2015 Powerset was an American company based in San Francisco California that in 2006 was developing a natural language search engine for the Internet 1 On July 1 2008 Powerset was acquired by Microsoft for an estimated 100 million 2 PowersetFoundedSan Francisco U S 2005 HeadquartersSan Francisco California U S ParentMicrosoft as of August 1 2008 Powerset was working on building a natural language search engine that could find targeted answers to user questions as opposed to keyword based search For example when confronted with a question like Which U S state has the highest income tax conventional search engines ignore the question phrasing and instead do a search on the keywords state highest income and tax Powerset on the other hand attempts to use natural language processing to understand the nature of the question and return pages containing the answer The company was in the process of building a natural language search engine that reads and understands every sentence on the Web 3 The company has licensed natural language technology from PARC the former Xerox Palo Alto Research Center 4 On May 11 2008 the company unveiled a tool for searching a fixed subset of English Wikipedia using conversational phrases rather than keywords 5 Contents 1 Powerlabs 2 People 3 Investors 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksPowerlabs EditIn a form of beta testing Powerset opened an online community called Powerlabs on September 17 2007 Business Week said The company hopes the site will marshal thousands of people to help build and improve its search engine before it goes public next year 6 Said The New York Times Powerset Labs goes far beyond the alpha or beta testing involved in most software projects when users put a new product through rigorous testing to find its flaws Powerset doesn t have a product yet but rather a collection of promising natural language technologies which are the fruit of years of research at Xerox PARC 7 Powerlabs initial search results are taken from Wikipedia 8 People EditBarney Pell born March 18 1968 in Hollywood California 9 was co founder and CEO of Powerset Pell received his Bachelor of Science degree in symbolic systems from Stanford University in 1989 where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a National Merit Scholar Pell received a PhD in computer science from Cambridge University in 1993 where he was a Marshall Scholar 10 He has worked at NASA as chief strategist and vice president of business development at StockMaster com acquired by Red Herring in March 2000 and at Whizbang Labs Prior to joining Powerset Pell was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Mayfield Fund a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley 11 Pell is also a founder of Moon Express Inc a U S company awarded a 10M commercial lunar contract by NASA and a competitor in the Google Lunar X PRIZE 12 Steve Newcomb was the COO and co founder of Powerset Prior to joining Powerset he was a co founder of Loudfire General Manager at Promptu and was on the board of directors at Jaxtr He left Powerset in October 2007 to form Virgance a social startup incubator Lorenzo Thione born in Como Italy was the product architect and co founder of Powerset Prior to joining Powerset he worked at FXPAL 11 in natural language processing and related research fields Thione earned his master s degree in software engineering from the University of Texas at Austin 11 Ronald Kaplan former manager of research in Natural Language Theory and Technology at PARC served as the company s CTO and CSO 13 Ryan Ferrier is a member of the founding team of Powerset He managed personnel and internal operations After 2008 he went on to co found Serious Business which made Facebook applications and was later bought by Zynga Another Powerset alumnus Alex Le became CTO of Serious Business and went on to become an executive producer at Zynga when it bought the company Siqi Chen founded a stealth startup in mobile computing after leaving Powerset 14 Tom Preston Werner and Chris Wanstrath worked at Powerset and left after the acquisition to found GitHub also acquired by Microsoft 15 Investors EditPowerset attracted a wide range of investors many of whom had considerable experience in the venture capital field 16 The company received 12 5 million in Series A funding during November 2007 co led by the venture capital firms Foundation Capital and The Founders Fund 17 18 Among the better known investors Esther Dyson founding chairman of ICANN founder of the newsletter Release 1 0 and editor at Cnet Peter Thiel founder and former CEO of PayPal Luke Nosek founder of PayPal Todd Parker Managing Partner Hidden River Ventures Reid Hoffman executive vice president of PayPal and founder of LinkedIn First Round Capital seed stage venture firmSee also EditBing search engine Apache HBaseReferences Edit Helft Miguel 2007 01 01 In Silicon Valley the Race Is On to Trump Google The New York Times Powerset Blog Microsoft to Acquire Powerset Archived July 2 2008 at the Wayback Machine Powerset Blog Powerset launches Powerset Labs at TechCrunch40 Archived from the original on October 30 2007 Retrieved 2008 03 04 Helft Miguel 2007 02 09 In a Search Refinement a Chance to Rival Google The New York Times Powerset Debuts With Search of Wikipedia NYTimes com Bits blogs nytimes com Retrieved on 2013 07 21 Hof Robert 2007 09 17 Powerset Move Over Google Business Week Helft Miguel 2007 09 17 Powerset to Skeptics Try Us The New York Times Kopytoff Verne 2007 09 17 Power is turned on a bit at Powerset SFgate com San Francisco Chronicle Barney Pell s Personal History Archived from the original on October 14 2006 Retrieved 2008 02 16 Barney Pell s Weblog Archived from the original on 2008 02 28 Retrieved 2008 02 16 a b c Powerset Founders Archived from the original on 2007 10 27 Retrieved 2008 02 16 MoonEx aims to scour moon for rare materials Los Angeles Times 2011 04 08 Retrieved 2011 04 10 MoonEx s machines are designed to look for materials that are scarce on Earth but found in everything from a Toyota Prius car battery to guidance systems on cruise missiles The company is among several teams hoping to someday win the Google Lunar X Prize competition a 30 million race to the moon in which a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the moon s surface and have it explore at least 1 3 of a mile It also must transmit high definition video and images back to Earth before 2016 should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013 Powerset press release 2007 03 17 Archived October 28 2007 at the Wayback Machine Robin Wauters 2010 02 11 Zynga Buys Social Gaming Startup Serious Business Retrieved 2013 04 12 Steve Newcomb 2010 Cult Creation Powerset press release 2006 11 02 Archived April 20 2008 at the Wayback Machine Powerset press release November 2007 Archived April 20 2008 at the Wayback Machine PARC press release 2007 Archived May 12 2008 at the Wayback MachineExternal links EditPowerset main web site redirects to Bing Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Powerset company amp oldid 1078289638, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
