Beta watch

Powerset: Useful Gateway to Wikipedia

Powerset, a search engine that looks not just at words but at their meanings, too, has drawn lots of hype as a potential Google killer. But no one at Google will quake over Powerset's first public incarnation. The beta Powerset restricts its searches to Wikipedia, Freebase, and a few other specialized databases. It does add some nice touches for organizing and navigating information, though. The results page for the Marquis de Sade, for instance, finds the main Wikipedia page devoted to the French writer, along with references to him on other Wikipedia pages. And when you click through to see the Wikipedia entry, Powerset provides a detailed outline of the page, with links to each section.

Zenbe: A New Box for Your Inbox

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Powerset: Useful Gateway to Wikipedia

Powerset, a search engine that looks not just at words but at their meanings, too, has drawn lots of hype as a potential Google killer. But no one at Google will quake over Powerset's first public incarnation. The beta Powerset restricts its searches to Wikipedia, Freebase, and a few other specialized databases. It does add some nice touches for organizing and navigating information, though. The results page for the Marquis de Sade, for instance, finds the main Wikipedia page devoted to the French writer, along with references to him on other Wikipedia pages. And when you click through to see the Wikipedia entry, Powerset provides a detailed outline of the page, with links to each section.

Zenbe: A New Box for Your Inbox

With Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail on hand, who needs a new source for a free Web mail account? Probably no one, which is why Zenbe, in private beta, focuses on funneling mail from your accounts with the Big Three into its inbox. Zenbe's advantage--beyond its attractive, minimalist design--is that it pulls all your information together: calendars, tasks, contacts, friends' recent Facebook activity, and file attachments organized independently of the e-mail messages they were attached to. You can also create pages that include a selection of your e-mail, tasks, comments, and other modules and make them available to the world.

HubDub: Bet on the News

If you're clairvoyant--or just smart about current events--prove it at HubDub. Sign up with the free service, and you get US$1000 in virtual money for placing bets on questions like "Will Hillary Clinton drop out before the Democratic Convention?" If you're right and she does, you stand to make $123 from your $100 bet. Your winnings won't buy anything more than bragging rights, but that's plenty for some people. HubDub's all-time leading wagerer has parlayed his original $1000 stake into just short of $1 million.

For more PC news, visit PC World. Story copyright PC World Communications, Inc.