July 19, 2010 at 13:18Google Acquires Metaweb and Freebase Knowledge Base
The search startup Metaweb , which developed the semantic markup technology of the Web and maintained an open knowledge base of Freebase (12 million people, places and objects related to each other), was purchased by Google last week . It seems that the search giant has finally matured to implement the futuristic technologies of the Semantic Network, which have been discussed on Habré since 2006 .
As you know, the Semantic Network implies the introduction of a new format for marking up web documents convenient for machine processing. Thus, any text can be perceived by the machine as a set of facts and hierarchical concepts, and the entire Internet will reach the level of Web 3.0, turning into a single distributed and constantly updated database.
Metaweb representatives sincerely assure that nothing will happen to Freebase after the acquisition of their company by the search giant. Moreover, they promise to make the project even more open, and in confirmation of this, they began to upload database dumps for download weekly, and not quarterly, as before.
The official Google blog says that by working with experts from Metaweb, the search engine will be able to better answer questions like [actors older than 40 years who received at least one Oscar] or [college on the west coast is cheaper than $ 30 thousand per year].
Interestingly, the Metaweb database is used in the Bing search engine to provide answers over organic results (Instant Answers function). In general, Metaweb can hardly be called a startup in the usual sense of the word, because the company was founded in 2005 and so far has received investments of $ 60 million. The amount of the transaction with Google was not disclosed, but it should amount to several hundred million dollars.
As you know, the Semantic Network implies the introduction of a new format for marking up web documents convenient for machine processing. Thus, any text can be perceived by the machine as a set of facts and hierarchical concepts, and the entire Internet will reach the level of Web 3.0, turning into a single distributed and constantly updated database.
Metaweb representatives sincerely assure that nothing will happen to Freebase after the acquisition of their company by the search giant. Moreover, they promise to make the project even more open, and in confirmation of this, they began to upload database dumps for download weekly, and not quarterly, as before.
The official Google blog says that by working with experts from Metaweb, the search engine will be able to better answer questions like [actors older than 40 years who received at least one Oscar] or [college on the west coast is cheaper than $ 30 thousand per year].
Interestingly, the Metaweb database is used in the Bing search engine to provide answers over organic results (Instant Answers function). In general, Metaweb can hardly be called a startup in the usual sense of the word, because the company was founded in 2005 and so far has received investments of $ 60 million. The amount of the transaction with Google was not disclosed, but it should amount to several hundred million dollars.