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A Search Engine Better Than Google? Maybe. WolframAlpha

So My MacBook Pro recently failed to wake up from sleep. I held the power on button for about 15 seconds, then let go. Nothing happened. I pressed the on button again and it booted right up again.

Next I see this:

Interested, I click Report to see what anonymous statistics it collected.

In addition to a ton of other stuff, it says:

System Uptime: 53599109180380 nanoseconds

Hmmm, I wonder… How long is that?

This is a perfect example of what Wolfram Alpha is perfect for.

Sure, you enter the search term like…

53599109180380 nanoseconds in hours

…into Google, to take advantage of a hidden feature called Google Calculator.

As exciting as it may seem to use Google for a calculator, wait until you check out Wolfram Alpha, a knowledge engine that uses natural language search to give you a wealth of information about your search term.

Here’s what you get when you search for 53599109180380 nanoseconds on WolframAlpha.com.

…plus a whole lot more interesting things, too, like the distance light can travel during that time.

If that doesn’t get you going, check out this Wolfram Alpha overview screencast.

Thanks to Alan for sharing this great link!