Filed under: Internet, Text, Utilities, Windows, Office, Productivity, Commercial, Freeware
Intellext Releases Free Watson 2.2 Contextual Search Application
by Jason Clarke Dec 14th 2005 at 8:00AM
Contextual search is one of those
technologies I’ve been wanting for a long time, but it’s also one where if it
is done poorly, things can go very wrong very quickly. So far, I’ve yet to find
one that I’m happy leaving on my system for any length of time. That may now
have chanced, with the release of the new free version of Watson.Intellext describes their application this way: “Watson understands what you are working on and brings you the information you need – from anywhere – web search engines, desktop search applications, blogs, news sites, subscription services, even your company's information systems. In real-time, without being asked. It’s like having a personal research assistant you don’t have to micromanage.”
I’ve only been using Watson for a few hours, but I must admit that it has some serious potential. The interface is clean, and can be made to auto-hide so that it is unobtrusive. Watson watches the text that is active on your screen in a number of programs including like Outlook, Word and PowerPoint, and Internet Explorer and Firefox. In real time, it begins searching the web and your desktop search application for related material to that which you are working with. If you’re working in a large document with a number of concepts, you can highlight a section and tell Watson to search only on that text. So far I’m finding the results useful, and the program stays out of my way.
At this point, Watson doesn’t appear to be able to connect to Firefox on my system, but I have submitted a request to their support department for assistance. Even with this misstep, Watson is still worth a good look.