Powerlabs Screenshot Demystified (+ pr0n)

Earlier today, Steve Newcomb posted a screenshot of Powerlabs on his blog.  Though we're not going to be opening the doors of Powerlabs until September, I'm stoked at the response we've had so far.  In light of some of the blog posts that have popped up, I wanted to clear up two points and then make one of my own.  The quick points are: 1) The screenshot is of Powerlabs, not the Powerset search application 2) Yes, the P-word is a possibility, but not something we're actively exploring 3) Expect much more from us in the near future.

What in Lord's name is that screenshot?

It's not a screenshot of Powerset's search application, it's a screenshot of Powerlabs.  I made a video to explain what Powerlabs is, but I'll go into a little bit more detail here.  Powerlabs is a grand experiment to get feedback from users as early in the development cycle as possible.  We're going to open up everything: screenshots, demo applications, relevance tests, technology, UI mockups, and whatever else we can find.  Most companies hide their great ideas under a bushel until they launch, for fear that someone will steal their thunder or that the community will see things that aren't perfectly polished.  Because of that, a lot of sites that are in "Beta" miss the mark.  I firmly believe that Powerset will benefit from all of the encouragement, ideas, and criticism we'll get from Powerlabs.  Our search engine might not be a big surprise when we launch, but I'd trade "surprise" for "great product" any day.

So, what you see in this particular screenshot is a category within Powerlabs exploring how natural language technologies can benefit travel.  We'll ask questions through surveys, gather ideas from community, allow users to comment and rate those ideas, run design competitions for the ultra-motivated, and, of course, show off our concept products to get feedback.  Travel is just one of the many categories that we'll explore, which brings me to my next point. . .

You didn't just say the P-word, did you?

Well, yes, we did.  Except for the fun glossy effect that Siqi created, we didn't alter this image at all from when it was created several weeks ago.  Porn was originally stuck in as a quasi-joke category: we doubted we'd launch a porn category in Powerlabs, but everyone knows that search engines are often used to find various kinds of prurient content, even if it's not polite to mention it in conversation.

However, I apologize to those who were getting excited by the possibilities opened up by natural language porn searches.  Powerset is too busy right now working on getting our natural language engine to understand "politician" and "know" (not in the Biblical sense) to be perfecting more ribald vocabulary.  Sorry to disappoint =)

When we decided to release this image to the outside world, the question was, of course: do we take out "Porn."  The product team stood by our desire to "open up the kimono," as Steve would say.  If we're serious about showing the inner workings of Powerset, then y'all are going to see things that are good, things that are bad, and the in between.  But, we gotta remain authentic.  It's your feedback that we're interested in, which brings me to my final point. . .

Just a screenshot?  Show me the beef!

Powerlabs is all about being open and engaging the community in the process of creating a mind-blowing next generation search engine.  It's only proper that we apply this same philosophy to the building of Powerlabs itself.  This screenshot will be the first of many that we release.  The final version of Powerlabs will likely look much different than what you see today (and that's a good thing!).  So, hit us with your best shot and give us feedback.  'Cause I'm listening.

Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I'm sorta speaking in my official capacity as Powerlabs Product Manager, but this is my own opinion and doesn't necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer.  [In fact, I hope they're OK with this when they read it tomorrow!]

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[Charlie]

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