Google Buys Metaweb

Metaweb, the San Francisco startup that runs the Freebase open database of 12 million interconnected entries on people, places, and things, has become part of Google, the Mountain View, CA, search giant announced on its company blog today. Google (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GOOG]]) said it hopes the acquisition well help it upgrade its search engine so that it can come up with better answers to complex queries such as “colleges on the west coast with tuition under $30,000.” Google said it plans to maintain Freebase “as a free and open database for the world…Better yet, we plan to contribute to and further develop Freebase and would be delighted if other web companies use and contribute to the data.” Metaweb was founded in 2005 by Tellme Network veteran John Giannandrea and former Applied Minds executive Robert Cook; terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/