In his article on Wolfram Alpha, Spivack says the following:
The Big Deal is that Wolfram Alpha doesn't merely look up the answers like Google does, it computes them using at least some level of domain understanding and reasoning, plus vast amounts of data about the topic being asked about.
This is untrue. Google doesn't merely look up answers. A search for "philadelphia pizza" (sans quotes) returns a Google Local result set. Simple calculation and exchange rates can also be done. There's even a list of such features that demonstrate computation and domain understanding.
I'm not saying Google is perfect, but it's done some things right. It first built up huge indexes of information, then added clever ways beyond a simple search (and at this point even "simple" searches in Google are actually anything but). There may be some tricks to be cribbed from Wolfram Alpha and START and other Emerac wannabes, but Google, with its massive data stores and computational power, is well situated to do so.