Sunday roundup - Wolfram Alpha reviews, new Intel Capital investments, WEF coverage, Orascom's plans and who gets some of the tech IPO fruits

• Yes, computing history was made this past weekend as the much-hyped Wolfram Alpha search engine was launched to the public. The search engine uses yields results after users input such questions has "how far is San Francisco to Dubai" and "what is The National?". 360East calls Wolfram Alpha "a major milestone in computer and knowledge history," while others such as Techcrunch are "not super-impressed." Mark Evans Tech has a good blog post on how hard it is for new search engines - such as the odd-sounding Cuil and Flock - to square up against the looming presence of Google.
• Startup Arabia has some breaking news on new funding investments by Intel Capital for two Jordanian internet companies - Jeeran and ShooFeeTV.My colleague Tom has his own take on the announcement in a Beep Beep blog post.
  
• ArabCrunch travels to the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and posts a pair of Qik-powered interviews on the site with Matthias Lüfkens, the social media manager of World Economic Forum, and Yael Maguire, one of the forum's Young Global Leaders and the founder of ThingMagic, a US-based startup that specialises in RFID technology. Read some of The National's coverage on the WEF summit here and here.
• Orascom Telecom chief financial officer Aldo Mareuse tells The National's Tom Gara that the company will spend this year cutting costs while continuing to focus on its investments in Canada, North Korea and Africa.
  
• Arabian Business has published a series of articles following an interview with Etisalat chairman Mohammed Omran who said iPhone sales in the UAE have begun to increase after cutting the handset's price, legalising Skype would increase the cost of local fixed line calls, and the company's plans to invest in a mobile network in Iran may have been scuttled due to a disagreement with its local partner, Tamin Telecom.
  
• Kevin Kelleher over at GigaOm has an interesting read on how the tech IPO scene may be back, but its only padding the wallets of insider investors.

Photo caption: Orascom Telecom CFO Aldo Mareuse speaks during an interview with

The National

in his office in Cairo. Victoria Hazou for The National.