answers posts

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Social Software

Aardvark's question-and-answer service gets a web interface

by Jay Hathaway Oct 14th 2009

Aardvark is a service that using social networking to answer your questions. I've been using it for a while, and it definitely works when you need to find an answer, but using it over IM is a bit annoying. If you're signed up to answer questions, you'll frequently get IMs asking you about things you may or may not know anything about. That's why it's great that Aardvark now has a web interface at vark.com.

You can still use the IM service on top of the web version, but I just went ahead and turned it off. The threaded replies on the web are a lot easier to follow than an IM window full of multiple responses to a question, and the website is quite well-designed. To make getting started with Aardvark a little bit easier, you can sign in with Facebook Connect, and Aardvark gives you the option of using your Facebook interests as areas of expertise to target the questions you're asked.

Tags: aardvark, answers, questions, vark

Filed under: Productivity, Social Software, iPhone, web 2.0

Aardvark iPhone app answers questions on the go

by Jay Hathaway Sep 15th 2009

Aardvark, a service that uses social networking to find answers to your questions, now has an iPhone app. Aardvark starts with Facebook Connect, finds your friends who are using it, and then branches out into friends of friends and the whole network of Aardvark users. You can ask questions and receive answers via IM or the web. The iPhone version is extra-useful, because questions don't always come up when you conveniently happen to be in front of a computer.

You can use the Aardvark iPhone to both ask and answer questions, and select categories to help connect you with the right people. Aardvark claims that most questions are answered in under 5 minutes, after asking 6 people and getting 2 responses. I tested it by asking for a recommendation about banks in Seattle, and I got a useful response after about 15 minutes. GigaOM had better luck asking about cabs in San Francisco, getting an answer in less than 5.

[via GigaOM]

Tags: aardvark, answers, facebook, questions, social networking, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Hunch learns about you and answers your questions

by Jay Hathaway Mar 30th 2009

Caterina Fake knows something about creating a popular website, as evidenced a photo sharing website you might have heard of. Flickr, anybody? Caterina's latest project is something called Hunch, which uses information you give it to provide "hunches" about decisions you have to make. Hunch is meant as an alternative to relatively useless Q&A sites where the people trying to answer your question often break into petty bickering amongst themselves.

I'm not quite sure how Hunch works, except that it asks you questions -- usually 10 or less -- that help you narrow down your decision. As more users start populating the site with information about who they are and what they like, it will get better at making "taste profiles" for each individual user, and thus providing better hunches. It's an interesting idea that could definitely catch on, especially with a founder who's got such a great track record. Hunch is offering sign-ups via email now, so go get on the list if it sounds interesting to you.

Tags: answers, beta, caterina-fake, decisions, hunch

Filed under: News, Search

Wolfram to launch "computational knowledge engine"

by Jay Hathaway Mar 10th 2009

Wolfram Research, the makers of Mathematica, are at work on an ambitious new project that's due to launch in May. It's a "computational knowledge engine." What does a computational knowledge engine do? Wolfram is making as much human knowledge as they can manage computable by the new program, called Wolfram Alpha. Basically, you can ask it a question using natural language and it will give you an answer.

Wolfram Alpha would be quite groundbreaking. Search has come a long way, but Wolfram points out that so far it can only handle questions other people have already asked and answered. A computational knowledge engine might actually be able to provide new answers. So far, the project's site is just a skeleton, but you can request access to test it before it opens to the public.

[via Slashdot]

Tags: answers, search, wolfram, wolframalpha

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Search, web 2.0

MiaMia : Ask Anything, Get Email or SMS Answers. Sometimes.

by Lee Mathews Aug 30th 2008

No, I didn't edit that image, that's actually the first question that pops up on MyMiaMia's flash intro banner. While I'm not certain it's a reference I would make when trying to flog my awesome new web app, it did make me stick around and try it out.

It's a slick concept. Visit the website and type in your query, get an answer sent to your email or cell phone via SMS. Your answers will probably arrive with a short, ceontextual ad at the end (at some point - right now it's just a placeholder).

I figured their example of a dictionary word was child's play, so I threw them a curve: Who played Ash in Army of Darkness? To my amazement, here was the reply: "Bruce Lorne Campbell an American actor, producer, writer and director, best known for his starring role as Ash in the Evil Dead trilogy of horror/slapstick movies."

Tags: answers, questions, search, web 2.0, Web2.0

Filed under: Fun, Photo, web 2.0

Picanswers - Ask questions with photos

by Romeo Wahed Feb 27th 2008

PicAnswers is a site to help you find answers to questions that are difficult to explain without some visual aids. Which, seriously, is genius. Like anything else Web 2.0, it is community based, with the community as a whole doing both the asking and the answering.

Let's say you've had a painting (or picture of a painting) you've had hang on your wall ever since you were a kid and you suddenly wanted to know who the artist was or what the story behind that painting is. Take a photo, upload it, ask your question, and wait for responses. The community is still growing, so don't expect an avalanche of comments at once, but it looks like PicAnswers is picking up momentum and people are getting their questions answered.

Even if you have no particular question of your own, checking out some of the things that other people are pondering about is fun. It's almost like show and tell - except that it's more like show and ask. Sate your curiosity, ask some questions, share some knowledge, and learn a thing or two.

[via gHacks]

Tags: answers, fun, photos, picanswers, questions

Filed under: Fun, Internet

Hoosgot - The return of LazyWeb (in spirit)

by Romeo Wahed Dec 31st 2007

Hoosgot is a little project by the guy that started Tenchorati, David Sifry, who found himself with too much holiday time on his hands as he was reminiscing about the good old days of the LazyWeb. So he decided to put that time to good use and create a site to revive the old spirit as well as make it work with Twitter.

It functions like this: you make a Twitter tweet or blog post with either @hoosgot or hoosgot in it, respectively, with a question that you would like answered. Hoosgot will then scoop up your tweet/post and throw it up for the world to see. And, if the world is feeling generous that day, you may get an answer or some replies to your question by other people who are paying attention to Hoosgot.

This means that the juice that is supposed to fuel this operation is the concept of sharing and giving, which there's arguably enough of that this might work. However, there is a lingering sensation that suggests that this is kind of what Twitter and a few other sites do already, without the picture of outer space.

[via Mashable]

Tags: answers, hoosgot, lazyweb, questions, twitter

Filed under: Business, Internet, Productivity, Web services, Yahoo!, Search

Yahoo! adds Answers and Wikipedia into oneSearch

by Chris Gilmer Oct 6th 2007

Yahoo! has added content from Yahoo! Answers and Wikipedia into mobile search platform, oneSearch. When searching for information on mobile devices, users don't have time to fool around. This new mobile step will add a lot more functionality to oneSearch, delivering additional relevant answers and information that searchers are trying to grab quickly.

Yahoo! Answers and Wikipedia is available to oneSearch users in 18 countries including all of North America, Latin America, the UK as well as other European and Asian countries. Also available at oneSearch now, some handy information when traveling, flight statuses. Search your flight information and you get a quick look at flight status, gates and time.

Tags: answers, mobile, onesearch, search, wikipedia, yahoo, yahoo-answers

Filed under: Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Tucows redesigned to offer solutions as well as software

by Brad Linder Aug 1st 2007

A while back, Tucows was known as one of the internet's top sources for downloadable freeware and shareware. But if you kind of forgot about Tucows, what with Download.com, FileHippo, and hundreds of other download sites out there, you're probably not alone.

Well, this week Tucows launched a major new site design that highlight's a new focus: solutions. You can still find and download boatloads of great software from Tucows. But the web page now prominently features a solutions center with advice for everything from what software to use when setting up a blog or website to instructions on how to use BitTorrent.

There's also a social aspect to the new design. Registered users can vote articles up or down and popular articles are featured on the front page.

Tucows has been publishing these articles for a while now. In fact, many of them are written by Download Squad alum Jordan Running who left our humble blog earlier this year to become a resident expert over at Tucows. It's nice to see the site give these excellent tutorials and explanations a more prominent place on the home page.

Tags: answers, jordan running, JordanRunning, solutions, tucows

Filed under: Design, Developer, Fun, Internet, Blogging, Web services

Poll the world with PollMappr

by Chris Gilmer Jul 10th 2007

Are you dying to know some answers to a brewing question you have? Get the answers out with PollMappr.

There are plenty of online poll generation tools that demand a fee for usage, and a few free ones that tend to stray on the dull side. PollMappr lets users put polls on their blogs, websites or social network. The fun doesn't stop there however, PollMappr maps where on earth the answers are coming from. Upon viewing the poll results, users and poll generators can click and be taken on a trip through Google Earth to see where people came from.

So not only do you get your questions answered in a few simple steps, you can study the pinpointed locations and get a better understanding of your polls respondents.

Gallery: PollMappr

Tags: answers, earth, google, map, poll, pollmappr, questions

Filed under: Design, Developer, Fun, Internet, Web services, Search

eBay and Yahoo get together and build a toolbar

by Chris Gilmer Jul 5th 2007

Last year eBay entered into an advertising agreement with Yahoo, part of that agreement was to build a co-branded toolbar. It's now available.

The new eBay toolbar uses both Yahoo and eBay features to power it. With it users can search for items on eBay or Half.com, and search with Yahoo using Yahoo Local, Yahoo Video and Yahoo Answers among others. The toolbar also has one click access to Yahoo Mail, and gives direct access to eBay.com. Complete with account guard to protect auction accounts and eBay auction Alerts.

The eBay toolbar featuring Yahoo is currently available for Internet Explorer Windows users only, with a Firefox version in development.

[via AuctionBytes]

Tags: answers, auction, ebay, ie, internet explorer, InternetExplorer, local, nt, search, toolbar, video, vista, windows, xp, yahoo

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Web services, Social Software

Live questions and answers with Fluther

by Chris Gilmer Jun 28th 2007

We sometimes like the comfort of getting an answer from a real individual rather than just searching for it in our favorite search engine, and Fluther understands that.

Ask a question to Fluther, and they will route it to the appropriate people. With their online service users simply ask a question, that question is sent out to get an answer from people that can help. Not only that, but if you have a specialty that you can help other users with, you can share your knowledge with others.

Sounds like a great idea, especially if questions can be discussed in real time with other members.

Tags: answers, fluther, live, questions

Filed under: Web services, Google

RIP Google Answers, 2002-2006

by Jordan Running Nov 29th 2006

Google has unexpectedly terminated Google Answers, its question-and-answer site that allowed expert searchers to get paid for answering questions. The service will stop accepting new questions in the coming days, and will stop accepting new answers by the end of the year. In their post to the Official Google Blog, Andrew Fikes and Lexi Baugher, whose very very first project at Goolge was Answers, don't really give an answer for the service's closing, but say that "Google is a company fueled by innovation, which to us means trying lots of new things all the time -- and sometimes it means reconsidering our goals for a product."

Though the pay structure meant that Google Answers' answers were generally very thorough and accurate, it would seem that Yahoo! has found more success with its recently-expanded Yahoo! Answers. If you want to see some of the best answers (and questions) Google Answers produced, I recommend checking out Best of Google Answers.

Tags: andrew fikes, AndrewFikes, answers, google, google answers, GoogleAnswers, lexi baugher, LexiBaugher

Filed under: Business, Internet, Utilities, Web services, Yahoo!, Social Software

Yahoo! partners with Answers.com

by Chris Gilmer Nov 21st 2006

Answers.com, the pretty comprehensive reference site that holds information on close to four million topics, has teamed up with Yahoo! Answers to launch question and answers content. This new service will add human insight into the mix. How will it work? Yahoo! and Answers.com will be sharing its user base and connecting people to the information they are looking for, with the people that can provide it. Users of Answers.com will be able to view relevant questions and answers from Yahoo, and will also be able to click through to Yahoo! Answers to ask any questions they might have. Sounds like a nice partnership, which will surely add benefit to the users of both websites.

Tags: answers, question, yahoo

Filed under: Web services, Microsoft, Social Software

Windows Live QnA: Answers care of Microsoft

by Jordan Running Aug 29th 2006

Microsoft has launched Windows Live QnA, an ask-a-question-get-an-answer site in the style of Yahoo! Answers and Google Answers. The site, currently in beta, relies on a reputation system whereby good answers (as determined by the question's original poster) increase your "score." It's got plenty of Web 2.0 trappings, including tags and integration with Windows Live Messenger (in the form of your Messenger contacts being highlighted), and there's a "Superstars" page that shows which users currently have the highest score. Microsoft Program Manager Betsy Aoki describes some of Windows Live QnA's more interesting features and gives some tips on how to garner the best results on the service's official blog.

Tags: answers, googleanswers, microsoft, qna, questions, social, windowslive, windowsliveqna, yahooanswers

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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