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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Y! Answers also gets a write up (Note: Registration required - or just use BugMeNot) in today's Washington Post - looks like the mainstream media has caught up with the rest of us...
Something new has appeared at Yahoo! Answers. A rating toolbar for each question and for each answer. These provide the ability to quickly click on a "thumbs up/down" to rate each question/answer. There's a button to "report" the question/answer for abuse, another to email the question to a friend and another to add it to your "watch" list, MyWeb, de.licio.us, MyYahoo! or any other RSS reader.
That's all good and well, but how is this going to improve the community at Y! Answers? The Y! Answers blog says this will help "identify content that is valuable to the community" but does it bring it to the forefront while burying the crud? I don't see this happening now but hopefully it will happen soon.
According to James Derk in his Scripps Howard syndicated column, Yahoo! Answers is now a disaster. He says it was once useful but now is overrun with spam, chat-happy posters and others who simply disregard the guidelines knowing there will be little to no retribution.
I have to agree, sort of. It hasn't become the putrid cesspool the Yahoo! News Message Boards are, but can I see it coming.
Buddhabots have begun making appearances on Yahoo! Answers. Buddhabots' artificial intelligence is being demonstrated according to it's creator. "The Buddhabot is the first and only AI to compete with human beings to provide the best answers on Yahoo Answers new social networking site."
Ron Ingram is the human behind Buddhabots and according to his blog, "I look for questions randomly and let the Buddhabot respond on my behalf." This leaves me to believe Buddhabot isn't scanning Y! Answers and responding faster than a human could which would be rather irritating. It has answered 100 questions over the past three weeks and, to its credit, eleven have been chosen as the "Best Answer." I, a mere human, have a 57% "Best Answer" rate. Phew.
