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Filed under: Search, Web

Hunch answers your questions with questions... and accurate answers

Hunch.com
Microsoft may be branding Bing as a "decision engine" rather than a search engine. But as far as web-based decision engines go, Bing's got nothing on Hunch, a new web tool which emerged from private beta this morning.

Hunch basically lets you ask any question and get a pretty decent answer... after answering a bunch of other questions. For example, if you ask "what netbook should I buy," Hunch will ask you what your priorities are for screen size, battery life, and other features and then offer a few suggestions. You can agree or disagree with the results or read user opinions as well. Users can also create profiles, which help the service learn more about you and offer better results.

Hunch can handle a number of different question types, ranging from "Should I visit Ireland? " to "Is Joaquin Phoenix serious?" Some of the questions you're asked are clearly meant to be funny, but that doesn't mean they won't help you make a good decision. And since Hunch is continually gathering feedback from community members, the questions and answers are likely to continue getting better as time goes on.

While Hunch can't answer some basic questions that Google, Bing, or Yahoo! can handle with ease (what's the weather forecast in my zip code, who won the Oscar for best picture this year, and so on), that's not what Hunch is designed to do. It's designed to help you make decisions, and in a lot of cases, that's exactly what it will help you do. I don't imagine hunch is the kind of service you'll need to use every day. But it could certainly come in handy next time you're trying to decide which cellphone plane you should sign up for, or which movie you should check out for date night.

Filed under: Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Hunch learns about you and answers your questions


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.

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