GuruNet Launches New Service, Answers.com

GuruNet corporation, heretofore known for software that allowed one-click reference information from the desktop, is now offering Answers.com, which will provide instant reference information. Answers.com strangely enough is available at http://www.answers.com .

Answers.com provides information on "over a million topics," as the press release describes it, using over 100 reference sources, including Wikipedia, Columbia University Press, and Who2.

The search is natural language -- put in your question and away you go. I started with my usual standard, "Why is the sky blue?" I got as an answer Rayleigh scattering, which is apparently the name of the phenomena that makes the sky blue. I got two sets of answers, one from a dictionary and one from Wikipedia.

I then asked How tall is a giraffe? Answers.com confessed it was stumped. I then asked What is a giraffe? That question gave me a large, nicely organized set of information, including encyclopedia and dictionary entries and a Wikipedia entry complete with picture and conservation status.

Some of the information was a bit odd. There was a list of translations for the word giraffe. And at the bottom of the page there was a link to a sign language translation for the word giraffe in movie format. Um, okay, but why?

If you're not into searching, there's a directory of content areas at http://www.answers.com/main/what_content.jsp . There are also some search forms you can take and use on your own site at http://www.answers.com/main/webmasters.jsp .

Posted to Reference | TrackBack