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Google Delivering Factual Answers

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the delphi's-oracle-jealous dept.

nam37 wrote in about a Macworld article which reads: "Google Inc. on Thursday began delivering factual answers for some queries at the top of its results page, to save users from having to navigate over to other sites and look for the information. For example, if a user enters the query 'Portugal population,' Google returns the answer -- 10.5 million -- along with a link to the Web page where the information came from, which in this case is the population page of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Factbook. The query 'who is Jane Fonda?' triggers the answer '... is an Academy Award winning American actress, model, writer, producer, activist and philanthropist' and provides the link to the Wikipedia online encyclopedia's entry for the actress. A small percentage of queries currently trigger these factual answers, but the service, called Google Q&A, is in its early stages, said Peter Norvig, Google's director of search quality."

21 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. Re:And? by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > Of course, there's a link to the site in question, but as is asked of Wikipedia all the time, what level of accountability is there that this information is correct?

    Shh! The first time someone asked Google that, the damn thing went into recursive mode and blew out three server clusters before the sysadmin team could shut it down!

  2. If you ask Google... by mpupu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Query: What is Slashdot? Google: "... is a site full of geeks with no life" ;) Actually, it tells you what a slashdotting is.

  3. Satisfactory answers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    what is the answer to life, the universe, and everything? although it comes from the Calculator, not from Q and A.

  4. Heh by Sheepdot · · Score: 5, Funny

    My query:
    "Which search engine is the best?"

    Google's response:
    "AskJeeves."

  5. At 7:41 pm eastern time... by PakProtector · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, how long do we think it will be exactly until the Google Pidgeon Clusters become self aware and begin to correlate all this data only to come up with 42, and a recipe for a nice cup of tea?

    --

    Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
    man: no entry for woman in the manual.
    "Qua!?"

  6. I'm completely unimpressed by Da_Biz · · Score: 5, Funny

    It doesn't answer one of the most important questions of our modern times:

    "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

    1. Re:I'm completely unimpressed by TWX · · Score: 4, Funny

      Funny enough, ask.com used to. You'd put in the question and the first reply would be, "What do you mean, an African or European swallow?"

      I think that as ask.com has come to be increasingly corporate that they've removed this unfortunately.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  7. Great! by Anita+Coney · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been curious about Britney's actual breast size for a long time now. Maybe Google will help us end this debate once and for all.

    --
    If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  8. Even Pi is Suspect! by wsanders · · Score: 5, Funny

    Type in "pi" and you get "pi = 3.14159265"

    EVERYBODY knows it's 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375 10582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706 79821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081 28481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381 96442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190 91456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412 73724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364 36

    I hate it when they fudge data like that.

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
    1. Re:Even Pi is Suspect! by hunterx11 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Type in "what is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" and you get a more factual response.

      --
      English is easier said than done.
  9. EXAMPLE: What is a first post? by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Funny
    google query: what is a first post.

    answer:

    "First Post!" is a phenomenon of Internet discussion groups (notably Slashdot and LiveJournal), where participants strive to be the first person to add a comment ("post") to a new article or discussion thread. The phenomenon is largely confined to sites that have reached a high degree of popularity, such that users are genuinely surprised to see an article without any associated comments. There is also the necessary condition that comments are displayed in chronological order (meaning the first ...

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:EXAMPLE: What is a first post? by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Web definitions for Goatse Query: What is goatse?

      google answer:

      Goatse.cx (usually pronounced "goat-see dot see ex", often truncated to goatse, often referenced by one of its current URLs, goat.cx, occasionally called goatsex) is one of the most infamous Internet shock sites. Its front page contains a sexually explicit picture, hello.jpg, featuring a man wearing a gold ring on his left hand (and nothing else) manually stretching his anus and rectum to a diameter roughly equal to the width of his hand. Below the anus, the man's dangling penis and testicles ar

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  10. Is there a God? by StarsAreAlsoFire · · Score: 3, Funny

    "There is now."

    (Stolen from one of the best short stories ever)

  11. Re:And? by rk · · Score: 4, Funny

    What was scary was I asked Google "Is there a God?" and it replied, "Yes. now there is a God."

  12. Hell freezing over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Has there ever been a slashdot thread in which a first post and goatse were on topic and insightful?

  13. It works! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck If a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood?

    "As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood"

    Genius!

  14. how much would he chuck? by nhtshot · · Score: 3, Funny

    how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood

    Answer:
    Woodchuck
    Could Chuck: As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
    According to http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/Woodchuck. shtml

  15. Who's so fat? by darekana · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who's so fat?

    (bad joke... sorry)

    --
    Interactive Visual Medical Dictionary
  16. Semi-OT: your .sig... by ktakki · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.

    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just Google.

    k.
    --
    "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
  17. Re:And? by FLEB · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds to me like what you would say if your mouth was full.

    (chomp-munch-chomp)
    "So... mmf... Bill..."
    (chomp-munch-gulp)
    "Yuh?"
    (crunch... chomp-munch-gulp)
    "There god?"
    (suck-chomp-munch)
    "Ah'uh know."

    --
    Information wants to be free.
    Entertainment wants to be paid.
    You just want to be cheap.
  18. In the case of Wikipedia... by greppy · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...rather a lot of people pee in said fountain.