Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google To Answer Your Questions Directly

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the what-is-the-air-speed-velocity-of dept.

RabbitWho writes "Last week Google launched a redesign of its search results page, and is now introducing some changes to the content of its results too. The company says it will directly answer 'millions of different fact-seeking searches' with short answers at the top of its results. Search for 'Catherine Zeta-Jones date of birth', for instance, and the date shows up at the top, along with where Google is pulling the information from. Google says the feature is based on Google Squared, the experimental search tool it rolled out a year ago that gathers facts from the around the Web and presents them in an organized way. "

12 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Now Googling Catherine Zeta Jones phone number by lorenlal · · Score: 5, Funny

    I did a search for "How to get out of my parents' basement"

    My browser crashed....

  2. I tried... by Codename+Dutchess · · Score: 4, Funny

    1 / 0. Now Google is down. :(

    1. Re:I tried... by Nuskrad · · Score: 3, Funny

      I get the website of 10 Downing Street. Clearly, David Cameron is going to destroy the universe.

  3. all google did by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is just rip off http://ask.com/

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  4. Accuracy? Authority? by Ismene · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This concerns me. If it is just a gathering of facts from the top sites - who is to say that information is even accurate. I find lots of sites that all reference each other with the same false information.

    1. Re:Accuracy? Authority? by JoshuaJ · · Score: 4, Funny

      Indeed. This is why I never use the Internet. Who can trust anything on it? I only stick to carefully fact-checked sites like Slashdot.

  5. Rip off? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are you saying they actually took something that wasn't theirs without permission? Or are you just trying to demonize the natural human process of copying a useful solution one observes from others?

  6. Re:Direct answers by delinear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Google has had the ability to display a subset of specific information for a while - so times, calculations, currency conversion, etc. It sounds like this is intended to increase the scope of that by trying to answer some of the more popular free text queries.

  7. Has existed since '05 by Rufus211 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Google has been answering simple questions since 2005. It was the first 20% time project a friend of mine worked on when he joined the company. I remember that if you asked it "where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" it inexplicably said "Cairo, Egypt". Here's a screen cap showing exactly that from 2005:
    http://www.capsgetpeeled.com/blog/archives/000473.html

    I remember Slashdot had an article about this back then and there's was a google blog or press release, but I can't find either. Anyone remember what this feature was called or have a link?

  8. Re:Yeah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Use http://www.google.com/search?hl=all, problem solved. If you're using Firefox, just right click the search bar and select Add to search bar...

  9. Re:Sounds familiar by bendodge · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, wolframalpha is a math search/AI thingy. You're thinking of TrueKnowledge. It's pretty cool, but it also hideously ugly. Which is a shame, because they had a pretty attractive design when it was a closed beta a few months ago.

    --
    The government can't save you.
  10. Re:Now Googling Catherine Zeta Jones phone number by Nick+Number · · Score: 4, Funny

    Try "How to give up microwave food and re-runs of The Big Band Theory."

    I loved last week's episode when Jimmy Dorsey stole Glenn Miller's girl. Oh the fireworks.

    --
    Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.