“I’m driving from Chicago to Indianapolis, about 30 miles north of West Lafayette. When is the rain going to stop?”
5 mins later:
” You are currently on the edge of the rainstorm, keep going and you should be out of it in 10 or 15 miles.” They were off by 5 miles.

Of course, I pulled over and texted that.

http://forums.techcrunch.com/f.....834啊

-adapted from Anton Ego, Ratatouille

Answer
I am sorry your cold. Since don’t know where I can suggest look in the windows around you do any have clothing displays?

It would be nice if they had a tracking system. Google has that. You don’t even have to have a gps to see where you are with Google.

I think your “article” shows how much time you spent thinking about the service.

First of all, not everybody out there is a nerd who likes or is able to browse for such things as the actual temp in NYC via a mobile browser.

Second of all mobile browsing is still user unfriendly (how about writing something useful like that) and in comparison to text messaging expensive.

Third - there are “developed” countries out there, where text messaging is extremely popular and cheap - see SE-Asia and Europe. The US mobile market is far - and I mean lightyears - behind them in regard of availability, quality of service and acceptance of text messaging.

Fourth, the question for temps in NYC is not dumb or useless. It’s a normal question and somebody who has a cellphone has other needs. Cd somebody pls explain to me, why I should give a dime about the fuel needed for a 737 - this is imho a dumb question.

Fifth, making statements like - this is not scalable is just plain wrong. Why should this service be not scalable? Maybe your definition from scalability differs from mine, but the service is of course scalable, if it is profitable is a different question. You should make proper statements.

Last but not least, the answer from Cha Cha given in comment 33 should have been “He is a arrogant person, who makes public statements without reflecting on new ventures…”

The service is great. Just that it’s not scalable doesn’t mean that “they still suck” With micro-payments in the future, there maybe a business model for this service. I would easily pay up to 99 cents for an instant answer i wouldn’t have access to otherwise. If i were to pay, i would want some kind of service level agreement like response within 15 mins or something like that.

The title of your blog itself leads one to believe your as “fair and balanced” as the FOX News channel! =P

fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

great response, I love this service!!!

They think you are slamming these guys, but in reality you are promoting them, meanwhile building a ‘Bad Ass’ image for yourself as well. You are definitely smart though, and in fact do work hard and have an ability for being sneaky.

Even their PR person (I would assume), who has the second comment here, is still kissing your ass in an indirect way, while promoting their product.

Arrington, you are not as good as you think you are. Need to work at being even more sneaky if you want to have a shot of conquering the ‘Right’ people. Also, I don’t understand why you are trying to ruin your blog, by being sneaky. Keep it real (have you figured out my name yet?)

Funny thing is if the post makes you think, then it has already done its job.

this post delivers !

Ujw
exoticbuddha.com

You and Scott have some serious obstacles. Pls. not another Escient…

1) “NYC sushi 42nd”
2) “NYC Temperature”

They both return pretty good results to me.

there are a couple of things here.

1. Depending on the service you are using (Sprint, Verizon, etc…) there can be lags/delays when sending text messages or pictures.

2. Your question, again regardless of it’s simplicity, could have been in queue.

The point is, just because the question is about basic temperature doesn’t move it to the front of the line to get answered immediately. It doesn’t mean that a future enhancement might include an automation feature for basic questions such as yours, but its just not there “today”.

If Google can provide a Guide a super quick answer, then so be it. Who cares. The next question a Guide may receive will require them to spend 10 minutes searching some obscure site that isn’t even indexed by Google.

The Guide’s goal is to retrieve accurate relevant information using the quickest/easiest resources at their disposal. This could be a search engine, a bookmarked site, heck maybe even an existing opened tab they just read a story from.

Just because ChaCha is a search engine doesn’t mean that a Guide using Google’s results is wrong. Someone submits a search (from the desktop or mobile) to a Guide so “they” don’t have to spend the time finding the answer or they are in a location where searching the internet is not easily accessible.

BTW Mike any Plan to start an TC India ??

No, that is exactly the kind of question someone would ask on their mobile device.

[ For eg., if ChaCha can answer a question like “How much fuel does a boeing 737 need to fly from New York to San Francisco?” or “Which is the most popular Ruby on Rails book?” in 4 minutes.. that’s pretty good. ]

That might be okay for a web user, but a cell phone person isn’t going to ask the first one. I can see them asking the 2nd as they might have just heard about Rails in a conference and want to order a book.

The questions in mobile tend to be very basic 1 or 2 word queries, mainly as it is a pain to type in and also people are on the go when they are using their cell phones. Also this 4 minute response might be okay for some questions, but for ones like “sushi 10125″ or “flights to SFO” the answer has to be nearly instant as the user expects that.

Help me draw the connection between “it isn’t scalable” and “they suck.” I could be convinced that the two are related, I suppose. But I think it’s a little sloppy to equate the two so quickly without a bit more analysis.

Meaning, for me anyway, something that is “useful, definitely” doesn’t by default “suck” just because it isn’t scalable even if scalability is definitely a big problem.

But the big question of course, is what happens to them when the mobile web browsing experience improves? I don’t mind getting paid for my searches, but I certainly don’t want to pay for my searches. This company won’t last long I guess.

Parul
http://www.bhopu.com

AQA was launched in the UK in 2004, broke-even in 2006 and made a profit in 2007. They charge 1 pound per answer in the UK and 2 euros in Ireland. Now, I don’t know how serious these chacha guys are, but for sure IMHO they could make some serious business out of it.

It’s extremely viral at the customer level (in the UK they use to say: let’s ask god…) and may also be licenced as a smart CRM application to various companies or institutions.

/best

Paolo

I stand corrected. But I still feel “What is the temperature in New York city” is a wrong question to ask. Although something like “Which is the best place to have lunch in and around XYZ location - something spicy and easier on the pockets?” is a question that a person will be able to answer very well…

More than search I think this will be great as a discovery tool for some very narrow domains - that actually leverages people’s tacit wisdom.