ChaCha lets you, literally, ask a question

This post was first updated at 9 a.m. PDT to correct the CEO's last name, which was wrong in information provided by the company's public relations firm. Also corrected was the number of user queries ChaCha has completed thus far. The post was updated again at 10 a.m. PDT with results of tests of the service and a fixed Web site link.

Forget about paying several dollars to use 411!

ChaCha, the human-powered Web search service, has a service that puts all kinds of local search and other information at your fingertips, for free. The company is updating its service at CTIA 2008 in Las Vegas on Tuesday to allow you to ask your questions instead of having to type them in.

To use the new service you can call 800-224-2242 (which spells "chacha") and specify the information you want to an automated attendant. ChaCha then sends you a text message with the answer. You can access your questions and answers on the Web as well.

I tried it out and found it accurate and fast. Within a few minutes of me asking where I could get a veggie burger and a margarita in downtown San Francisco it came back with an answer: Perry's Downtown, 185 Sutter Street "They have a full bar, it's casual and good ratings." Bravo!

The service took a little bit longer with my other question: "What is the genesis of April Fools' Day?" The answer: "Is the day of unknown origin. Yet, most of the western world knows this is a day set aside for good hearted pranks, hoaxes & gags." Fair enough. It's not the best question to use to test out a mobile search service anyway. (For a more information on the obscure origins of the holiday visit Museum of Hoaxes.)

Eventually, you will be able to get the answer via voice too, says Scott Jones, chief executive of ChaCha.

The free service launched in January and so far has signed up more than 40,000 unique users and completed more than 600,000 queries, according to Jones.

There are no ads yet but the company is planning to run them in the second half of the year.

Voice input is great for people who are not accustomed to doing "fat-finger texting" or who are driving.

ChaCha had guides dedicated to the Sundance Film Festival and at South By Southwest but it sounds like Twitter was still the place people turned for information about important events at the show, like which parties had short waiting lines.

[mrc77]

Neat

I just tried this. I called it up and asked "What is the capital of Texas?". I got a text messsage that told me it was "Austin". Not bad! I will store this number in my cell phone now. It kind of reminds me of Google's 1-800-GOOG-411, which I love.

[JJH422]

Wow

I just called the new number and asked "What was the big deal with LeBron being on the cover of Vogue?" and I got back "The big deal is the way LeBron is standing in a King Kong pose, grasping Gisele Bundchen in an overpowering way." I got that in about 3 minutes, that's pretty handy.<br /><br />Also 2 corrections to the article:<br />- ChaCha has answered over 600,000 not 6,000 queries since January 2008. <br />- ChaCha's CEO is Scott Jones, not Scott James as the article referred to him.

[ChipWhitley]

Nice work

Please check your facts before you post. It's Scott Jones.

[vagarob]

link is wrong

the link to ChaCha takes you to a yahoo news article on IBM.<br /><br />&#38; you got the CEO's name wrong.

[AirChina23]

sweet

i just tracked down a dhl package with this, and it told me the hours and location of the local dhl store. this is like 411 on steroids!

[epicinorange]

AWESOME

Who needs OnStar anymore? I think 800-2242-242 just became the new 411 ladies and gentleman

[Sea of Cortez]

Check out Anoox for the real people powered search engine

Chacha is hardly the people powered search engine. <br />If you want the real people powered search engine there is only one, it is Anoox (www.anoox.com)<br />Since Anoox results are totally powered by the knowledge of the people and not given by few low paid hourly employees as is the case with<br />Chacha.

[jozian]

Hmmm...

What kind of people is Anoox using to power it's search? <br /><br />I searched for "what is the cause of flatulance" and the top results, after the ads, were 1) "what is the best cell phone service" and 2) "What is the capital city of.com: The Capital City of World"...

[AirChina23]

About Anoox

I don't see how exactly it is comparable to ChaCha. It is not assisted with immediate human help, and its results are worse than any other generic search engines.<br /><br />I asked: "What is the capital of Hunan?"<br />Results: <br />General &#38; Voted Listings<br />Did you mean this: what is the capital of human ?<br /><br />1. What is the capital city of.com: The Capital City of World<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.what-is-the-capital-city-of.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.what-is-the-capital-city-of.com</a> [+ Vote for this Listing]<br />2. what is the best cell phone service<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://what-is-the-best-cell-phone-service.longdistancetelephonecards.com" target="_newWindow">http://what-is-the-best-cell-phone-service.longdistancetelephonecards.com</a> [+ Vote for this Listing]<br />3. Hell - where is it? What does hell look like? Who is in Hell?<br />What does Hell look like? Who is there? The Hell of the Bible is one of these two pictures.<br />Do you know which one? You might be surprised which one is a picture of hell today.<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://what-the-hell-is-hell.com" target="_newWindow">http://what-the-hell-is-hell.com</a>