Go Ahead, You Can Ask Anything
AskMeNow Service Sends Answers
To Your Handset In a Matter of Seconds
If you're one of those people who thinks he's always right, but can't prove it on the spot, we might have just the technology for you.
This week, my assistant Katie Boehret and I tested a new service called AskMeNow that attempts to be like a digital version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire's phone-a-friend. This service works by answering questions of all sorts in just a few minutes for free, or in some cases for 49 cents per question.
AskMeNow answers your questions in SMS or email format, sent directly to your mobile device, for free or 49 cents each.
AskMeNow, based in Irvine, Calif., is a division of Ocean West Holding Corp. and is currently only available in beta (or prerelease version), but its full-scale service will come out in the beginning of next month. Its concept is very straightforward: You send questions to the service by calling from your cellphone or emailing directly from a portable smartphone, and answers are sent back to your phone or hand-held via Short Messaging Services (SMS) or email within about a minute.
Questions can be asked for free using a form-entry method, called "auto answers," or by calling in questions that don't fit into one of the form-entry categories. (These are referred to as "AskAnything" questions, and they are the ones that cost 49 cents each.)
To answer your questions, the company employs real people who sit at computers in the Philippines, furiously researching the Internet (using data from content partnerships) trying to respond to your queries within three minutes. This doesn't always mean the response is correct. It simply means that the retrieved information was online somewhere. But our results proved rather accurate.
If your question has been asked before, it's more likely to get a faster response because its answer is already on file. AskMeNow reserves the right to not answer questions that aren't family friendly. The service sometimes answers opinion questions using opinions posted online, but we couldn't get an answer to our question, "What is the hippest bar in Washington, D.C.?"
To start using AskMeNow, users must go to its Web site,
www.askmenow.com, to enter sign-up information including your name, ZIP Code, country and cellphone number; you'll never have to enter credit-card information as fees are all charged through your carrier. BlackBerry users also need to enter their email addresses, because answers are emailed to BlackBerrys. On all other phones and devices they are sent via SMS.
AskMeNow began its testing with BlackBerry devices, and these hand-helds are still the most compatible with the service right now. Katie used a BlackBerry 7290 to test a few features, including a downloadable version of the program that resides on your hand-held. This included eight icons for auto-answer questions, or form-entry categories, that make it simple to get information about certain categories including weather, stocks, directory assistance, sports, movies, flights, directions and horoscopes. Answers to these questions are free, excluding carrier fees.
Next month, AskMeNow plans to offer downloadable auto-answer programs for other phones and gadgets, including the Palm Treo and other cellphones. Extra icons will also become available, eventually including one that saves local settings so you can more easily ask about restaurants, movies and weather in your area.
Katie tested these auto answers with questions about the weather in the small town of Batesville, Ark., by entering the city and state in the appropriate blank spaces. About 10 seconds later, an email message including the five-day forecast for this locale appeared in her inbox. Another question returned the name, address and phone number for a nearby movie theater where "In Her Shoes" was playing, by just entering the movie title. She also saw final scores for a Red Sox game by selecting "MLB" from a list and typing out the team name.
I used my Treo smartphone to sign up for AskMeNow, and asked my questions by calling 585-419-0412. Currently, instructions for call-in questions are as simple as stating your question and hanging up, but when the service comes out of beta (and the phone number changes to 1-888-EZ-ASK ME), it will offer more-specific narrations to differentiate between auto-answer questions and others that fall under the AskAnything category and incur a 49-cent fee per question.
I asked why the leaves on trees were green and received a formulaic, but seemingly correct, answer involving chlorophyll.
Katie also tried the call-in questioning, asking a specific question about the average life expectancy of males and females, as well as a general question about whether it's worse for your health to smoke every day or drink every day. The first question returned a satisfying answer from the National Center for Health Statistics, but AskAnything said it couldn't respond to the second question due to company policy. The question was actually interpreted incorrectly as "What is worse for your house" instead of "health." Exaggerated pronunciation must be used for the call-in questions, we learned.
You can also ask these AskAnything questions using the downloadable hand-held program, which Katie did by selecting the AskAnything icon on her BlackBerry, typing out a question and pressing send, just like with regular emails. At its start, the company expected users to ask more cut-and-dry questions, but it soon found questions coming in that ranged from what to wear on a date to why the sky is blue (we also asked the latter).
We asked some tough questions like, "Where are the Rolling Stones playing tonight in Washington, D.C.?" and "Why do men have nipples?" But we got accurate responses to both. Katie even tried a snarky question: Why are girls smarter than boys? But the response just said that her question was unanswerable due to editorial policy.
In its release mode, AskMeNow will run one-liner "sponsored by" references to other companies at the very bottom of each answer response. It will also sell ringtones, cellphone wallpaper (screen designs) and games using icons in the auto-answer section.
Users who sign up for the service now will have to re-register with the revised version that will be released in November, as that new version won't be able to transfer accounts from the current registry. But sign-up doesn't take long at all.
If you're asking yourself whether AskMeNow is worth a try, we think the answer is yes. But take heed, all ye who think you've found the way to prove that you really are always right; AskMeNow just might prove you wrong.
百问百答的手机新服务
如果你认为正确答案就在自己手中，但又无法当场得到验证，那我们可能有你需要的服务。
10月初，我和助手凯蒂?伯莱特(Katie Boehret)体验了一种叫做“现在就问我”(AskMeNow)的新服务，它有点象“谁想当百万富翁的电话朋友”节目的数码版本，能在短短几分钟内免费给出各种问题的答案，在有些情况下一个问题收费49美分。
AskMeNow的服务商位于美国加州欧文市，是Ocean West Holding Corp.旗下的公司，目前AskMeNow服务尚在试运行期，不过全面服务将于下月初开始。这项服务的商业模式很简明：你用手机打电话或用智能手机发送电子邮件给AskMeNow提出问题，约一分钟后答案就会以短信或电子邮件方式发到你手机或掌上设备上。
如果用户将问题填入标准格式后发问，则能免费获得答案，这叫做“自动回答”模式，如果问题不在现有内容中，则可以打电话提问。（这叫做“随便提问”模式，每个问题收费49美分。）
AskMeNow公司在费城聘请员工坐在电脑前回答用户的问题，工作人员利用互联网迅速搜索答案（查询有合作关系的内容服务商的资料），尽可能在三分钟之内给出结果，但并不保证答案始终正确，只能把网上找到的结果如实反馈给用户。不过我们在试用过程中感觉答案相当准确。
如果你的问题以前有人问过，那结果可能会快一些，因为系统会保存回答记录。AskMeNow对非善意问题保留不予答复的权利；针对评价类问题，有时它会用网上的民意调查结果作为答案。不过，我们提的问题－－“华盛顿最时尚的酒吧在哪里？”－－没有得到回答。
要使用AskMeNow，用户必须先去公司网站
www.askmenow.com注册，包括姓名、邮递区号、国家和手机号码，不需提供信用卡资讯，因为费用是通过电信服务商收取的。BlackBerry掌上设备的用户须输入其电子邮件地址，因为答案是以电子邮件发出的；其他手机和掌上设备则以短信方式发出。
AskMeNow在BlackBerry上开始试运行，目前这种掌上设备与该服务的兼容性最好。凯蒂用BlackBerry7290型测试了几个功能，包括试用一个内置于掌上设备的可下载程序。该程序包括8个用于“自动回答”的功能图示，让用户便捷地获得天气、股票、目录帮助、体育、电影、航班、地图和占星等方面的资讯。这些答案都是免费的，电信服务商收取的费用除外。
AskMeNow计划于11月份向其他手机和Palm Treo等掌上设备提供可下载的“自动回答”程序，也会增加新图示，最终会加入一个保存本机设置的功能，使用户能更方便地查询当地餐馆、电影和天气等资讯。
凯蒂用自动回答服务询问了阿肯色州巴泰斯维尔小镇的天气情况，只要在相应的地方填入州和城市的名字，约10秒钟后手机信箱就会收到一封邮件，给出该地未来五天的天气预报。另外，她只要输入电影名称，就能得到离她最近的放映该片的影院名称、位置和电话。她还从目录中选择了”MLB”(美国职业棒球大联盟)并输入了球队名称，便查到了红袜队(Red Sox)参加的一场比赛的最终比分。
我用自己的Palm Treo智能手机注册了AskMeNow服务，拨打585-419-0412提问。目前的语音提示很简单，让你说出问题并挂机，不过全面服务推出后（届时电话号码会变为1-888-EZ-ASK ME），将会有更详细的语音提示，以区分免费的“自动回答”和每条49美分的“随便提问”。
我提的问题是为什么树上的叶子是绿的，收到一个术语连篇但似乎正确的答案，提到了叶绿素等等。
凯蒂也试用了电话提问方式，问的是男性和女性的平均寿命，以及每天抽烟喝酒对健康是否有害。第一个问题的答案令人满意，是国家健康统计中心的资料，但在第二个问题上，“随便提问”服务的反馈是：因公司政策无法回答。其实问题被错误理解成了是否对“房子”(house)有害，而非“健康”(health)，看来系统会对提问者的发音有些超乎寻常的理解。
我们还用手机上的可下载程序问了几个“随便提问”的问题。凯蒂在BlackBerry上选择“随便提问”图示，提出一个问题，然后按下发送键，和普通的电子邮件方式一样。一开始AskMeNow公司以为用户会问一些乾脆俐落的问题，但很快发现有些问题有如天马行空，比如“我约会时该穿什么衣服？”、“天空为什么是蓝色的？”等等。（第二个问题我们也问了。）
我们也提了一些刁钻的问题，如“滚石乐队今晚在华盛顿什么地方演出？”、“男人为什么有乳头？”，但获得的两个答案都很准确。凯蒂甚至还提了一个尖刻的问题：“为什么女孩比男孩聪明？”不过反馈的回答是：因编辑政策无法回答。
在全面服务推出时，AskMeNow会在每条答案的下面打上一条“由某某公司赞助”的广告，公司还会经营手机铃声、壁纸以及在“自动回答”区自带的游戏。
现在已注册这项服务的用户在11月份完整版推出后需重新注册，因为新版本无法继承现有版本的注册帐户，好在注册不用花很长时间。
如果你想知道AskMeNow服务是否值得一试，我们的回答是肯定的。不过要留神，你可能以为找到了方法证明自己总是对的，但AskMeNow也许会证明你是错的。
