When you need an answer to a very specific question, sometimes the information
just isn’t online in one simple place. For example, let’s say you want to know
if there’s snow on Skyline Boulevard on a given day or the best time of year to
plant beans in the Bay Area. You might find weather reports and planting guides
on many different sites, but for these kinds of questions, a person with the
right expertise can be a lot more useful than a webpage.
That’s why Google acquired
Aardvark, a unique technology company that lets you quickly and easily tap
into the knowledge and experience of your friends and extended network of
contacts. Aardvark analyzes questions to determine what they’re about and then
matches each question to people with relevant knowledge and interests to give
you an answer quickly.
Google was very impressed with the Aardvark team and
the technology they’ve worked hard to build, and so Google is looking forward to
collaborating to see where it can take it. You can learn more about Aardvark’s
underlying technology and premise by reading this paper
recently co-authored by founder Damon Horowitz.
In the meantime, Aardvark
is available today in Google
Labs, so give it try!
