Ask.com is an iPhone app that is a scaled-down version of its web counterpart. The app allows you to create a profile, and ask and answer questions. It also has a voice-activated button that works flawlessly. You can look at open or closed questions, as well as more than 20 different categories on virtually any topic.
Before you start, they suggest creating a profile. This entails picking an avatar, a screen name and filling out some optional information, such as interests and the like. The process takes a few seconds. After you get an email confirmation, you’re ready to go.
One of the cool features that isn’t available on the desktop version is that you can talk into the iPhone and ask your questions. Its voice-to-text function is more accurate at deciphering the question than some commercial apps that tout this function as their selling point.
Ask.com’s way to differentiate itself from Google and Yahoo! is to offer information from both the web and real people relating to the questions posted. For personal questions, it relies on the community of users. I used to use Ask.com a lot, but what I’ve found lately is that the majority of questions asked and answered are juvenile. This is a problem if you’re looking for a serious answer to your questions. When I first browsed the questions asked, they were stupid, silly and crude. It’s really a 50-50 toss-up. You’re better off just “Googling” it.
A side note: I never answer the questions in the profile that ask you places you’ve lived. Those tend to be security questions that are used at banking sites and the like. I don’t suggest filling those areas out, unless you want it to be public knowledge.
