I'm highlighting the launch of Google Answers, a paid service where users can post questions and have them answered by expert researchers, marking an early step in human-mediated information retrieval and knowledge markets.
I shared this link to a curated collection of the most fascinating and high-quality responses from Google Answers, showcasing the unique depth and variety of research people commissioned before the service was eventually retired.
I share an overview of how Google Answers functions, referencing a report by a librarian who was fired from the service. I also note Google's $100 million revenue milestone and address my own gender-based assumptions.
I'm looking at how Google uses internal prediction markets to leverage the wisdom of crowds. By letting employees trade on project outcomes, they gather more accurate forecasts than traditional top-down management estimates.
I found the Oracle of Google, a web app that guesses answers to multiple-choice questions using search result frequencies. While effective for queries like India's President, it highlights how current popularity can sometimes skew algorithmic results.
I'm highlighting the launch of Google Finance and Google Mars, two new services providing market data and high-resolution planetary imagery. These tools represent Google's early expansion into niche data domains like financial services and astronomy.