What Are You Zook.in for ?

[ X-posting from the Zook blog ]

People solve a nice variety of needs through the Zook community. Here’s a few samples:

Sports news and updates:
all winners of 2008 US open
olympics medal tally

Distances, though we’re not a maps service:
Choutapal, nalgonda is how far from hyderbad

Meanings, reference, current affairs:
Mesogynist meaning
what is 123 agreement?
where do we’ve nuclear reactors in india?
“in the red” means?
“spaghetti bowl” means?

Status:
pnr status 140494xxxx

Shortcuts:
RelianceGSM’s website Address
electricity bill of CESC online

Curiosity:
world fastest train?
Where is the place ‘Silent Hill’ actually located

Tough Ones!
rajasthani cook supplier Pune
world’s top most prizes after nobel?
malavan weather
Big purchasing dealer for mentha oil in barabanki (we got this!)

To anyone who asks “What kind of questions does Zook answer?”, or “How’re you like XYZ local search?”, the above should provide a clue. We’re amazed at how so many folks are actually SMSing in to figure out answers to whatever pops up in their heads - and the big challenge now is to get to the whole country, so there’s a new tool for the cliched “no such thing as a dumb question”.

Go ahead, ask! ANYthing that you think needs answering on the phone. Oh, there IS the usual “restaurants, movies, stuff” too. http://zook.in or sms query to 57575665

This (Interesting!) Day in History

August 25th, 2008

Once in while we keep getting queries from people wanting to know what happened “today in history” - its a nice natural curiosity driven question that leads one into interesting journeys Aug 25th turns out to be an especially cool one -

today in history:

1609:Galileo shows his first telescope
1825:Uruguay declares independence from Brazil
1981:Voyager 2 at its closest to Saturn,in 1989 to Neptune
1991:Belarus declares independence from Soviet Union
More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_25

Totally thrilling “query” to get for a search engine

We got this a couple of days ago :

Thank u for all ur response give by sms. on 10:50, Aug 19 from city:Mumbai

Its indeed heartwarming that someone not only found Zook useful, but thinks of us as a friend! Hoping to be as useful to many, many more ….

Zookgeist

We haven't got a formal one running yet, but here's a sample of the queries we've been getting:


shraddha vadodara
de taali chennai
sizzlers bangalore
HOW TO PREVENT HEAD ACHE
SHALL MAKE MY MOBILE AS PAID FOR RECIEVING SMS
flambe outer ring road
Chandigarh HR
bial to btm
Who is the leader of BJP
SBI Magnum fund NAV
ENGINEERING ADMISSION 2008 BRANCH WISE VACANCY SEATS
carpenters sarjapura road
ENGINEERING ADMISSION 2008 DEPARTMENT WISE VACANT SEATS
difference between recieve and receive
sun direct introduce Rs. 15 to 140. Channel detail about different pack
Jahnavi college Hyderabad
HBO sat night movies
Nokia Care Behrampore
Reliance GSM helpline

• People have a lot of different kind of questions on the phone!
• A proper matching engine is a must - keywords fail on intent real bad.
• Thankfully, a lot many do NOT think of us as "local search". Its mainly the tech/Bangalore crowd which has this image issue so far. Hmm, need to fix that.
• The community IS playing a crucial role. Need to start involving a large user base next.

In some sense, with the last step, information will get "open sourced" - its not important that is live on our servers, but as long as the one who needs finds the one who knows, we're doing our jobs.

Of course, its imoprtant to keep mining existing/expressed information, such that this traffic may be optimized.

Toy train? Station? A Whole miniature city in Pune!

A query came in for: Railway Museum Pune and while surfing our logs, this caught my fancy.

Answer:

Joshis Museum of Miniature Railways
17/1 B/2 GA Kulkarni Rd,
Next to Sangam Press,
Kothrud, Pune 38
+912025435378 +912025454474
ravi@minirailways.com
http://www.minirailways.com

From the site:

• There are 65 signals, 26 points, fences, lampposts, flyovers, etc. which have been manufactured by hand using chemical etching techniques.
• The entire layout can be operated manually or can be computer controlled.
• Fully functional station yard with 6 platforms, announcement systems, 3 main lines, goods loading facilities, hump shunting, a turntable, crane, etc.

Wow - if I were in Pune, I'd be calling Mr. Ravi and fixing up and appointment for the kids, heck no, for myself to visit this fascinating world this weekend!

I'm discovering so much on Zook, myself :)

"Game events conducted in Tamil Nadu sub-inspector exam"

A user wanted to know more about the process for a Sub-Inspectors post in TN. This was one of the many queries s/he fired towards that end. Amazing how users seek info, even on the move. Its facts, after all, from our point of view, asked through pretty specific questions. Here goes....

Endurance Test - Run 1500m in 7 Min
Physical efficiency:
(min qualifying 6/15)
1.Running:
100m: 15s - 2marks, in 13.5s - 5 marks
OR
400m: 80s - 2marks, 70s - 5 marks
2.Long Jump:3.8m-2marks, 4.5m-5marks
OR
High Jump: 1.2m-2marks, 1.4m-5marks
3.Rope Climbing: 5m-2marks,6m-5marks

Source: http://www.tn.gov.in/tnusrb/annexure2.pdf