Getting Answers
When you go to Google and type in “Voice over IP”, you get a list of web sites that are the first 10 of 13,500,000. If you put in “Madeline Albright” you get 104,000 web sites listed. No information yet, just a list of where it might be. Who needs all this? Talk about information overload.
You can frequently find what you want, but you need to have a little luck, and a great deal of patience.
There is a new web site that actually delivers answers. It is called Answers.com. Just go to www.answers.com and try typing something in. For example, if you put in “chipmunk” you get an encyclopedia description, complete with pictures, habitat, eating habits, life span and the works. Try entering “ Philadelphia ”. You get a history of the city, population, current weather, local time, maps and much more. On the more technical side, put in “voice over IP” and you get a plethora of information, including a description of what it is, how it works, along with a graphical depiction of how you might set it up. You are also presented with suggestions for other places to find additional details. What you get is a thoughtfully organized collection of relevant information, rather than a list of web sites that may or may not, have the answer you are looking for.
Other search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN provide lists of places to go to get the information you need. They also provide a lot of advertising. Answers.com does have ads but they are run down the side of the page, not atop your answers.
The information offered is compiled by Guru.net, an Israeli company. They gather information from sources such as Houghton-Mifflin, Columbia University Press, Merriam Websters, Wikipedia, MarketWatch, Investopedia, and Who2.
The only down side I have found is that they have answers for only about one million topics. While that sounds like a lot of information, and it is, there are many more than one million topics a visitor might want to investigate.
On the brighter side, it is free, and does provide instant answers to plenty of questions. I suggest you try it.
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