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October 22, 2006
I have a friend who regularly calls me from his cell phone with random questions that he hopes I can answer. The conversation usually goes like this:
Friend: "Hey, are you near a computer?"
Me: "Yes." (I usually am.)
Then he proceeds to ask me a question that I type into Yahoo! Answers and I read the answer back to him. Anything for a friend, right? But so inefficient!
Now my friend won't need to use his phone to call me to ask his questions -- now he can go straight to the source using Yahoo! Answers on Mobile built on the Yahoo! Answers API. Read Kevin's blog for the details on why he built the application (Kevin is a "soccer dad" in Colorado).
The Answers team here at Yahoo! loves it and Jeremy does a nice job of putting Kevin's work into the bigger picture of what open APIs mean.
As Eric Raymond famously wrote, "Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch." Kevin's particular itch was understanding soccer since his daughter had just started playing, but yours is probably different. Take your pick among our many services and surprise us with your creation -- the possibilities are indeed infinite.
Chad Dickerson
Yahoo! Developer Network
Posted at October 22, 2006 11:04 PM
411Sync has implemented this feature as well by using the Yahoo Answers API. All you need to do is use the search keyword "answers" followed by your question. Users can request information using WAP, SMS and Email. When using SMS, you will get back a list of questions that match your criteria. Users will also get a link to the WAP url which they can click to obtain answers.
Example: Visit http://wap.411sync.com and enter query "answers how much does porsche cost". Or simply TXT 415-676-8397 with similar query.
Posted by: Manish Lachwani at October 23, 2006 12:08 PM
I tried out both Yahoo Answers and 411Sync and they both worked on my mobile phone. It's cool!
Posted by: Ashenafi Desta at October 25, 2006 12:20 PM
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