It’s easy to get spoiled by computers. You type in a search term and get instant results. The whole Net is at your command, giving you the facts you need. But step away from your desktop or laptop and suddenly it’s not so easy to get the latest scores or look up company documents. certain, some cell phones are getting better at accessing the Web, but you can’t drive and type any more than you can walk and type — although humans try it with disastrous consequences.

Why can’t you just ask for info on your cell phone? Well, now you can. There’s a free service that lets you ask any question by your cell phone that can be answered through a Web search. Your question is reviewed by an actual human being who looks up the reply on the Web and sends it to you in a text letter.

For some reason, that service is

called ChaCha, and despite the odd name, it works great, although it does take a few minutes. You just dial 800-2chacha (800-224-2242) and state your question. You can plus send your question as a text note to “ChaCha,” or 242242, but that gets back to the typing-and-moving problem.

You don’t need to register to use ChaCha, and it works on every major cell phone system. There’s no special codes or key words mandatory, either.

ChaCha works by routing your question to one of the thousands of “guides” who have signed up to work for it. These folks operate at various levels. According to Wikipedia, transcribers (or voice guides) transcribe questions made by phone calls for 4 cents each and send them on to be researched and answered via text notice. Expeditors rephrase questions whether essential (ChaCha refers to that as “succincting”), standardize spelling and capitalization, soon after categorize them…

Orginal post by Mike

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