Update: Launching Tonight!

Thanks for your feedback!  Due to popular demand, the launch will occur ahead of schedule.  We're launching it tonight at 6pm PST, so be sure to visit Ask.com starting at that time if you'd like to check it out.  (What better way to pre-party on a Friday night than to Gamma-test a new search product?  Put on a little Duran Duran and test away!) 

Gamma?  Yes.  The new product is being released in Gamma mode, which is one step beyond Beta, but still not ready for primetime.  Thus, it will be live on Ask.com, for all users, during the test period.  Please send us your comments with recommended improvements.

Details are below in an advance copy of the press release:

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Ask.com Introduces RhymeRank™

Cutting Edge Technology Provides Phaster and Phresher Related Search Results

Oakland, CA, April 1, 2006 – Ask.com announced today the introduction of RhymeRank, an innovative search technology capable of producing related search results that rhyme with a searcher’s original query.  The new product is located on the right-hand side of the Ask search results page, under the heading, “Rhyme Your Search.” 

“This will go down as the day the momentum in the search wars shifted to Ask.com,” said Jim Lanzone, General Manager of Ask U.S.  “When combined with our site’s already-powerful “Narrow Your Search” and “Expand Your Search” capabilities, “Rhyme Your Search” sets Ask.com apart with the unprecedented ability to suggest phat new ideas for your search.”

RhymeRank was developed at a top-secret laboratory near Ask’s headquarters in Oakland, California.  It is based upon the educational theory that people commit information to memory more effectively when it is phonetically consistent.  Understanding this, Ask hired dozens of experts to develop algorithms capable of producing the best and most irrelevant rhymes.  For example, for the query, “Weight Watchers® Rewards”, Ask.com’s RhymeRank will suggest the following alternative searches:

Rhyme Your Search
mongolian hordes
the history of fords
pictures of fjords
maternity wards
create free message boards
names of drug lords
toward or towards
chart of guitar cords
bill cosby awards
roman legions swords

“Web 3.0 is clearly upon us,” noted John Battelle, author of The Search, and one of the world’s leading experts on the search industry.  “RhymeRank smartly builds upon the recent relaunch of Ask.com.  This is a BIG DEAL and is the kind of innovation that demands Ask’s rivals stand up and take notice.  Or to sit on the sidelines in the position of the lotus.”

“Aspiring rappers and poets are a huge, untapped market,” said lead engineer Keith Hogan.  “Someone will win a Grammy or Pulitzer one day using this product.   Or, at the very least, an Open Mic Night.”

Ask.com is a trademark of IAC Search & Media, Inc.  All other marks are the trademarks of their respective owner.