Answers, not Web sites pls

Sometimes we just want answers when we're searching the Web - not a bunch of Web pages. Wall Street Journal tech writer Walt Mossberg took the time to compare various search engines' ability simply to turn up straight answers (Google has its tiny "Definition" link at the top right of many results pages, MSN Search offers direct answers with some results, and Amazon's A9 has a "reference" button that does the same). For more, Walt recommends Answers.com, a service of Israel-based GuruNet. "Using a variety of reference sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, [Answers.com] generates a thoughtfully organized page of relevant information about your search query without requiring you to click on any further Web links," Walt writes. There is a downside, though, he points out: The service "relies heavily on Wikipedia, which has been criticized because it isn't written or edited by experts." For more on the Wikipedia encyclopedia/community, see this balanced Washington Post piece and this fairly glowing description at USATODAY.