Ask Yourself This...Why Not Ask?

One of the down sides of having the job that I have is that I need to come up with tons of content on a daily basis for this site. Some days, there's plenty to talk about and that means I spend a couple of hours scanning news stories, writing up articles and throwing some blog posts together. Other days it means spending the entire day reading news source after news source and still coming up with nothing interesting to say. Some days, it also means noticing that every single thing I've written happens to be about Google. Well, to be quite honest with you, I'm tired of writing about Google. So, I've asked myself..."Why not Ask?

Starting today, and running through Friday, I've removed the Google toolbar from Firefox (ok, so it's still there, but I hid it!) and switched my default Firefox search to Ask.com. I'll be using Ask.com as my only search engine for the entire week, just to see if I really notice a difference in the experience. I know that the biggest reason that I (and most others) use Google to search isn't because it's simply what we've become used to. Ask.com has been hard at work recently adding improved feature and adjusting their algorithm, so I figure it's about high time that I gave them a chance to prove themselves to me.

I may blog about this on and off during the week if I notice something worthwhile, but mostly I'll wait until Friday and then write up my experiences. I'll see if I find myself refining searches on a regular basis or wishing that I did have access to Google and Yahoo! if/when I can't find what I'm looking for. I'll also see if I can figure out the benefits of a few Ask specific tools like the binocular preview and Smart Answers.