Stop lookin. Start zook.in
Posted On Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at at 11:18 AM by Bijesh<Ziva is a mobile search company run by a talented group of folks. This mail is an announcement of their service launch. >
*Zook is going live.
*Zook is a new mobile search which helps you quickly get answers. It identifies clear answers upfront, or interactively narrows down to what you really meant to look for.
Today Zook works for
* Ringtones
* Restaurants (Bangalore)
* Movies (Bangalore)
* Events (Bangalore)
More coming soon - and to more cities too.
To start zook.in
* WAP : http://zook.in/
* SMS : "ZOOK
[when SMSing, remember to always start with "ZOOK ... " ]
If you like what you see, please do include your friends in *groups* or as *friends*, and spread the word about Zook. Also, please send your comments/suggestions to svcfeedback@zook.com.
A short how-to guide can be found at http://www.zivasoftware.com
Happy zook.in
Zook FAQts :
Whats Zook ?
Zook is the new way to use your mobile phone. Let it now be your friend which helps you find a place to eat, or catch a movie, or download fun stuff for your mobile.
Its on your WAP phone at http://zook.in
You can also send an SMS - "ZOOK
[BTW, You can also just use "Z" instead of "ZOOK" ]
So, a local search engine on the phone? So?
Zook is not just a search engine. Zook makes sense of the data, and of what you asked. It analyzes the data, your interests and interprets the likely intent of your query.
A few examples [ Remember : on SMS start all queries with "ZOOK" , e.g. "zook chinese" !! ]
*you* : chinese
*/zook/* :1:Restaurant:Chungs Chinese Corner, Indiranagar
2:Ringtone:Theme Of China Gate, Monotone
......
7: Restaurant (31+)
8: Ringtone (19+)
9: Locality: Indiranagar (5+)
10: City: Bangalore (31+)
*you* : 7
*/zook/* :1:Magnolia, Koramangala, South Bangalore
2:Aromas Of China, Langford Town
....
6: Locality: Indiranagar (6+)
7: Locality: Church Street (4+)
8: Locality: Koramangala (7+)
9: Locality: South Bangalore (4+)
10: Locality: Palace Road (2+)
More
*you* : 6
*/zook/* :1:Wangs Place, Indiranagar
2:Chungs Pavilion, Indiranagar
3:Wan Ley, Indiranagar
4:Gokul Kuteera, Indiranagar
5:Oregano, Indiranagar
6:Vishals, Indiranagar
7:Ramya, Indiranagar
8:Bangalore Mandarin, Double Road, Off Richmond Circle,
OR
*you* : thai kgla
*/zook/* :1.Magnolia, Koramangala
2. Pan Asian Bites, Koramangala
*you* : 1
*/zook/* :Restaurant: Magnolia
Cuisine: SE Asian, Chinese, Thai
Phone: +918041102222
Address: 840, 7th Cross, 15th Main, 3rd Block Koramangala
Bangalore - India (Koramangala ) 560095
1. sms "RES 1 for 5" to 3030 to book a table for 5 at Magnolia
2. ORDER to 3030 for a callback
(these are some things you can "do" now after you find
something. We're adding lots more soon)
OR
you : guru pvr
*/zook/* : Movie: Guru (Hindi)
Theatre: PVR
Timings: 12:00pm, 12:15pm, 3:50pm, 3:30pm, 6:40pm, 6:45pm,
9:50pm, 10:00pm
Address: The Forum, 3rd Floor, Nr. Madiwala Checkpost
Koramangala Bangalore 560095
Phone: +918022067511
And Zook is not just local. Its about your leisure, your music, your
tastes, your choices, your neighbourhood, your *friends*....
Friends ?
Yes. Your friends give you the best references, and beyond a point can give you a way better answer than even we can. So if Zook cannot dig out the answer, it helps pass it on to your friends.
You can create *groups* of people you hang out with for various different things - work, bowling, golf, whatever. Your *contacts* and each set of people can be your 'expert circle' for answers and advice (and soon we'll enrich the data for the entire community based on stuff you find out and share). You can both *ASK *these contacts about choices, or information, and *TELL* them about what you like (whether or not you found it on Zook).
*you : *korean kgla
/zook /:No Matches Found
ASK your friends?
send "ASK
*you* : ask amit, 9878709878 Is there a good Korean place in Blore ?
*amit : *Tell nopes theres a couple of good Japanese ones tho
You can ask more than one friend, and we'll summarize their responses too.
Need WAP ?
Zook works fully featured on both WAP as well as SMS!
SMS is charged at whatever your operator's premium SMS rates are.
Next time you need to look, Zook it!
Rgds,
TeamZook @ Ziva
have u tried it?
not yet :D i got the mail only this morn. should find a WAP phone and check it out sometime.
so finally it is out. I recently attended BarCamp Pune and found a startup working on the same problem. Even Tata Indicom in partnership with Phone Systems, San Francisco did a pilot project in hyderabad and they ultimately shut it down. The key challenge for Ziva would be in providing good search results with some kind of ratings attached to it. And then, there is the cost attached to sms. When I am able to do all this online why would I do it by sending an sms for which my service provider will charge me. It would be very interesting to know if this would succeed.
@Bijesh
Thanks a ton for the free publicity :) I'm hoping ur blog doesnt have a gazillion readers - still need to move the service to our 'propah' server !!
BTW, u can use SMS too ! On BSNL phones I think its just a buck.
@ raks
This is a test launch right now. Blore only, plus some ringtones. We should be adding loads of more data soon, and there are plans (a little later) of enabling users to share content with each other (and hv the search remember them too).
On the sms-cost front - thats an uphill battle - we're working with a few people to try an address that, at least in pockets. Expect something in that direction in some time - but depends a lot on the bigger fish in the pond.
BTW, from today, you can request order-callbacks or table reservation requests on a 100+ restaurants with HungryBangalore once u find them on zook
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!