This past weekend I surprised my partner with a little trip away.   We were heading to St. Louis to explore a city that neither of us had ever visited.   This was going to be about a 4 hour drive from our home in Indianapolis.

That morning in my daily Indianapolis business update, I had read an article about ChaCha and their new text messaging service.   We both became addicted to this service as we were on this long road trip.   As ChaCha mentions, our phones had become smarter!

ChaCha is based in Carmel, Indiana and was founded by Scott Jones, the inventor of voicemail(another time-saving invention).   Since I have an interest in all things Indy, I have followed this company’s development.   Originally they started as a human-assisted search engine.   As you searched they teamed you up with an experience guide to help find things on the Internet.   I consider myself a decent Internet researcher so I only tried the service once and then went back to Google.

This new service they added, which I believe will be their ‘œkiller-app’ allows you to send any question, via SMS text message to 242242(ChaCha).   Shortly afterwards you receive an answer that a human has researched for you.   The answer is not always 100% accurate, but they will site their source and give you a URL so that you can read more.

I think it is easy to understand how this can save you time.   So, how can this save you money?     Many ways!

Running out of gas near a state border?   Text: ‘œDriving Interstate 70 West, should I buy gas in Indiana or Illinois?’   Response: ‘œIndiana’

Wondering the cost if you were to head to  a museum or monument?   Text: ‘œWhat’s the admission price to head to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis?’   Response: $10

We used the service to find the best restaurants in St. Louis, to find unique neighborhoods to explore, even to find a quiet gay bar.   To better serve you, the guides can see your previous questions.   If you ask something and you think they may be wrong, or perhaps you didn’t give them enough information, you can resubmit the question for a different answer.

All of the answers tend to have a very friendly tone and they always cite their source.   The service is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week, although it can be slow in the wee hours of the morning.   You need to give them as much information as possible in 160 characters or less and standard text messaging rates apply.      Google(466453) has a similar service but is machine operated and can only understand a limited number of questions.

You can also make money with ChaCha.   Although the compensation details are not publicly displayed, if you have a few hours to spare, you can apply to be a ChaCha guide and can help others search the web.

I plan to use the service to make some money at the next local trivia contest at my neighborhood pub.