Google has brought back a blast from the past today by introducing Google Talk Guru as part of Google Labs. Google Talk Guru is a chatbot that you interact with via instant message and he/she/it will respond with answers (or at least try to) to your questions. Guru can give you sports results, weather forecasts, definitions, search results, etc., but was unable to help me as evidenced below. If you use Gmail or have a Google Apps account, you can chat with Guru yourself. Getting started is easy:
- Sign into your Google Talk client (Gmail, Adium, etc.)
- Send a chat invite to guru@googlelabs.com
- Ask Guru your most personal questions
- Alternatively you can get started by going to this link and clicking on “Invite myself to chat with Guru” at the bottom