Another Hunch to Consider
I have decided to take another look at Hunch – The Decision Engine – since it appears to be working once again.
Let’s start with a simple (or perhaps complex) question:
- Which Camera Should I Buy? (I did enter ‘Which digital camera should I buy?’ but this was the closest match)
- Hunch returns the question “How much are you willing to spend?”
- Now it seems that my country of residence is not taken into consideration. I can only guess that my multiple choice of answers is in US$ which is not all that appropriate for me as I live in Hong Kong. Either way, I work out the conversion and answer “Up to $500″.
- Hunch asks “Do you want a “point and shoot”, an SLR, or a Rangefinder camera?”
- I answer “Point and Shoot”. Keep in mind that I actually know which camera I wish to buy, but I want to see if Hunch can figure it out.
- Hunch asks “Would you prefer a camera that fits in your pocket?”
- “Yes”
- “Would you prefer a camera with a wide-angle lens (good for indoor and close group photos)?”
- Actually I am not sure if the camera I want has this feature. I’ll go with a “Yes”.
- “How much zoom do you want?”
- “3x-6x”
- “Would you be willing to pay more for a camera with an excellent LCD display to compose and view photos?”
- Well I don’t see how this would add to the price significantly, but I am always willing to stretch my budget for extra quality so I’ll answer “Yes”.
- “Which of the following is most important for this camera?”
- Um… “Compact size”.
- “How experienced are you?”
- “Intermediate photographer”
- “Would you prefer a camera that can take pictures very quickly?”
- As I reach question 10, I wonder how long will this go on for? Unfortunately I cannot ask that question right now! However do keep in mind that you can select “Skip this question” or “Give me the Hunch” at any time. I like precision so I will continue and answer “Yes”.
- “Is indoor photography without a flash important?”
- Uh, let’s go with “Yes, very important” as I presume this is referring to the equivalent question ‘Do you want a camera that can take long exposure shots?’.
- And the answer is “Canon PowerShot SD960IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image”
OK, well there you have it. This was not the answer I was looking for, but lets see… I am presented with a sponsored link to read more about it on Amazon, which I subsequently click on. At about US$270 this comes in at well below my budget and for the most part is exactly what I want, but it is missing one very important feature – I need it to be waterproof – Unfortunately that was not one of my questions chosen by Hunch.
Oh but hang on, there are some other conclusions that I missed. Above my Hunch are several other tabs with several more Hunch’s:
- “Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 10MP Digital Camera” at US$399
- “Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15″
- or the Wild Card “Samsung NV100HD Digital Camera 14.7MP”
However, I still think that none of these are waterproof. Hence my results are pretty useless. Unfortunately when I type in “Which waterproof camera should I buy?” I am still only given the equivalent question of “Which camera should I buy?”. Let’s try another question which I already know the answer to.
- I start buy typing headphones and select the question “Which headphones should I get?”
- Again “How much are you planning to spend?”
- I answer “More that $100″
- “Which style of headphones do you prefer to wear?”
- “Traditional over-the-head style”
- “Do you want headphones with noise canceling technology built in?”
- “Yes”
- “Where will you be using these the most?”
- “At home”
- “Will you mostly be using this as an:”
- “Audiophile”
- “Does it matter if the sound leaks outside the headphones so that others can hear them at high volume?”
- “Yes, I would rather other people not hear what I am listening to”
- “Does paying extra for design make sense?”
- “Oh, Yes”
- Oh, yes, Yes, YES! “High-Definition Headphones”
Yes! Hunch scored with Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. I think these are probably the most expensive on the market and knowing my expensive taste, of course they are the ones that I want! Well Hunch has pulled through on this one and I have a new found respect for Hunch!
However, my wife is not all that impressed as Hunch does not know:
- Why is the sky blue?
- Why is the sea green?
- Who is the richest man in the World?
Now, this is the main problem with engines such as these. There are just too many questions out there and therefore it may be impossible to get the answer for them from any one particular source. Therefore we may still have to try Wikipedia, Hunch, Wolfram Alpha or in the end we may have to refer to our good old friend Google to give us the answer.
Even though Google’s results are many and require a bit of scanning the page, Google will tell me:
- Why is the sky blue?
- With the number one result a formidable answer from a ’science made simple’ website.
- Why is the sea green?
- With a viable answer in first place from Wikipedia.
- Who is the richest man in the World?
- With another answer from Wikipedia in first place.
- Best waterproof digital compact camera?
- After refining my search to “Best waterproof Olympus digital compact camera?” in first place pop photo tells me about the “Olympus Stylus Tough 8000″
- Best headphones to buy?
- Well I can find a load of good headphones to buy – But I haven’t come across my favourite pair like Hunch did.
So overall Google scores 4, Hunch scores 1. Although, going by Google, and 2nd and 3rd place on Hunch, I may consider the Bose line of headphones now that I am aware of them.
