What is Qwiki? Harry McCracken: Qwiki is one of the highes... Qwiki Just May Be The Future Of Information Consumption. And It’s Here Now. In the late 1980s, Apple created a few concept videos about a device they called the Computer Knowledge Navigator. These videos came up recently when Apple unveiled the iPad, because the machine in the videos is a tablet computer. But that’s about all the iPad has in common with this conceptual device. Instead, a new startup launching at TechCrunch Disrupt today, Qwiki, is much more like the futuristic computer in the videos. To be clear, Qwiki isn’t a piece of hardware.
Instead, it’s a piece of software meant to run on the web and as an app on mobile devices. You can also click on sub-topics or related topics to access more Qwikis with vast amounts of other information. Qwiki was created by Doug Imbruce and Louis Monier. Qwiki has currently raised $1.5 million in funding. Feedback and Q & A by expert judges Jeff Clavier, Gina Bianchini, Jim Lanzone, Ted Maidenberg, and Chris Sacca. GB: What’s the usecase? Qwiki: Don’t call Qwiki search with a voice. Qwiki: The opportunies are unlimited. Qwiki wants to be the multimedia search engine of the future. Startup Qwiki unveiled a new service today that it calls the future of information consumption. Co-founder Doug Imbruce, who demonstrated Qwiki on-stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, compared the site to what you see in science fiction movies like Wall-E, where users ask a computer a question and then receive an answer with relevant images and narration.
Qwiki makes that vision a reality, Imbruce said. You type in a search term, then Qwiki pulls information and media from the Web (from Wikipedia, yes, but from other sites too), then narrates the answer in a computerized voice while displaying related media. Imbruce even took search requests from the audience, looking up “Chris Sacca” (an angel investor who was one of the startup competition judges) and “chipmunk”, then returning a reasonably informative “qwiki” in both cases. The startup judges seemed impressed with the idea, but uncertain about how someone would use it. Qwiki has raised $1.5 million in funding.