Amazon users will answer your questions

Online retailer Amazon has launched a website that aims to source answers to those tricky questions in life that can't always be answered by a search engine query.

Askville.com is an information-sharing website where users can ask questions and answer queries from others. The site, open to all of Amazon's customers, has been in beta testing since December 2006 and has already been open to a few users, Amazon said.

Similar services already exist, such as the heavily-promoted Yahoo Answers, AnswerBank and the now defunct Google Answers service.

The market for sourcing answers to ad-hoc questions is booming with numerous services springing up that enable you to ask a question via text message, such as Mosio and Cellphedia.