From factoids to facts Economist (Aug 26) Microsoft is developing an answer machine called Ask MSR. Ask a question and MSR will turn it into several other likely phrases, run the search, then sift through the results. This will save searchers the time and trouble of doing this "manually". MSR is in development and may in time turn up on the Web as the Answerbot. (Drum roll). (Source: Mentioned in TVC Alert)
Also see Gary Price's comments in ResourceSHelf (Aug 30)