Walt Mossberg delivers a rave review of the new Ask.com search site, as noted by John Battelle.

I’ve been testing the new Ask.com against the search champ, Google. I’ve found that in terms of relevant results and ease of use, Ask holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches. It has some very nice features Google lacks, including previews of the sites it finds, an easy way to narrow or broaden your search results, and frequent top-of-the-screen answers that lead you directly to core information.

When I tried searching for Sri Lanka, Ask displayed relevant content from the CIA World Factbook (the flag, population, etc) at the top of the page, related news, and links for narrowing and expanding my search (Maldives, Pakistan, Bangledesh, etc.)

Good to keep the search race competitive and not let Google win by default.