<s>
Quack.com	B-Application
was	O
an	O
early	O
voice	B-General_Concept
portal	I-General_Concept
company	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
founded	O
in	O
1998	O
by	O
Steven	O
Woods	O
,	O
Jeromy	O
Carriere	O
and	O
Alex	O
Quilici	O
as	O
a	O
Pittsburgh	O
,	O
Pennsylvania	O
,	O
USA	O
,	O
based	O
voice	B-General_Concept
portal	I-General_Concept
infrastructure	O
company	O
named	O
Quackware	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quack	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
company	O
to	O
try	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
voice	B-General_Concept
portal	I-General_Concept
:	O
a	O
consumer-based	O
destination	O
"	O
site	O
"	O
in	O
which	O
consumers	O
could	O
not	O
only	O
access	O
information	O
by	O
voice	O
alone	O
,	O
but	O
also	O
complete	O
transactions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quackware	B-Application
launched	O
a	O
beta	O
phone	O
service	O
in	O
1999	O
that	O
allowed	O
consumers	O
to	O
purchase	O
books	O
from	O
sites	O
such	O
as	O
Amazon	O
and	O
CDs	O
from	O
sites	O
such	O
as	O
CDNow	O
by	O
answering	O
a	O
short	O
set	O
of	O
questions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
deal	O
with	O
Lycos	B-Application
was	O
announced	O
in	O
May	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
September	O
2000	O
Quack	O
was	O
acquired	O
for	O
$200	O
million	O
by	O
America	O
Online	O
(	O
AOL	O
)	O
and	O
moved	O
onto	O
the	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
campus	O
with	O
what	O
was	O
left	O
of	O
the	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
team	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
its	O
acquisition	O
by	O
America	O
Online	O
in	O
an	O
effort	O
led	O
by	O
Ted	O
Leonsis	O
to	O
bring	O
Quack	O
into	O
AOL	O
Interactive	O
,	O
the	O
Quack	O
voice	O
service	O
became	O
AOLbyPhone	B-Application
as	O
one	O
of	O
AOL	O
's	O
"	O
web	O
properties	O
"	O
along	O
with	O
MapQuest	O
,	O
Moviefone	O
and	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Constructing	O
a	O
voice	B-General_Concept
portal	I-General_Concept
required	O
integrations	O
and	O
innovations	O
not	O
only	O
in	O
speech	O
recognition	O
and	O
speech	O
generation	O
,	O
but	O
also	O
in	O
databases	O
,	O
application	O
specification	O
,	O
constraint-based	O
reasoning	O
and	O
artificial	O
intelligence	O
and	O
computational	O
linguistics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
patents	O
assigned	O
to	O
Quack.com	B-Application
include	O
:	O
,	O
and	O
recognizing	O
the	O
axiom	O
that	O
in	O
interactive	O
voice	O
systems	O
one	O
must	O
"	O
know	O
the	O
set	O
of	O
possible	O
answers	O
to	O
a	O
question	O
before	O
asking	O
it	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quack.com	B-Application
was	O
spoofed	O
in	O
The	B-Application
Simpsons	I-Application
in	O
March	O
2002	O
in	O
the	O
episode	O
"	O
Blame	O
It	O
on	O
Lisa	O
"	O
in	O
which	O
a	O
"	O
ComQuaak	O
"	O
sign	O
is	O
replaced	O
by	O
another	O
equally	O
crazy	O
telecom	O
company	O
name	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2010	O
,	O
quack.com	B-Application
became	O
the	O
focus	O
of	O
a	O
new	O
AOL	O
iPad	O
application	O
,	O
that	O
was	O
a	O
web	O
search	O
experience	O
.	O
</s>
