Ask.com, formerly known as Ask Jeeves has today offically dropped its Butler.

The search engine ranked 5th most popular, has also made a number of improvements to try and gain some ground on its competitors. All in all, i’m very impressed with the way it is progressing and it is now a useful alternative to Google.
Here is a brief list of some of the recent features:

1. Related Search - Get to exactly what you want. Narrow your search. Or expand it. It’s the quickest way to get what you’re after.
2. Binoculars - Save time by previewing sites before you get there – no clicking required
3. Smart Answers - Skip the links and get right to the result for all sorts of topics like sports, movies, and the weather
4. MyStuff - An easy way to save your search results and images all in one place
5. Improved maps, including a walking directions tool
6. Encycolpedia search, with Wikipedia results

Add to that some simple branding and Ask seem to be taking themselves quite seriously, and rightly so!