If that doesn’t sound very exciting, that’s because … it’s not. Apparently, the innovation well is running a little dry at Ask.

“At SXSW last year, we experimented with polls,” Ask’s director of product management Frank Loeffler told me yesterday. “We built an app called PollRoll … and saw a fantastic level of engagement.”

Users could ask any question, serious or entertaining, add some answers, and send it to any number of other users. People ended up creating over 90 polls, Loeffler told me, and that gave Ask some new thoughts about an old idea.

“This is actually an underserved market,” Loeffler said. “People think polls have been around forever and they’re no big deal. But we think it’s perfect for our brand and our customers.”

So Ask created a polling platform that allows the company to make polls and place them anywhere on the site. At first they’ll be editorially curated, but over time, anyone will be able to create and publish a poll. Ask’s goal is to help users explore more about topics, ultimately learning more than if they just find a simple answer.

There’s a risk to that, of course, given the nature of web users. One question I checked about best smartphone models, for instance, featured the “samsaung ipenis 3000000000″ as an answer. When I re-checked hours later, it had been deleted.

But the bigger risk is that the site that basically started the question-and-answer genre that Quora and others have since virtually taken over has devolved into a pageview-generation engine with cheap and easy “engagement” strategies, irrelevant ads, and no significant innovation in fostering either the development of great answers or the type of community that will create them.

This, for example, was the only answer I saw to a question about the impact of Pearl Harbor:

That is not going to win you an A on your school paper. And it can’t possibly compete with the average level of the worst answers on Quora.

And adding polls to a foundering Ask might put a few more dollars in owner InterActive Corp’s wallet temporarily — it needs them, after spending almost $2 billion on the site last decade — but it’s not going to transform a nag into a stud.

No, it’s no Google, and not even a Yahoo, but Ask.com still gets three percent of U.S.-based query volume, and had almost 150 million unique visitors in October 2012, according to Compete.com.

Which makes it about 100-150 Quoras.

Quixey indexes Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry apps not just by their title and description, but by everything that is said about them online. That makes Quixey’s results much more relevant, according to Quixey CEO Tomer Kagan.

“With apps we’ve taken a step forward in terms of functionality,” Kagan told me yesterday, “but a step back in terms of discoverability.”

Starting at 5PM today on Ask.com, app-related searches will automatically include apps in the primary search results. Alternatively, users who wish to restrict the search results to apps only, can simply click the Apps tab:

This is Quixey’s biggest integration to date, having previously integrated with companies such as Skyfire and Appthority.

The company is a B to B to C play, meaning that it does not provide services directly to consumers, but simply works through other consumer-facing companies. In fact, while Quixey has a website that demonstrates app search, there is not a single employee in the company whose responsibility it is to maintain that page, Kagan said.

The integration means that searching for apps will be a whole lot easier — and better, Kagan says.

“Often an app is a better result than a web page,” Kagan told me. “For example, if I want to find the best hikes in my area.”

From Ask.com’s perspective, adding app search rounds out its results, and opens new doors. For example, queries such as “watch Toy Story” will now include links to Netflix and Hulu, where users can actually watch the entire movie.

“Apps are gateways to some of the most top-notch digital content out there, so this integration fits perfectly with where our product is headed, especially when it comes to mobile devices,” Ask COO  Shane McGilloway said in a statement.

photo credit: schnaars via photopin cc

But question and answer site Ask.com‘s year-end review of what was big and popular in 2012 focused, appropriately, on the questions people asked over the past year.

Sure, Gangnam Style is huge … but what the heck is it, actually? And Lance Armstrong has been semi-officially disgraced … but did he actually take performance-enhancing drugs? Mitt Romney said something about 47 percent of us … but what, exactly?

“With nearly half of the queries on Ask.com in the form of a full question, we get a snapshot of not only what captured consumers’ attention, but also what piqued their curiosity,” Valerie Combs, vice president of communications for Ask.com, said in a statement.

The result is a fascinating insight into not just what people are searching for, but why. And what, specifically, they want to know about a person, event, or concept.

Here are Ask’s top news search terms for 2012:

1. 2012 Olympics. How many medals did the US gymnastics team win?
2. Hurricane Sandy. What is the damage from Hurricane Sandy?
3. Black Knight shooting. What happened at the Colorado shooting?
4. Jerry Sandusky. What is Jerry Sandusky’s sentence?
5. iPhone 5. When will the iPhone 5 be released?
6. Facebook IPO. When is the Facebook IPO?
7. Lance Armstrong. Did Lance Armstrong take drugs?
8. Whitney Houston. How did Whitney Houston die?
9. Costa Concordia. How did the Costa Concordia sink?
10. Trayvon Martin. Why was Trayvon Martin Shot?

Political queries were, understandably, dominated by the 2012 U.S. presidential election. However, social issues such as rape and gay marriage entered the list, as did Europe and the Greece-inspired Euro crisis that wasn’t. Oh, and Clint Eastwood talking to a chair apparently confused a LOT of people.

1. Presidential race. Who will win the Presidential race?
2. Democratic National Convention. When is Clinton speaking at the DNC?
3. Mitt Romney. What did Mitt Romney say about 47 percent?
4. Republican National Convention. Why did Clint Eastwood talk to a chair in his speech?
5. Chick-Fil-A. What did the CEO of Chick-Fil-A say about gay marriage?
6. Todd Akin. What did Todd Akin say about legitimate rape?
7. Gay marriage. Where is gay marriage legal?
8. Obamacare. What is Obamacare?
9. Greece bankruptcy. Is Greece bringing down the Euro?
10. John Edwards. Was John Edwards found guilty?

Celeb questions were inevitably popular, including Prince Harry’s didn’t-stay-in-Vegas indiscretions and the globe-shaking controversy over when Snooki’s baby would be born. People wanted to know what size diamond Brangelina gave to itself, and whether, in fact, young Olympic greek-god-even-if-he-is-American Ryan Lochte had a girlfriend.

1. Kristen Stewart. Will Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart get back together?
2. Katie Holmes. Was Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s marriage fake?
3. Psy – Gangnam Style. What does Gangnam Style mean?
4. Snooki. When is Snooki’s baby due?
5. Prince Harry. What will happen to Prince Harry because of the nude pictures?
6. Brad Pitt. How big is Angelina’s engagement ring?
7. Carly Rae Jepsen. What is the best Call Me Maybe parody?
8. Jessica Biel. When are Justin and Jessica getting married?
9. Miley Cyrus. Why did Miley Cyrus cut her hair?
10. Ryan Lochte. Does Ryan Lochte have a girlfriend?

For the answers, of course, you’ll have to check the site. All except one: Gangnam style is, in fact, just old-fashioned fake pony riding.

Without, of course, the fake pony.

Here’s a video flipbook Ask put together of the top queries of 2012: