Mahalo, the human-powered search engine launched in 2007 has added another facet to its angle of curated web content – a Q&A feature called Mahalo Answers. What sets it apart from similar services such as Yahoo Answers and the now defunct Google Answers is that people who use the service are encouraged to ‘tip’ those who answer their burning questions.

CEO Jason Calacanis explains the rationale behind the launch, saying:

“Our goal is to create a sustainable, large exchange of knowledge and currency through the system in order to make a vibrant business for not only Mahalo, but for the people answering questions. Our hope is that individuals with knowledge will someday be able to earn a decent portion of their monthly income–perhaps all of it–from answering questions on Mahalo Answers.”

VentureBeat has an in-depth look at the new feature, which Jordan Golson says is “surprisingly compelling”.

Adam Ostrow at Mashable thinks Mahalo is introducing a significant potential business model:

“So will Mahalo Answers catapult the site into a profitable business? There certainly won’t be a shortage of people looking to answer questions – between the existing work-from-home crowd and the recently unemployed (as well as existing Mahalo Guides), the service is launching at an opportune time.”The question then is whether or not people will pay for answers. Considering Mahalo is a search engine that also gets much of its traffic from Google, it’s not hard to imagine at least a small percentage of those visitors paying a few dollars for the convenience of getting the answer they’re looking for.“

Peter Kafka at All Things Digital reckons Mahalo could be the Yahoo Answers-killer:

“Calacanis thinks he’s got a better shot of making it work next year than his original plan for 2009: Selling ads on his site besides the ones he runs from Google’s AdSense (GOOG). ‘I think it’s going to be very hard to make money selling ads,’ he said. ‘The market needs this more than it needs us out there trying to sell inventory.”

Gawker Media Network redesigns across the board
The Gawker Media family of blogs got a new look late last week, with Gabriel Snyder saying it’s all in aid of easier page scanning, better load times and a less overwhelming appearance overall, given that Gawker alone now posts around 50 stories a day.

A funny vaguely blogging-related thing happened on the way to…
There are people who love the comedy duo of David Mitchell and Robert Webb. There are people who love technology, blogging and general geekery. The point at which these two worlds intersect and overlap is apparently the target for the pair’s next big thing – a new sitcom for BBC Two in which the Peep Show actors will play businessmen who ply their trade from a garden shed in Playing Shop, which will air in 2009.

Digital Spy reports:

A synopsis of the new show explained: ‘Armed with new computers, state-of-the-art stationery and a blogger’s contempt for the rest of mankind, all they have to do is sit back and wait for greatness to be thrust upon them.’

So, no perpetuation of stereotypes there, then.