Today’s photo challenge of the day was, “Can you guess which movie this is? Better question is…are you seeing it this weekend?”

Of course it’s Star Trek: Into Darkness! Are you ready for the twelfth installment in the Star Trek franchise, and the sequel to 2009’s Star Trek? J. J. Abrams directed this latest episode, and anyone who’s an Abrams fan is excited to see his take on the classic. Not to mention, maybe it’s a preview into what the upcoming Star Wars movies will be.

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

Yesterday, Ask employees joined the Fishing Derby for Special Kids at Lake Temescal in Oakland, organized by the East Bay Regional Park District for the seventh year in a row!

The EBPD hosts 150 kids with special needs from local elementary schools for a day of fishing, arts and crafts, face painting and games.

Ask employees buddied up with the kids and had an awesome day! Can’t wait until next year!!

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com 

It’s another Throwback Thursday photo challenge here on the Ask Instagram. The question today was, “Can you guess who this swingin’ sixties band we’ve been dreamin’ about is?”

Hopefully you picked up on the California Dreamin’ referenced, and guessed The Mamas and The Papas.

The group was together from 1965-168, and briefly reunited in 1971. They released five studio albums, and seventeen singles, six of which made it to the top ten charts. Worldwide, the sold close to 40 million records! Did you know that they were originally called the Magic Circle?

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

Our photo of the day challenge came from the question of the day over on the ask.com homepage, “What was the first fully computer animated feature film?”

Did the above close up photo give you a hint??

It was Toy Story! Some of you may remember when it came out in 1995, and were hooked, anxiously awaiting Toy Story 2 and 3. It was actually Pixar’s first full feature length film. Pixar, who had been producing short animated films to promote their computers, was approached by Disney to produce a computer-animated feature after the success of the short Tin Toy, which is told from the perspective of a toy. Even though Pixar’s technology has grown leaps and bounds, I think it’s safe to say that Toy Story withstands the test of time.

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

Today’s Throwback Thursday photo challenge of the day was sort of hard, but that’s why it’s called…a challenge!

We asked, “When was this picture taken?” And the hint we gave was that it was related to your laptop.

The answer is 1944. This is a picture of Colossus, the first electric digital  computer that was all programmable. The Colossus computers were first used by British intelligence during WWII to decode encrypted telegraphic messages between the German High Command and their scattered European occupancy. Something tells us, this didn’t come with a mouse and keyboard…

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

The question today was, “Can you guess whose famous comedian’s mother this is?”

If you said, Ben Stiller, then you’d be correct! 

Ann Meara was funny long before Ben was born. Her and Ben’s father Jerry Stiller (George Costanza’s father on Seinfeld!) were part of the original improv group, The Compass Players, which later went on to become The Second City. In fact, their comedy duo, Stiller and Meara often appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Since then, Meara has gone on to play many memorable roles on television. Oh, and she raised Zoolander!

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

You may have heard that Ask has been growing – literally, with awesome new employees (like this one, and more) and a new floor of office space to house our expanding family. So what better time to re-evaluate what makes our office tick each and every work day? 

We recently polled our employees about work preferences and habits – what makes our work areas great, not so great, and our daily structure of going to meetings vs. time doing work. Turns out, we’re doing a lot of both.

We found that Ask spends 45 percent of our time in some type of meeting (almost as much as focus time at 47.2 percent), which typically either occurs in a conference room or at a co-worker’s desk. So the majority of our fellow co-workers expressed that they wanted more meeting rooms, collaboration space, and alternative workspaces. Overall, it was clear that we were looking for more places to meet up outside the often disruptive and not-very-private personal desk.

Doing this survey made us curious – do all other Americans work the same way? So we conducted a study with Harris Interactive, which was released today, and the findings gave us a glimpse at what sparks or kills workplace productivity nationwide. The study found that despite 61 percent of respondents claiming that noisy co-workers are the biggest distractions in offices, over one quarter still prefer an “open room” or “newsroom” setting.

Interestingly, our office said the same. And now we’re considering a newsroom setting for our new office design plans for when we officially expand our real estate to the third floor of our building.

We believe every good company listens to its employees to foster good working habits. What makes your work day better?

Learn more about the Harris findings here and a few more interesting workplace habits after the jump!

And be sure to watch out for a fun Instagram contest we’ll be announcing in a couple of weeks, that includes taking a pic of your own personal workspace for a chance to win a few snazzy items for your desk. 

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

Me Time vs. We Time

A vast majority (86%) of U.S. office workers are most productive when they work alone.

• But those who live in the West (94%) are more likely to say this than those who live in the South (81%).
• Over half (52%) agree they are most productive when they work closely with their co-workers.

Cube vs. Open Style Seating

27% prefer to work in a newsroom setting office (e.g., call center style, open room seating).

• And it looks like married people like their space. Those who are single/never married (37%) are more likely to say this than those who are married (21%).

So Many Distractions!

What bugs American office workers the most?

• Nearly two thirds (61%) say noisy coworkers are the biggest distractions in offices.
• Almost one in five (19%) blame social events (e.g., lunches, birthday celebrations) are the biggest distractions in offices.

• 19% say water cooler talk are the biggest distractions in offices.
• 17% say co-workers’ messy workspaces are the biggest distractions in offices.

If you started following us on Instagram (@askdotcom) then you already saw this obscure Photo of the Day Challenge. The hint was,”Iron Man may have stolen the box offices this weekend, but can you guess who this other #marvel superhero is?”

Did you guess right?

It was Thor!

Fun fact: Did you know that Thor has 22 aliases?? He can also be known as:

Donald M. Blake, God of Thunder, Son of Odin, the Thunderer, Lord of Asgard, Jake Olson, Sigurd Jarlson, Donar, Donner, Hloriddi, Unhappy Hrungnir’s Playmate, Veur, Hrodr’s Foe-Man, Longbeard’s Son, Vingthor the Hurler, Siegfried, Siegmund, “Woe-King”; impersonated Hercules, Harokin, Freya; formerly bound to Eric Masterson

Be sure to follow us on Instagram to play our Photo of the Day Challenge. You can find all the answers right here at the end of the day.

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

In today’s world, everyone knows that photos just aren’t as fun without a filter. We get that, which is why we’re so excited to announce the Ask Instagram account! It’s shiny, new and ready to be filled with photos (artfully filtered, of course) that set out to answer questions none of us knew we had.

Follow Ask on Instagram @askdotcom to play along with our daily “Photo of the Day Challenge” series. We’ll post a super close-up image and leave it up to you to figure out what/who/when/where it is! Leave your best guess in the comments and then check back here on the Ask blog later in the day for the big reveal. We’ll also be running fun contests to participate in, give you guys a chance to win some cool stuff and you’ll even be able to sneak a peak into the official Ask offices from time to time!

So get out your phone, find us on Instagram and come try to figure out our first photo of the day!

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com

You know him from his guest appearances on this blog, but now’s your chance to hear from Ask’s Worldwide Customer Service and Technical Support Manager live! Eric McKirdy will be at the upcoming Customer Service Experience Conference in NYC on Monday August 19th talking about the success of our new customer support portal and our approach to getting customer service right!  

- Suraya Akbarzad, Ask.com