May 2012
3 posts
How Does Seattle's Ask Look In Tights?
If you’ve visited our Seattle Asks website, are a regular reader of this blog, or just live in glorious Seattle, you’re aware of our campaign to (1) ask Seattleites what irks them most, and (2) make it better.
Late last week, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that our quest to solve Seattle’s problems has attracted some very special help.
Meet Answer Man and Question Mark...
WatchHere’s a video from Ask-er Ken Grobe. He took our two-day Hackathon and condensed it into two minutes!
For more on the event, check out these blog posts:
Hackathon Time!
Why Ask Hacks
Hackathon: And The Winner Is…
—Ask.com
Seattle: The Polls Are Open!
Tell Us What You Want. We’ll Take Care of the Rest.
Dear Seattle:
You might have seen in our earlier post that we’re granting you a wish. Today, it’s happening: we kicked off our “You Asked, We Answered” campaign, designed to make the irksome things in your life (well, one of them at least) a little easier.
Today Seattleites will see Ask sprinkled around the city. We’re hitting the...
District Oakland, Our New Favorite Neighbor
Bay Area tech industry folks who’ve survived the last bubble or two will be familiar with District, an SF wine bar/restaurant and key lunch/happy hour/event spot. Multiple company ideas have no doubt hatched at their SoMa location. Lucky for us, They’ve opened up their second spot near us here in Old Oakland. We attended the soft-opening celebration, tipped a few among the exposed...
April 2012
5 posts
Get Ready, Seattle!
If you’re a Seattleite, you’re in luck. Ask.com is coming to the Emerald City to grant you a wish.
We’ve asked around and discovered three problems that many of you would like addressed (based on our research). Your vote will determine which one you want solved the most.
Come visit SeattleAsks.com (or check your Pollroll app) starting May 1 to vote. On May 15 we’ll tally your votes and get to...
1 tag
Hackathon: And The Winner Is…
Let’s be honest. You’re expecting the moral of this series of Ask Hackathon posts (see 1 and 2) to be, “Everybody won!” Not going to happen. Sorry. We’re proud, but we’re not cheesy.
We had actual winners, who won bona fide trophies and prizes for services that you’ll see launched later this year.
That said, everyone at the Hackathon had a good time, learned new stuff, and came up with strong...
1 tag
Why Ask Hacks
For those of you not familiar with the standard company hackathon, it’s a department-wide event where engineers create new(ish) products and services in a short amount of time without having to sweat the standard company process (QA, L&P, general production readiness).
Ask.com cranks that up a notch. Here, we hack the whole company.
Busting Routines, Building Teams
At any company, It’s...
1 tag
Hackathon Time!
For an entire day last week, you could walk the halls of Ask and hear next-to-no activity—that is, until you passed the conference rooms. There, teams of six typed frantically on laptops, sketched formulas on whiteboards, talked logistics. Translated: the Ask Hackathon was in full swing.
Ask’s quarterly Hackathons are two-day events: one day to concept and one half-day to present. The...
March 2012
3 posts
8 tags
WatchWhat does the Ask team do on a rainy day? Play with floating sharks of course!
7 tags
Ask Celebrates Pi Day With Pie!
What better way to celebrate Pi Day than eating some good ol’ fashion pie! At exactly 3:14pm today, Ask.com employees were treated to delicious pies in honor of the mathematical constant that is the ratio of any Euclidean circle’s circumference to its diameter – approximately equal to 3.14. Hence, why Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th. Do you know how many digits of Pi are actually...
10 tags
Ready, Set, Roll: Pollroll Now Live
As folks are packing their umbrellas for what looks to be a rainy weekend in Austin, we wanted to tell you about a visual polling app live in the Apple iTunes store today that should prove useful – if not super entertaining —at SXSW. No, it’s not expressly for SX, and will be integrated into the overall Ask Q&A experience after the conference, but we thought the cacophony of events,...
February 2012
6 posts
6 tags
Do You Watch Your Phone More Than Your TV?
TechCrunch posted an interesting article yesterday explaining a survey conducted by InMobi of 20,000 consumers. The findings show that people spent more time on the mobile web then watching TV. Essentially, people are “watching” their phones more than they are watching their television. People use their mobile devices all throughout the day, including 67% of the time lying in bed and...
17 tags
Ask.com Reveals Oscar Night Predictions
As everyone gets ready to tune-in to the 84th Annual Academy Awards this weekend, we decided to roll out our very own red carpet predictions for the night’s winners and losers based on top questions asked on Ask.com by more than 100 million users. To help celebrate the Oscar predictions and nominees we sent some star-studded cookies to a few friends as a teaser.
The predictions envelope...
4 tags
Wishing You A Happy Valentine's Day!
All of us at Ask.com want to wish you lovely Valentine’s Day! Lot’s of people have questions about this holiday, have you ever wondered who St. Valentine was? Or how this holiday began? Or what other countries celebrate V-Day? If so, just Ask!
How do you plan on spending Valentine’s Day this year?
Emily Kidder, Knowledge Engineer
14 tags
The Show Must Go On...
Sunday night the biggest musical artists from all over the world came together at the Grammy Awards to celebrate the best in music, but also mourned the passing of one of music’s most legendary voices, Whitney Houston, who passed away on the eve of the Grammys at the Beverly Hilton.
Congratulations to Adele and all the winners at the 2012 Grammy Awards!
And Whitney Houston, your awe-inspiring...
12 tags
Need Valentine's Day Ideas? Ask Users Give Their...
Valentine’s Day is only a week away and Ask users are providing answers to all sorts of Valentine’s Day related questions. Do you know what you will give your Valentine? Or how you will spend that special day? Every Day all of these answers and more are being answered by Ask users leading up to the big day. Here is a quick look at some of our top Valentine’s Day questions and...
5 tags
Better bundle Up For 6 More Weeks Of Winter!
In tradition of Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil the Groundhog emerged from his burrow around 7:30am ET and saw his shadow, which which means we will have six more weeks of winter.
Punxsutawney Phil is not the first Groundhog to predict the beginning of the Spring season, this tradition started among Pennsylvania German communities in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the tradition may seem...
Poll Question: Facebook IPO
Hey All! We are playing with the idea of using polls on our blog to gauge how our users feel about certain topics. Check out our first poll below! What do you think?
Quipol
January 2012
4 posts
19 tags
Countdown to the Oscars
Hollywood is all abuzz this morning, because the nominations for film’s most prestigious awards were announced. Martin Scorsese’s Hugo was honored with 11 nominations, and The Artist was close behind with 10. So which nominations were a surprise, and who got snubbed this year? Many are happily surprised with the supporting nominations for popular comedy actors Melissa McCarthy and Jonah...
5 tags
Thank you, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King, Jr.
12 tags
New Year = New Chance
Happy New Year, Friends!
So, I was going to write a post yesterday on New Years Eve, reflecting on the year behind us, on the Firsts, the Lasts and the Never-agains…
But then I thought, we’re all inclined to look back anyway, and I’m sure you all did enough of that over the holidays. I’d rather look forward. Because this year is going to be exciting. I’ve got a...
December 2011
7 posts
13 tags
Shhhhh.... Popular Q's We Kept Secret Until Now
Even though the year is quickly coming to an end, we still have some fun popular questions of 2011 that want to share with you. At the beginning of the month, we released the top questions asked on Ask.com along with the top predictions of 2012 - but there were quite a few celebrity questions that were a little too juicy to share with the media! Here is a glimpse at what people were really asking...
5 tags
Here Comes Santa Claus!
Christmas is almost here! Houses are aglow with lights, presents are sitting under trees waiting to be unwrapped by gleeful children (and adults!). Friends and family are gathering together. Stockings are hung by chimneys with care, and hopefully we have all of our Christmas shopping finished. There are so many interesting questions that people ask about all the traditions of Christmas..like why...
12 tags
Happy Hanukkah!
Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights honoring the perseverance of Judaism during ancient times, and the story of how the Menorah lamp miraculously remained lit for eight days.
But how do spell Hanukkah? Should the holiday be spelled Chanukah, Hanukkah, or Hannukah?
We have so many spellings of the Jewish holiday because it is not easily translated or transliterated into English from...
14 tags
Mobile May Be the Future, but TV Is Still Going...
Sometimes it seems like the only thing anyone talks about anymore is mobile. And that’s for good reason – the marketing intelligence firm eMarketer recently published a remarkable statistic – people are now spending more time consuming information on their phones than from printed media like newspapers and magazines. Mobile and print were neck in neck in 2010, but mobile jumped dramatically in...
4 tags
Better Categories Mean More Answers
Getting answers to your questions is our top priority at Ask.com. Whether you’re searching for answers or asking the community, we want your experience to be a great one! We revamped the top categories in the community to better suit the topics you ask about most, like Cars & Transportation, Food & Drink, Sports & Recreation, Technology and more.
Featured in a WebProNews article today...
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Haven't Finished Your Holiday Shopping? We're Here...
Eager to skip the crowds, queues, and hours logged in the car this holiday season? Well today, we’re launching a completely redesigned our shopping channel to make it easier than ever to do your holiday shopping.
Everything from UGG Boots to iPads to Fender guitars are available so you can find the best price and check that gift off your list with just a few clicks of your mouse.
Features of the...
8 tags
Happy Little Turkeys with a Side of Secret Sauce
The dust may have settled on your Turkey leftovers, but we’re keeping the spirit going with a feast for your eyes and a peek into our recipe for a creative part of Ask.com. Today we’re dishing out a “making of” blog post about our holiday themes. Few destinations on the Web do it the way we do it.
Many sites recognize special days each season, but we’ve never really settled for a “doodle” to do...
November 2011
8 posts
21 tags
Is it almost December already?
Believe it or not, 2011 is quickly coming to a close and 2012 is just around the corner. Which means it’s time for our annual look back on the rumors, gossip and news that captured Ask users’ attention this year. Since people come to Ask with a lot of questions, instead of just search terms, we compiled the top trending questions of the year. Ready?
In a surprise upset, curvaceous queen of the...
6 tags
Asking Questions and Giving Thanks
The Ask community is buzzing with lots of Thanksgiving questions.
Many folks are asking for advice on preparing their Thanksgiving dinners.
How do you make a great apple pie?
What can I do if my turkey has freezer burn?
How do I cook fresh cranberries?
Others want to know the basics, like—
What is that lose skin dangling from a turkey’s beak?
Where was the first Thanksgiving?
...
5 tags
Why Do Ask Users Love to Answer?
Millions of people come to Ask.com every day for all sorts of questions. Some are answered with a quick answer right at the top of the page, while others are more subjective in nature and need a more human touch. As mentioned in the post below, we have users that are so dedicated to answering all kinds of questions that they reach our Ask Hall of Fame list!
But why do so many Ask.com users...
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Ask.com Celebrates Users – Ask Hall of Fame
The Ask Hall of Fame is a celebration of dedicated members who contribute great content to the Ask community. Every month, we select 100 community users who provide great answers, contribute often, and are just good community members. It doesn’t matter if users are brand new or if they’ve been here since the inception of community…time doesn’t play a part in the Hall of Fame; greatness does....
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Celebrating Our Veterans
Veterans Day is a federal holiday honoring all military veterans. The holiday occurs on November 11th each year. When this falls on a weekend, it is observed on an adjacent weekday.
Why is Veterans Day celebrated on November 11th?
Armistice Day, the precursor to Veterans Day, was held on November 11th, the anniversary of when the armistice with Germany was signed.
In 1918, the armistice treaty...
7 tags
Daylight Savings Time ended!
The good news: one more hour of sleep! The bad news: the days get dark earlier. The morning of Sunday November 6th marks the end of Daylight Savings Time! Unless you live where DST is not observed, this is the day when we have to remind ourselves to set our clocks back 1 hour. Countries around the world observe this time shift, and it always inspires many questions. Why do we do it? Does it really...
6 tags
Ask Named Finalist in Forrester Awards
We have great news to share with you – Ask.com was a finalist in the Forrester Groundswell Awards! Although we didn’t take home the big prize we’re still pumped about our finalist spot in the business to consumer mobile application category. Check out Forrester’s blog post about it here.
Back in June, we launched a fun trivia game called Skip the Line at Six Flags theme parks to let people play...
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Experiments: When, How & Surprising Results:...
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of presenting at the O’Reilly Web2Expo in NYC (thanks @brady!). My talk was entitled “How to Create a Location Aware Group Chat App in 6 weeks” and was based the experience of building Ask Around for SXSW 2011. I have to admit, the title was a bit misleading. While I certainly shared details about how we discovered the concept, organized the...
October 2011
5 posts
7 tags
Trick or Treat?
“Trick or treat! Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat.”
How did trick-or-treating start, anyhow?
The custom of Trick-or-treating has origins in the medieval practice of ‘souling’, when the poor would go door to door on November 1st, called Hallowmas or All Hallows Eve, to ask for food and prayers for the dead on the following day, All Souls Day.
The more recent...
13 tags
Wow, What A Week!
Hey friends,
From where I’m sitting, this has been quite a memorable week. Same for you? We at Ask have the finger on the nation’s pulse, since everything that happens tends to show up as questions on our site. It’s really kind of cool to look at the world through questions.
Well, first we started the week off with the latest gay celebrity to come out, Zachary Quinto....
8 tags
Share the Q&A Community on Facebook & Twitter
Now that the Q&A Community is open to everyone, you can now share questions on Facebook and Twitter. Whether it’s a burning question that you think one of your friends or family can answer or it’s so darned interesting, you just have to share it. No matter the reason, you can now expand your community experience!
All you have to do is navigate to the question you want to share, click “Tweet”...
9 tags
When Consumers Talk, Brands Should Listen
Recent news headlines have made it clear that consumers aren’t shy when it comes to voicing their opinions about changes to a favorite brand’s product or service offering. Social media has made it easy for anyone with a smartphone or an internet connection to express their opinions and find an audience for their point of view. It’s more important now than ever for brands to ensure they’re...
7 tags
Ask.com Q&A Community is off to a great start!
I wanted to share with you some exciting updates about our Ask.com Q&A Community. As you may know, Ask.com Q&A Community is now open to all Ask.com visitors; this means all visitors can receive answers from both the web and from real people. After opening the Ask.com live user community to everyone in September, the visitors of Ask.com have responded amazingly. The user registration from...
September 2011
9 posts
9 tags
Happy Rosh Hashanah!
Last night at sundown was the official beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei (the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar), and is celebrated in countries all around the world. Traditions for the Jewish New Year include attending synagogue and hearing the shofar, baking challah bread, and eating apples dipped in honey (in order...
9 tags
Ask and Go.
Today, Ask partner Nuance launched the new version of its Dragon Go! application, the app that recognizes what users say and delivers direct access to the best sites on the mobile web. This next version of Dragon Go! expands direct access to more answers, movies, music and more; layering voice recognition on top of rich content, expert answers and services from leading partners like Ask.com,...
Happy First Day of Fall!
Fall is upon us. The Autumnal Equinox is September 23rd in the northern hemisphere this year. It’s the day when night and day are nearly the same length and the Sun crosses over the Earth’s equator on its way south marking the beginning of fall.
The change of seasons makes us very curious indeed. Here are some of the most popular questions we get on the topic.
Why do leaves change...
12 tags
Representing Ask.com at the Mayor's Reception
Ask.com was honored to be one of the local businesses representing innovation at Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s reception for the Women and Economy Summit at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference Friday night. Mayor Jean Quan and a committee of distinguished Oakland women leaders in exports, innovation, and education hosted more than 400 international delegates to the Asian Pacific...
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TechCrunch Disrupt Starts Off With A Bang!
We kicked off TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco today with some great participation in the Ask.com Trivia Lounge and a down-to-the-wire finish for the $500 Apple gift card giveaway.
Players rack up points and compete to win prizes by correctly answering trivia questions related to the current and past Disrupt conferences, speakers at the show, and general industry trivia. They can earn points...
12 tags
Heading Back to School
Summer is coming to a close, and it’s the time of year when yellow buses are making their rounds, and students are heading back to classes after the long summer break. People all over are getting themselves and their children ready for school, from shopping for school supplies and getting immunizations, to finding resources to help with homework and advice for getting involved in making the...
Remembering 9/11
It’s an event that changed our world, and here at Ask.com, we would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to recognize the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11.
As a place where people come to find answers, we strive to be impartial and objective. But we remember where we were at the time. We all remember the shock, the fear, the anger, and the solidarity.
We remember those who lost their...
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Ask.com "Pimp My Pod"
It’s difficult for anyone to be creatively inspired and productive when you’re sitting in a sea of cubicles all in the same monotone color scheme surrounded by white walls and brown office doors.
Sure, you can paint some of those walls to add some color, but who wouldn’t want to create their own environment that you and your cube mates could call “home”. Inspired by another program at...
9 tags
Got a question? Get an Answer from the Ask...
Let’s face it. Some questions aren’t meant to be answered by a machine. That’s why you’ll see some changes to Ask.com today that involve you, our valued community of experts on all sorts of topics. Ask opened up its community portion of the site, previously in limited beta, to everyone – yup, all 63 million of you – so you can get answers from real people to subjective questions.
In addition,...