Ask.com Blog

Wishing You A Happy Valentine's Day!

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:28:00 -0800

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

The Show Must Go On...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:48:00 -0800

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 voice will be missed and remembered forever. Rest in peace.

-Emily Kidder, Knowledge Engineer

Need Valentine's Day Ideas? Ask Users Give Their Advice!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:06:00 -0800

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 answers from real people in our Ask community.

What should I get my girlfriend for Valentine’s Day?

Ask users suggest flowers (specifically roses and orchids), candy, a watch, any kind of personalized gift, jewelry or a romantic letter. Ask users also recommend sending the flowers to her school or work for an even bigger impact.

What should I get my boyfriend for Valentine’s Day?

Users recommend buying his favorite cologne, a mug engraved, clothes, a watch or video games. Ask users also recommended baking fresh cookies.

How should my significant other and I spend Valentine’s Day?

Community members agree that going to dinner at a nice restaurant is a great way to spend Valentine’s Day. However, if you are on a budget, Ask users think a home-cooked meal is a romantic and thoughtful idea. Other ideas mentioned were seeing a movie and going for a picnic.

What is a Valentine’s Day gift that I can give my best friend?

Top answers from Ask users were a nice perfume or a charm bracelet.

Should men receive gifts on Valentine’s Day?

83% of Ask users say yes, Valentine’s Day is a day for both men and women to feel loved.

What do you do if someone that you don’t like gives you a present on Valentine’s Day?

100% of community members agree that saying “thank you” is the best way to handle that tough situation.

Do you have Valentine’s Day advice you want to share? Let us know!

Sheree Polonsky, Public Relations

Better bundle Up For 6 More Weeks Of Winter!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:06:48 -0800

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 silly to some, thousands of people gathered in Pennsylvania to see what Phil’s prediction would be this year. If you missed the main event, check out the live stream here.

Sheree Polonsky, Public Relations

Poll Question: Facebook IPO

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:58:00 -0800

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

Countdown to the Oscars

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:03:57 -0800

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 Hill, and agape at the lack of Best Actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio and his performance as J. Edgar Hoover.

So who do you think will win this year’s top Oscar honors? Will the showdown between good friends George Clooney and Brad Pitt end in one taking home the coveted statue, or will newcomer to the Oscar scene Jean Dujardin best them both for his turn as a silent film actor in The Artist? Will Meryl Streep win her third Oscar for portraying Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, or will Michelle Williams triumph for becoming Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn? Here at Ask.com, we’ll be watching the show on Sunday February 26, and updating our answers live to make sure we have the most up-to-date info possible! And in the meantime, there are so many movies to watch!

Emily Kidder, Knowledge Engineer/Answer Geek

Thank you, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:39:00 -0800

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

― Martin Luther King, Jr.

New Year = New Chance

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:09:43 -0800

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 feeling that we’re on the verge of something great - it’s always after a slump that people soar to new heights.

We’ve finally made it truly into a new decade, leaving a lot of old global baggage behind. It’s a work in progress, but the page has been turned. I feel it about the world as a whole when I watch the news, and I feel it when I talk to people every day about our work at Ask.

The oracle of popular culture herself hit the nail on the head:

“Cheers to the New Year and another chance to get it right.” - Oprah Winfrey.

Couldn’t have said it better. This is it, friends: Another chance to get it right. I don’t need a list of resolutions, my only goal is working harder to get it right.

Here’s to a great year ahead. Thank you for being with us and let me know what you think we can do to get it right in 2012.

Much love,

Robbie Waeschenfelder, Director, Marketing

Shhhhh.... Popular Q's We Kept Secret Until Now

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:06:13 -0800

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 us…

Is Justin Bieber gay?

Is Kim Kardashian’s butt real?

Is Lady Gaga a man?

Did Lindsay Lohan have plastic surgery?

How much does Beyonce weigh?

Will Charlie Sheen overdose?

Is Kate Middleton pregnant?

Did Ashton Kutcher get his girlfriend pregnant?

How did Amy Winehouse overdose?

Did Arnold Schwarzenegger gain weight?

Where is the video of Ghadafi’s death?

Does Obama smoke pot?

Sheree Polonsky, Public Relations

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 06:00:06 -0800

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 do we decorate trees at Christmas, how long will those trees last, and how do you make them last longer? How is Christmas celebrated in other countries? How many gifts total are in the lyrics to the 12 Days of Christmas, and how much would they all cost? And most importantly for many young ones out there, where is Santa Claus right now???

We hope you find everything you are looking for this holiday, and Merry Christmas from all of us at Ask.com!

Emily Kidder, Knowledge Engineer/Answer Geek

Happy Hanukkah!

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:31:00 -0800

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 Hebrew. Hanukkah and Chanukah are the most widely used and accepted.

However you’d like to spell it, we’ve seen lots of questions about this festival of light. Here are a few most popular questions and answers:

How many candles are on a Menorah?

The eight candles on the menorah represent the miracle of the oil, in which one days worth of oil lasted for eight. A ninth candle is placed in the center of the menorah, and is known as the shamash and is used to light the other candles.

What is a dreidel?

The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top that is part of a traditional game played during Hanukkah.

The dreidel is usually made from wood, plastic or clay, and has the four Hebrew letters Nun, Gimmel, Hey, and Shin inscribed on each side.

What do the letters on the dreidel mean?

The four symbols on a dreidel are the Hebrew letters Nun, Gimel, Hey and Shin, which stand for Nes Gadol Haya Sham, which means ‘A great miracle happened there’.

This refers to the miracle of the oil that Hanukkah celebrates.

If you want to know more about Hanukkah or any other holiday, just ask.

- Holly Boston, Homepage Guru

Mobile May Be the Future, but TV Is Still Going Strong

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:52:05 -0800

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 2011. This isn’t a surprise at Ask.com, where we’ve seen over 1 million downloads of our iPhone app since it launched in late 2010. Our recently-released Android app is on a similar trajectory, growing users at a rate of about 45% each month.

Despite the buzz about mobile, eMarketer’s report suggests that TV is still going strong. Adults in the US are actually watching 10 minutes more TV per day this year than they were in 2010. This is also great news for us, since we’re stepping up our TV advertising in several cities in 2012. If you live in San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia or Washington, DC you may notice commercials for Ask.com during one of your favorite shows starting in January. Let us know if you see them!

Click here to read more about the eMarketer study.

Ann Semeraro, Director, Consumer and Market Insight

Better Categories Mean More Answers

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:21:00 -0800

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 popular questions are now at the top of the page with recently asked questions displayed below. You’ll find that these category pages will be a place you’ll come back to often because you’ll always see the hottest topics first – we’re placing the most popular community Q&A front and center.

We are constantly monitoring the community and listening to our users and we know that categorizing questions has been something community members were looking for. So, we have strayed away from the auto-assigned categories and will now allow you to choose the most appropriate category for your questions. This change combined with the new category pages will help you find the types of questions you want to answer, which should increase the number of answers to questions – especially yours – in the community.

We hope that you find these changes to be as helpful and exciting as we do. We’d love to hear your feedback, so please let us know what you think by commenting here on the blog or through our Feedback link.

Payton, Director of Community Management

Haven't Finished Your Holiday Shopping? We're Here To Help!

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:23:34 -0800

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 new Ask.com shopping channel include:

You’ll be able to stay within your budget using the price-filtering tool:

Shop the brands you love, and leave the ones you don’t for someone else:

Have a question about product features or prices? We’ve also added some popular questions and answers from other users so you can see what other people are asking about the products you are shopping for. This can definitely come in handy if you have some questions the Fender guitar you are eyeing.

So, skip the stress this year and use our new shopping channel to make your holiday shopping headache and hassle free. Happy buying!

Jonathan Chickneas, Senior Product Manager

Happy Little Turkeys with a Side of Secret Sauce

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:22:04 -0800

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 the job. If you’ve visited us on holidays, you’d know that Ask.com does it big: a custom-crafted image decks the homepage. As the artist behind the scenes, imagine a digital age version of the iconic painter Bob Ross… equipped with Photoshop skills poised to paint “happy little trees”… or turkeys, as the case may be. It’s been a fun facet of my role on the UX team since the start of this art direction’s style in 2008.

I’ve thought about rolling out the visual décor for any major Holiday probably more so than your local Walgreens does. Internally, they’re known as “HPTO’s” (homepage takeovers), which begins with one designer choosing the right images to source and purchase from stock libraries like pieces to a puzzle that has yet to exist.

Concepts for themes are born at the crossroads of topical and visual relevance.

Two tenets apply across the board:
1. Support and enhance the “Question of the Day” feature in a monumental way.
2. Meeting the challenge of creating a visually delightful tribute for the occasion.

This time around, the Question of the Day asked the audience…

We get the ball rolling like this:

pre-planning of the concept with our Web Producer, Holly Boston
pre-production and sourcing for visuals (searching through hundreds)
in a couple rounds, create a completed scene by adding the “secret sauce” in Photoshop to weave a composition together

Creative formula applied to HPTO compositions:

Main hero object as the focal point of the theme
Out-of-focus foreground and background.
Vignette of several adjustment layers creating a style of outershadows
Optional: some background “characters” like these gobblers

Defining UI factors and technical aspects:

Remaining sensitive to and complementing the UI rather than interfering with it.
Users of a range of browser resolutions can “get” what the theme conveys no matter how they slice it. Users with higher resolutions can see the full panorama in a widescreen view.
Optimizing it (jpegmini works like a charm!)
Being well crafted for the time invested, allowing for a review cycle after the first draft has been created.

These benchmarks and image architectures are applied from Valentine’s Day to the winter holidays when production really ramps up.

To recap, here’s the “Live Turkey” which ran (as seen in a final snapshot on my laptop, after dinner, with myself firmly implanted on the sofa next to it) on Thanksgiving Day – Thursday November 24, 2011:

Creatively, we look for ways to be inventive even if the theme must suit the same occasions every year; there are many ways to visually interpret a holiday. As the Ask.com UI changed considerably to support new initiatives, the scale of HPTOs adapted while the creative secret sauce and technical recipes remained. Our next round of creative features will undoubtedly adapt with the Web, while also remaining a celebratory tradition as much as the holidays themselves at Ask.

If you’d like to follow my path as an artist on the UX team at Ask.com, and beyond, find me on Twitter @dianafurka

Is it almost December already?

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:12:06 -0800

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 reality TV overshare, Kim Kardashian edged out Justin Bieber to take home the honors for the top trending question in 2011. Guess what they asked? Well, keep reading.

Or, are you more of a viewer than a reader? Then check out our cool little video

Celebs!

Of course Bieber Fever dominated all year, but Kim K. knocked J. Biebs out of the top spot with the her fairytale wedding, followed shortly by a dramatic and (unexpected?) split.

Our #1? Kim Kardashian: Was Kim Kardashian’s wedding fake?

Runner up? Justin Bieber: Is Justin Bieber going to be a dad?

News!

Sadly, nature showed her destructive side again this year and two major disasters took the top two spots for questions most asked about news items.

1. Earthquake in Japan: How big was the earthquake in Japan?

2. Hurricane Irene: What caused Hurricane Irene?

Another force of nature, Amy Winehouse, also made the top ten due to her untimely death. The news of Winehouse’s death was heard around the world — transcending the celebrity pages to become one of the biggest news items of the year.

Politics!

Is it election year? Who can tell these days, but the Democrats vs. Republicans showdown is well underway and a number of notables kept popping up all year.

1. Barack Obama: Will Obama get re-elected?

2. Mitt Romney: What is Mitt Romney’s religion?

But the questions we get don’t just identify the most popular figures and events of 2011. For the first time, we took the top questions to predict the headlines of the year to come. Nice.

Based on thousands of questions, we predict 2012… (imagine a drum roll):

1. George Clooney wins his second AND third Academy Award

2. Dr. Oz surpasses Dr. Phil in ratings in a post-Oprah world

3. Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl second year in a row

4. McDonald’s adds the McRib to their permanent menu

5. New York reclaims its spot as top the US travel destination from 2011 leader Orlando

6. Breakout star of 2011, Nicki Minaj, leapfrogs pop icon Katy Perry in album sales

7. Pippa jumps onto the list of top ten baby names of the year

8. Facebook goes public with world’s largest IPO

9. Tiger Woods retires from golf

And, finally…Will the world end in 2012?

10. Yeah, pretty sure IT WON’T

Alright. Now we can all go back to braving the cold weather, the shopping madness, the food, the peppermint mochas, the family and the presents. I’ll be right there with you.

Happy Holidays!

Robbie Waeschenfelder, Director, Marketing & Trendy Trend Expert

Asking Questions and Giving Thanks

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:15:06 -0800

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?

Why do we eat turkey for Thanksgiving?

Many are reflecting and giving thanks.

What are some things to be thankful for on Thanksgiving?

What are you thankful for?

We have a lot to be thankful for here at Ask, but mostly, we’re thankful for you. Thanks for asking!

-Holly Boston, Homepage Guru

Why Do Ask Users Love to Answer?

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:45:02 -0800

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 take the time to answer other people’s questions? A great article in Xconomy asked that very question and decided to ask the users themselves.

And, guess what? Ask users responded with a ton of terrific answers! Check out the article to see what Ask.com users said was the reason why they provide great answers.

Sheree Polonsky, Public Relations

Ask.com Celebrates Users – Ask Hall of Fame

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:45:09 -0800

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. Furthermore, users can keep their name in the Hall of Fame month-over-month by continually contributing great content.

As a special thank you, we created t-shirts exclusively for Ask Hall of Famers. If being featured in the Hall of Fame wasn’t enough, then perhaps donning a special t-shirt will entice users to do their very best.

Check out the September and October Hall of Fame to see who’s in already.

Payton, Director of Community Management

Celebrating Our Veterans

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:05:47 -0800

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 between the Allies and Germany in World War I was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and marked the end of the war on the Western Front.

President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the original concept of the holiday was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business starting at 11:00 AM.

Stephan Riod campaigned to turn Armistice Day into “All” Veterans Day. Eventually, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress and President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.

Thank you, veterans. Today we honor you.

Holly Boston, Homepage Ninja