Archive for November, 2005

Every holiday season I find myself in a wintry climate cooped up with a bunch of people and not much to do except eat, drink, and be merry. There’s really only so much of this I can take, so invariably we go and catch a movie. The problem is finding something that both my parents and my teenage cousins will enjoy. I’m sure that I’m not the only one with this problem.

To make your search for a movie easier, I’d like to tell you about two movie shortcuts on Yahoo! Search. The first shortcut is the Movie Trailer shortcut. Just by entering a movie name followed by “trailer” or "trailers" you can see trailers and clips for just about any major motion picture.

Try Harry Potter Trailer to see movie trailers and an exclusive clip from our friends at Yahoo! Movies.

After watching the trailer, try the Movie Showtimes shortcut. By entering the title of a movie and a location, (major city, zip, or city+state) you’ll get a listing of the closest theaters showing that movie. For example, Harry Potter Palo Alto CA. With a single search, you’ll get showtimes as well as ratings and maps.

Currently we have over 30 Search Shortcuts to help you find what you’re looking for. Missed the game? Scores are a click away with a search for the team name followed by “scores”. Can’t find an address? Searching for the address will show you the map right away.

As always, please let us know what you think.

Nick Nguyen
Product Manager, Yahoo! Search Shortcuts

We recently added a way to play back mp3 links posted to del.icio.us without leaving the page or browser. Many of you loved this solution and asked if you could put it on your blog or website. I now have an answer for you – yes you can! PlayTagger is a simple javascript you include on your site that automatically makes any mp3 link playable on your page. It also includes a link that allows visitors to easily post the mp3 to del.icio.us.

The PlayTagger code and example are located here: del.icio.us/help/playtagger

We would like to take this opportunity to extend a hearty thanks to everyone at Ask Jeeves who helped us move into our new Campbell office. There's no love lost here for the old Los Gatos office whose dingy halls harkened back to the 90's... cramped, stacked and smelling of stale mountain dew. Goodbye and good riddance to Los Gatos (not the city, just the office) and Hellooo Campbell.

Caption: Ask Jeeves Campbell Office; Apply now and help us fill these parking spaces!

It didn't take long for us to start decorating our spacious 2.0 digs with fake plants, rattan sofas, bean bags and camo netting. But Campbell isn't all about coding, lounging and hiding from the enemy. We're keeping active with billiards, air hockey, parking lot basketball and a sweet new ping pong table . The Bloglines team is especially more productive now that they don't have to fend off deadly aces from the Desktop Search team.

As you can see, there's plenty of room for new people so if you want to join a cool bunch of hard-working, dedicated search engine combattants check out our job listings.

Caption: Ask.com Bocce Tournament at Campo di Bocce

Everyone was skeptical when Mark Fletcher suggested we celebrate our recent move with a Bocce competition with some of our colleages in Oakland. But we had a blast! It's a mashup of bowling, lawn darts and croquette. We couldn't remember the name of the little ball so someone renamed it the Snitch in honor of Harry Potter's Quidditch game. Shhhh.... don't tell the Italians.

Sincerely,
The Ask.com Campbell Office Residents

P.S. Special Thanks to Pam Bocci [ no relation ;) ] for arranging all the tournament details!