It?s certainly not everyday, but sometimes we get to work with folks like Bono on special projects we hope will make a difference. Recently, a group of Yahoo! developers took some time off to work on the development of the new ONE.org site, Bono?s campaign to rally us, one by one, in the fight to end AIDS and extreme poverty. (Other times, we just enjoy getting in a few snaps around campus.)

Bono?s question to the Yahoo! community is what can we do to make poverty history?

I?m turning over the mic to Mr. Mario of the Yahoo! Answers blog, who points out that it?s not easy to think about the big questions, but though these problems seem massive, discussion leads to action:

Ending poverty on a global level is not going to be easy, but that doesn?t mean the effort shouldn?t be made at all. Bono and groups like ONE.org, are urging everyone to find ways to get the ball rolling in their own little corners of the world. Sometimes keeping the conversation going makes all the difference.

Identifying the sources of the problem may be the first step. Many cite trade regulations and corruption as key contributors to global poverty, and say that the duty to rectify these issues falls on the shoulders of established nations. The scarcity of natural resources, loss of ambition, and limited opportunity for growth also help contribute. Some believe that monetary assistance grants only help perpetuate the problem, while others examine biological and psychological theories behind the subculture of poverty.

So what can ordinary people do?

Head over to the Yahoo! Answers blog for the rest of Mario?s post, including some thoughtful solutions proposed by users. Then give it your best thought!

Tara Kirchner

On Tuesday, while most of us were enjoying the fireworks, the folks at Yahoo! Answers were busy working with Dr. Stephen Hawking ? one of the world?s leading theoretical physicists and author of the surprise best-seller A Brief History of Time, along with holding many titles, degrees, posts and accolades – to ask a question on Yahoo!

Dr. Hawking?s question to the Yahoo! community is, how can the human race survive the next hundred years?

Apparently we have a lot to say on the matter, because in the first day alone, more than 15,000 answers were posted, and people were even blogging about their responses. I wonder if they know they could get a nifty Answers badge and then their responses show up automagically…

Anyway, you may have heard about Dr. Hawking recently ? he?s been making headlines and stirring up blog chatter following a June 2006 appearance in China. Dr. Hawking discussed the need to colonize outer space as the only way for human kind to survive the next thousand years, and cited threats of nuclear technology and bioterrorism.

What?s more, Dr. Hawking is something of a pop culture phenomenon, inspiring Yahoo! Answers blog editor Mario Anima to pen this:

When I found out that Stephen Hawking was going to be asking the Answers community a question, I could hardly contain my excitement. Our weekly meetings sometimes derail into ?wouldn?t it be cool if?? sessions, and Stephen Hawking is one name that consistently surfaces during these discussions.

Aside from being one of the world?s leading theoretical physicists, Stephen Hawking has also made some popular guest appearances on television ? as a member of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers on Futurama, and as Lisa?s savior on The Simpsons.

If you haven?t checked out Answers yet, you might try reading through the many interesting responses to Dr. Hawking?s question. Or you may have begun to see some of the best of Answers in Yahoo! Search results, providing responses on all manner of topics from the profound to the mundane.

For example, as folks who know me can attest, I?ve lately been telling people about a time when I benefited from the answer to someone else?s question. A friend gave us a half a fresh abalone and I had no idea what to do with it. So I searched for fresh abalone, and there it was! A great best answer with everything I needed to know about cooking fresh abalone. Slice, tenderize, cook 20 seconds a side in a frying pan with butter and shallots. Do not overcook!

Benefiting from other people’s answers via search is great, but participation is key, and you still have time to answer Dr. Hawking.

Tara Kirchner

PS ? Check back on Answers on Friday, when U2?s Bono asks his big question!

Potentially lost in all the excitement last week was an announcement about our international expansion.

For months now, many of you have been wondering when Yahoo! Answers would be available in Spanish, French, and other languages. Well…. ask and ye shall receive!

We’ve expanded our international presence to nine additional markets and in five new languages. In addition to our existing sites in US, UK, Canada, Australia, and India, we now have Yahoo! Answers in: Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Singapore.

In these newly launched markets, where the number of documents in the web index is simply not as large as the English-speaking markets, Yahoo! Answers is an especially powerful means of tapping into the global community to share and exchange knowledge and to change what it means to search.

Now go bust out your foreign language skills (or use the language translation feature of Yahoo! Toolbar), ask your questions and share your knowledge globally: Find out from Germans whether it’s still possible to get tickets for the FIFA World Cup, get the Brazilian take on why their beloved Ronaldinho doesn’t wear braces, or ask the French to find out what their recommendations are for a good mid-range Bordeaux.

As always, keep that feedback coming…

Lesley Kao
Sr. Product Manager, International Yahoo! Answers

P.S. In the meantime, Answerers of legal drinking age can help us celebrate the occasion by mixing up a cocktail we’re calling, “The Best Answer” … courtesy of one of our international Yahoo! product managers. The cocktail is lovely shade of green that matches our site and is quite delicious too!

“THE BEST ANSWER”

Ingredients:

4 parts vodka
4 parts vanilla vodka
4 parts Godiva white chocolate liqueur
2 parts heavy cream
1 part crè­¥ de menthe
Dark or white chocolate

Add the vodka, vanilla vodka, white chocolate liqueur, and cream to a shaker with ice, and shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into a chilled glass. Without emptying the shaker, add crè­¥ de menthe to the residue of the vodka/cream mixture and shake vigorously. Drizzle into glass; the mint will gradually sink to form a green layer at the bottom of the glass. Garnish the top with either shaved white chocolate (to mimic the Yahoo! Answers asterisk icon) or dark chocolate (to add a touch of the Yahoo! Answers Yamster mascot).

Enjoy!

I have to be honest. When Yahoo! Answers first came out, I really didn’t know what to expect. Did the world need yet another place to ask questions online?

After writing Asking the Internet, I watched to see which way it would go. Now here we are six months later and Yahoo! Answers has far more of a following than I ever expected. Some of them gather in the Answerholics Anonymous group while others obsessively watch the leaderboard, hoping to climb the ranks.

This week we’ve been pouring more fuel on the fire…

Flash Badges

For a while now, we’ve offered simple cut-and-paste JavaScript badges that you can put on your own web site to, you know, show off what you know (or whish you knew). You never know when someone looking at one of your pages might know the answer to a nagging question.

We’ve heard from a lot of people that wanted to add a badge to their sites but didn’t have the skills or access required to use them. And many sites simply don’t allow third-party JavaScript. So to make life easier, we now offer Flash badges that work nearly anywhere, including TypePad, Blogger, and others. (MySpace and Yahoo! 360 support coming in a few days.) To get one of your own, start with the badge selector.

Nick recently announced the flash badge on the Yahoo! Answers blog, so you can read more of the story there.

Big Brains in New York

To celebrate the full launch of Yahoo! Answers (it’s not beta anymore!), we’ve had a big promotion going on in New York City this week. As part of “Ask The Planet 2006″, we constructed–I kid you not–a big brain in Times Square and packed it die-hard Yahoo! Answers users.

Since not all the smart people are in New York, we also have Flickr Photos and a live video feed.

Read more about it from Search Engine Watch and TechCrunch.

It wouldn’t be a big bash without prizes and celebrities, right? Luckily, we’ve got both. Check the calendar of events to see who is involved when. You just might get to answer a question from Click and Clack (the Car Talk guys), Al Gore, or Stephen Hawking.

Jeremy Zawodny

It’s hard for us on the core product team to believe that it’s only been 2 months since we launched the beta of Yahoo! Answers. Since then, we’ve added many features to the site in a steady stream of improvements. So it seems like a good time to catch you up!

To refresh, Answers is a question and answer exchange that enables people to tap into the collective wisdom of a world of web users.

Here’s a few of the new features you’ll find:

Yeah, What You Said
Sometimes, a question you ask has already been answered. And sometimes, you might stumble upon a better way to ask a question. So we developed an Ajax widget that searches previously asked questions as you’re typing in your question. Look below to see how it works.

Users Helping Users
Before long, people started using Answers to ask questions about Answers. So we started a Yahoo! Products section, where users respond to fellow users’ questions about Answers. This worked so well, we’ve expanded the product section to include Yahoo! Mail, 360, and Messenger. Users also tell us what’s on their minds in the Forum, or leave a comment on our Blog. We’re also highlighting users in a new weekly Featured User section, as well as highlighting the top 5,000 point getters on the Leaderboard.

Showing What You Know
For those bloggers and website owners, we built a Badge that can be customized and displayed on any website or blog. Grab your own toolbar button while you’re there.

Oh, and now you can get an RSS feed of Q&A by search keywords, in addition to your own Q&A, other user’s Q&A, and Q&A by category.

There are many more features coming soon, so come visit us at Yahoo! Answers. We look forward to hearing from you!

Yumio Saneyoshi and the Yahoo! Answers team