no.stupid.answers

Here is the exciting news from Answers.com, which is launching its new product today at DEMO 2009 in San Diego:

New Answers.com Launches First Site to Combine Community with Hundreds of Editorial Resources under One Roof

International Languages Now Supported: Spanish, French, Italian & German

New Answers.com combines the power of the company’s WikiAnswers® community-driven content with hundreds of expert resources from licensed content on ReferenceAnswers™. Users can ask anything and automatically receive the best available answer, which could be user-generated or from an editorial resource. Through the contributions of a large and growing community, answers can be edited and improved over time.

To sum it up, Answers.com has officially combined its user-generated WikiAnswers Q&A database and the licensed content of ReferenceAnswers to create one powerful answer engine, designed to offer you the best answer to your question.

In addition, four new language Q&A communities have opened up. These new international versions are:

• Spanish: http://es.answers.com
• French: http://fr.answers.com
• Italian: http://it.answers.com
• German: http://de.answers.com

Watch Answers Corp’s onstage presentation at the DEMO conference! Visit www.demo.com TOMORROW (Wednesday), shortly before 11:48 a.m. EDT (8:48 a.m. PDT).

UPDATE: Below is the footage of the talk given by Bob and Shaya at DEMO…

One of the things I always say is: Don’t mess with ninjas. Another thing I like to say is: Don’t mess with ridiculously awesome WikiAnswers Supervisors who double as Mentors, Vandal Patrolmen, WikiGuides, and WIT members. Which is why I’d like to introduce Shinobi Swordsman, who is one of each of these and much more.

But Shinobi Swordsman can boast other talents when offline as well: He’s a fan of Naruto, his favorite anime. In his words: “Ninjas rule!” I guess that explains the Naruto headband above. A high school student, he’s taking Spanish 2 and seems to dabble in Hebrew. Believing knowledge is power, he says his hopes and dreams include becoming a true renaissance man. Well, so far so good.

Here’s a little more about Shinobi in his own words:

How did you originally hear about WikiAnswers?

I originally heard about WikiAnswers from my ten-year old cousin.

Explain your username.

My username is based on seven characters from an anime called Naruto.

What motivates you to volunteer your time to the WikiAnswers community?

I am motivated to spend my time on WikiAnswers because I enjoy answering questions, sharing knowledge, and just in general enjoying the “wiki” part of WikiAnswers.

What are your areas of expertise?

My areas of expertise include greeting new contributors, and answering chess-related questions.

What is your favorite WikiAnswers feature?

My favorite WikiAnswers feature is the Batch Recat.

What is the funniest question/funniest experience on WikiAnswers?

The funniest experience would have to be reading all the “Fun Questions” threads on the community Forum. It’s like reading the comics in the newspaper every morning.

Share a random fact (or two) about yourself.

I enjoy dancing but I don’t like to dance in front of others.

Do you want to be interviewed for the Contributor corner? Just leave a comment below and we’ll get to work.

You never really have the answers about love until you have them. And even then, they can’t really be put into words. But oh, the questions! The burning questions! For example:

• Why are men mean?
• Why are girls so mischievous?

Seriously? But why?!

It’s not surprising that there are so many unexplainables when it comes to love. I doubt we ourselves know why we do the zany - sometimes desperate - things we do. And we’re endlessly curious about the love aberrations of others, whether they be celebrities or former lovers. For instance, I gotta know: When Rihanna and Chris had a fight, did Rihanna throw piano pieces at him? And Why is my ex still texting me?

SOS

Sometimes we’re just at a loss, fearing we will never be loved (or loved back) or wondering how far to go to preserve the love we do have. Worse yet, we don’t even know HOW we feel.

A rose by any other name…

Sometimes we do know exactly how we feel. And we know just how to say it. But… not in the right language. Wikiers asked this week:

• How do you say “I’m going to passionately kiss you” in French?
• How do you say “high off love” in Spanish?
• What is Samoan for “I don’t love you”?

Until next time…

If you’re still hungry for questions, grab your laptop (and maybe some popcorn), lie back on your favorite Freudian settee, and follow this column as I delve deeper into the woes of wooing, the subtexts of texting, foreign amore and, of course, the lovestyles of the rich and famous.