Yahoo!7 Answers Blog Australia

We’ve made the decision to extend the Will you design my Valentine? contest until Monday. This will give some of you time over the weekend to get your entries in!

All entries are now due on Monday the 15th of February by 12 noon AEST (Sydney/Melbourne time).

What’s the theme?

We want you to submit EITHER your sweetest Valentine or, the best anti-Valentine you can come up with.

What do I need to do?

There are several ways to enter:

• Download the Yamster or decorate your Avatar. You’re not limited to using just the Yamster or your Avatar, but please remember, no photographs of people or body parts will be permitted.  When you’re done, upload it to the Answers Flickr pool – found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/yahoo7answersvalentines/.
• Post your  favourite love poems, sonnets, or, anti-Valentine’s day card messages as comments below.
• We’ve posted an open question here where you can share your plans for February 14th with us.

We’ll review all submissions and will select winners based on creativity, and dedication, so be sure to put your heart into it! Winners will be posted by the end of the day on Friday, February 12th and will receive bonus points on Yahoo!7 Answers.

REMEMBER, your Valentine or anti-Valentine, must still follow the Yahoo!7 Answers Community Guidelines and the Yahoo!7 Terms of Service, so don’t: rant, use hate speech, use suggestive language, be offensive, or say anything that might not be appropriate for anyone under the age of 13. If you wouldn’t show it to your grandma, don’t post it here.

Good luck!

Kate
Community Manager

If you’re feeling festive this season, download the Yamster avatar and dress him up for Christmas! Feel free to add hats, clothing, or whatever you’d like – just be sure to keep it friendly, clean, and compliant with the Answers Community Guidelines.

Sites like Picnik (which is built directly into Yahoo’s own Flickr) offer a full arsenal of Christmas items like snow, decorations, and gingerbread. Be sure to check them out here.

Or, you can use something like Microsoft Paint, Photoshop, SumoPaint, or any other paint program on the market to edit or enhance an image.

Not a fan of the Yamster? That’s ok too! You’re welcome to dress up your own personal Avatar in their finest Christmas looks for the competition.

Once you’re through dressing up your Yamster or Avatar, save the image (right click and “save as”) and upload it to your Flickr account. Then, add the image to the Answers Christmas pool — found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/yahoo7answerschristmas/.

Submissions must be received by 11am AEDST on Sunday, December 27th (4pm PST on Saturday, December 26th). Winner(s) will be posted on the Yahoo!7 Answers Blog and will receive 100 bonus points on Yahoo!7 Answers.

The Rules

• Avatars and/or Yamsters must be submitted to Flickr by 11am AEDST on Sunday, December 27th (4pm PST on Saturday, December 26th).
• All images must be in compliance with Yahoo!7’s TOS, Yahoo!7 Answers Community Guidelines, Flickr’s Community Guidelines, and, must not contain mature or adult content.
• Submitted images may only be that of Avatar or of the Yamster – no actual photographs will be accepted or considered.
• No real value is given to this prize: winner(s) will receive 100 bonus points on Yahoo!7 Answers.

Good luck everyone!

Kate
Community Manager

Need an early Christmas present? With all this doom and gloom, we need a bit of cheering up, and fortunately Yahoo!7 has just the solution. Win 1 of 4 ultimate prize packs including a Blue-ray home theatre system, 46-inch Sony Bravia LCD TV and a new-look 120 gigabyte Playstation 3.

So what do you have to do to win this fabulous prize? Simply click here and follow the steps to set Yahoo!7 as your homepage. When you’ve confirmed that it is your homepage, enter your details and you’ll be in the draw to win television magic.*

Imagine how good Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman or Eric Bana would look on a 46-inch television in your home! You’ll never head to a stadium again, watch all your favourite sports such as rugby league and soccer from the comfort of your lounge room in stunning colour and surround sound.

The 46″ (117cm) Z5500 Series BRAVIA LCD TV is truly an action-inspired LCD TV with innovative technologies and clever features incorporated that works synergistically together, elevating your viewing experience to a whole new level. Other benefits include Live Colour Creation and Bravia Engine 3, as well as an abundance of connectivity options.

Not sure what this all means? Check out Answers for the solution!

• What is the difference between LCD and Plasma TV’s?
• What are the differences between the different Bravia Series?
• Can I set up my PC to run on a Sony Bravia?

To enter, click here and follow the steps to win!

Kate
Community Manager

* Terms and Conditions

A big thank you to everyone who submitted a Halloween Yamster or Avatar image during the weekend outage, we loved them.

It was extremely hard to choose between them, so we decided to award all entrants 100 points each – so congratulations to both Lucien and QCY!

And without further ado, here are the winning entries:

Lucien

QCY

Thanks again for your patience during the outage

Kate
Community Manager

Boo! Don’t be scared! Answers will be down this Saturday, October 31st starting at 3pm AEDST (Sydney/Melbourne Daylight Savings Time) for scheduled maintenance.

During this time, you’ll be unable to access the Answers site, but will be able to:

• Catch up on old posts on the Answers blog.
• Stop by the Answers Suggestion Board.
• or, if you dare, can take part in a Halloween themed Answers competition (details below)

Additionally, please be aware that the Yamster will be setting back his clocks at 8pm AEDST on November 1st, 2009. During this time no new questions will show on the Answers pages but things will be back to normal after one hour.

Answers Halloween Costume Contest

If you’re feeling festive, download the Yamster avatar and dress him up for Halloween! Feel free to add hats, clothing, or whatever you’d like—just be sure to keep it friendly, clean, and compliant with the Answers Community Guidelines.

Sites like Picnik (which is built directly into Yahoo’s own Flickr) offer a full arsenal of Halloween accoutrements like masks, spiders, and spooky scenes that would make any Yamster squeel. Be sure to check them out here.

Or, you can use something like Microsoft Paint, Photoshop, SumoPaint, or any other paint program on the market to edit or enhance an image.

Not a fan of the Yamster? That’s ok too! You’re welcome to dress up your own personal Avatar in their finest Halloween looks for the competition.

Once you’re through dressing up your Yamster or Avatar, save the image (right click and “save as”) and upload it to your Flickr account. Then, add the image to the Answers Halloween pool—found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/yahoo7answershalloween/.

Submissions must be received by 11am AEDST on Monday, November 2nd. Winner(s) will be posted on the Yahoo!7 Answers Blog and will receive 100 bonus points on Yahoo!7 Answers.

The Rules

• Avatars and/or Yamsters must be submitted to Flickr by 5pm PT on November 1st.
• All images must be in compliance with Yahoo!7’s TOS, Yahoo!7 Answers Community Guidelines, Flickr’s Community Guidelines, and, must not contain mature or adult content.
• Submitted images may only be that of Avatar or of the Yamster—no actual photographs will be accepted or considered.
• No real value is given to this prize: winner(s) will receive 100 bonus points on Yahoo!7 Answers.

Good luck everyone!

It’s hard to believe but space travel is a real possibility for a few lucky (and very wealthy) people. In the year that there was a total solar eclipse and the 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon, Virgin Galactic’s founder, Richard Branson will conduct a world first when he crews his aerospace vehicle, the Virgin Mothership Eve at the air show EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2009.

Space is one of those fascinating yet enigmatic topics. How does weightlessness work and what does it feel like? How were solar systems formed? Why are stars and planets round? Why is the sun yellow? The more you think about outer space, the more questions form in your mind and in many instances, we just don’t know the answers.

Well for the 200 people who have coughed up their US$20,000 deposit for the sub orbital spaceflight on Virgin Galactic, some of these questions will soon be answered. They will hurtle through the edges of the atmosphere at more than three times the speed of sound and they will experience a type of virtual weightlessness as gravity starts pulling them back to earth.

To celebrate, Yahoo!7 Travel have an out of this world trip to Space Mountain for two flying on Virgin Atlantic from Sydney to Hong Kong return with three nights at the funky W Hong Kong and round trip transfers. Click here to enter the competition.

We’d also like to know, if you had the chance, would you like to take a trip to space in your lifetime? Why or why not?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Need an early Christmas present? With all this doom and gloom, we need a bit of cheering up, and fortunately Yahoo!7 has just the solution. We’re giving away four huge Sony Bravia TV’s (Z Series) to some very lucky winners.

So what do you have to do to win this fabulous prize? Simply click here and follow the steps to set Yahoo!7 as your homepage. When you’ve confirmed that it is your homepage, enter your details and you’ll be in the draw to win television magic.*

Imagine how good Hugh Jackman would look in all his muscle bound glory on a 52-inch television monitor sitting in the centre of your lounge room. You won’t need to see football live again – the clarity and performance of this wide screen TV will outperform any seats at the stadium.

The new Z series BRAVIA is the only BRAVIA to feature Motionflow 200Hz, a technological breakthrough that provides clearer, smoother motion from a wider range of sources. Other benefits include Live Colour Creation and BRAVIA Engine 2 as well as an abundance of connectivity options including 3 x HDMI™ inputs and DLNA home network connectivity. It retails at $5,099.

Not sure what this all means? Check out Answers for the solution!

What’s the difference between plasma and an LCD?

What do the terms HDMI and s-video mean?

What is a good way to tell the difference with motion using motionflow on my Sony Bravia?

How do I clean an LCD screen?

To enter, click here and follow the steps to win!

Caitlin
Community Manager

* Terms and Conditions

Visiting a wine tasting region is one of my favourite ways to spend a weekend. I love heading out of the city late on Friday night with the express intention of tasting a variety of different vinos. Experience has taught me that it is also de rigueur to return home on Sunday night with a full stomach and car boot laden with wine that I “just had to buy”.

The great thing about being a wine enthusiast in Australia is that there are so many places to try, many of which are in driving distance from a capital city. The Hunter Valley obviously has a great reputation, as does the Margaret River and the Barossa Valley. There are also perhaps lesser known wine growing areas, such as Swan Valley in WA, a variety of areas in Victoria and even Queensland is getting into the spirit of things.

Although wine tasting used to have a stigma attached to it, it is gradually losing that reputation and wineries are encouraging those who haven’t tried it to give it a go. To experience the full taste of the wine however, there are few things to keep in mind.
One tip from Oldmalibu57 is to:

Always hold a wine glass by the “stem” and never put your hands on the bowl as you want to “see” the wine and not your fingerprints. More

Walking on Sunshine says there are 5 S’s to consider:

SEE- The colour and clarity of a wine gives you several clues about it.
SWIRL- Swirling the wine in your glass aerates it, bringing oxygen into the wine and allowing it to release its aroma.
SMELL – This is the most important part of wine tasting. You can only perceive 4 basic tastes, but you can smell 2000 smells, and wine has over 200 of its own.
SIP- Be sure to move the wine around in your mouth to cover all of your taste buds.
SAVOUR – Sit back for a few minutes and savour the taste. More

Want to put your wine knowledge to the test? Yahoo!7 Travel is giving away a holiday to the Hunter Valley. The prize includes:

•  Two nights accommodation at Harrigans Irish Pub and Accommodation
•  Breakfast at Harrigans Irish Pub
•  Two tickets to the Hunter Valley Gardens
•  Two bottles of Hunter Valley wine

Click here to enter this fabulous competition! Terms & Conditions apply

Caitlin
Community Manager