March Madness comes to Yahoo! Messenger
March 14, 2007 on 3:49 pm | In Features, Fun Stuff | 42 Comments
Were you glued to ESPN last Sunday? Do you find yourself whistling your school’s fight song and organizing your wardrobe by your school’s colors? Then it’s official: March Madness has begun.
Millions of crazed basketball fans around the country are busy filling out their picks for office pools (try your hand at Yahoo! Sports’ Tournament Pick‘Em) and bosses everywhere are expecting lower productivity during the tournament thanks to CBS’ online broadcast of live games.
To help you channel your hoops zeal, we’ve filled Yahoo! Messenger with everything you need to keep up with the games, show your school pride, and taunt your friends as their school’s dreams vanish. See everything we’ve cooked up to help you keep your IM on the ball.
Start the NCAA Basketball IMVironment during your IM conversation and both you and your friend will get real-time scores along with the latest news from the tournament and your favorite teams. Try the NCAA Basketball IMV now
Let’s not forget taunting, one of the most important skills that a tournament veteran possesses. 
Use the new NCAA Basketball Audibles to play referee, root for the underdog, and to tell a friend what you really think about a team’s defense. To find the new Audibles, click the 
button in the IM window, click the “More Audibles” button, and then go to the “See All Audibles” menu. Try the NCAA Basketball Audibles now
And even if your team doesn’t make it far in the tournament, Yahoo! Avatars has NCAA uniform jerseys for over 30 teams. Changing allegiances is as easy as changing your shirt.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
Will it work with the Mac version?
Alex
Comment by Alex Rodriguez — March 14, 2007 #
Alex, Microsoft will start selling Macs before that happens.
Comment by MysticalOS — March 14, 2007 #
when is Yahoo Messenger going to eliminate the bots from the chat rooms on Messanger? No longer can we go to room and chat with freinds with out being blasted by bots. And the bots out number real people by 9:1.
Comment by den — March 14, 2007 #
hahah good one MysticalOS
Totally agree with out..
But thinking about it a little, I’d hate to have IMVs in Yahoo Messenger for Mac. Audibles are pretty nice
Comment by Lucky — March 15, 2007 #
Hi Alex – Sorry but IMVironments and audibles are only available on the Windows version of Yahoo! Messenger (8.1). You can use the NCAA Basketball Avatars on the Mac (http://avatars.yahoo.com/index.html?show=cat&sct=130&cat=248) Thanks,
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — March 15, 2007 #
I doubt that anyone will really pay attention to this, but I am another frustrated user of messenger. I hate that it’s impossible at times to get into rooms due to all the “porno” bots that pop in. Random stupid posts, people wanting you to “visit” their web cams, check out their singles sites, etc. It congests the room to where people who actually want to go in there, to listen to music and chill or talk to their friends, are unable to do so. It’s time that yahoo does something to eliminate the bots! It’s so bad that users often joke about “shooting” the bots or killing the bots, sending all the bots they can to their “iggy” bins, but it seems that, for every ten bots you send to the iggy bin today, another 100 new ones arrive tomorrow. It’s a never ending yet constantly escalating problem…
Comment by Chelle — March 16, 2007 #
Hey, when will we get to use the Vista version of the messenger?
Comment by Hitesh — March 16, 2007 #
I’ll be happy if they start releasing change logs with Yahoo! Messenger downloads.
Its the little things…
Comment by Muzammil — March 16, 2007 #
Ya having to retry over and over again get in the rooms is pathetic and has been like this for over a month, and so are all them porn bots, they far out weigh the normal chatters, and recieving there Spam whilest not in a room and at your desktop is disgracefull …90% of people i chat to on yahoo have moved to cam frog now
Comment by carl — March 17, 2007 #
Guys,
I’d like to know why Yahoo messenger does not work anymore on my computer?
At first, some 5-6 days ago the voice service failed, after which I could not started anymore the msg.
tried to remove and re-install messenger on my computer, but with no result. Any idea what’s going on?
Comment by Lucia — March 18, 2007 #
any good alternatives to yahoo chat now that its really annoying?
Comment by steph — March 18, 2007 #
Fix the bot issue, Yahoo! Please! How many times to people have to complain before something is done?
Comment by len — March 18, 2007 #
Hey, have you guys heard of VC Sync yet? It’s the new product from Torseq Tech, the makers of YTK Pro! VC Sync is the ultimate solution for voice lagging. It stops all voice lagging on-the fly, and you never lose voice at all, nor does your computer freeze!!!!
http://www.ytkpro.com
Comment by Mr. Perfect — March 18, 2007 #
Also, it works with all third party clients, in addition to Yahoo! Messenger, YTK Pro, and YTK Lite!!!
Comment by Mr. Perfect — March 18, 2007 #
len. only 3 more times, then magically they will fix it, so go for it. make 3 more posts and add to the crap that’s littering this blog. I love the irony of ytk and ytunnel posting so much spam here. (with almost bot like timing). If anyone here is dumb enough not to realise the posts are to sell their products then duh! go buy them. If they REALLY cared about the bot issue so much they would have a single post to a download of their program for FREE (not a ‘lite’ or cut down version). Go figure!.
Comment by fan of len — March 18, 2007 #
The only reason anyone should buy them (especially YTK Pro, which has a free version too, YTK Lite), is because they actually work as advertised.
YTK/VC Sync actually fixes some of the most annoying things Yahoo broke.
Go figure.
Comment by Mr. Wonderful — March 18, 2007 #
If you want a free solution, then get YTK Lite. It has plenty of neat and useful features, even some anti-boot features.
http://www.ytkpro.com
Later gator.
Comment by Mr. Wonderful — March 18, 2007 #
lol! Your YTK posts are so desperate its embarrassing! ‘Mr Perfect’ ‘Mr Wonderful’ ROFL! I must have missed the blog post detailing the competition rules for the most number of spam postings by a single person under different names! You should make a program for removing YTK spam in blogs. I would buy it :p
Comment by Mr Awesome — March 18, 2007 #
Guys, please don’t mention YTK on here anymore, thanks.
Comment by Venom — March 18, 2007 #
To fan of len:
You’re an asshat.
I’ve never even heard of YTK, and don’t use ytunnel. I’m a real person who is sick beyond description of having to battle bots every time I want to chat. Regardless of who is generating them, filtering them – at least to an 85-90% detection level – shouldn’t be hard. I can do it on sight; why can’t Yahoo do it at the server level?
Comment by len — March 19, 2007 #
ytkpro is a program that makes ur chat life better. theres a free version called ytklite. its good stuff bro!!!
Comment by wot — March 19, 2007 #
tunnel sucks cuz it crashes all the time 4 me and my friends
Comment by wot — March 19, 2007 #
Yahoo! is a free service yet we have to buy products to stay online and safe using it
Doesn’t seem right!
Comment by polar — March 20, 2007 #
I paid $17 american for Y Tunnel and it gets booted easier than Messenger alone. I refuse to buy another program to stay in a room full of iggy bots anyway! YTK or Tunnel don’t do anything for the iggy bots and Yahoo Lagg Killer works as good as that junk they sell to stay protected from laggers
anyone need a job selling ice to eskimos?
Comment by polar — March 20, 2007 #
(Not an advertisement, addressing the above comment) YTK has C-Mode and and 100% unbootable Gawd Mode (Y!Tunnel has a version of C-Mode called Stealth Mode), and has updated filters that do nuke the bots.
As for Yahoo Lagg Killer, it honestly doesn’t stand a chance against VC Sync. It’s the one and only program in existence that protects 100% against voice laggers, without loss of voice, nor freezing of the chat.
Good day.
Comment by Venom — March 21, 2007 #
My Yahoo Lagg Killer works flawlessly and the stealth mode of Y Tunnel is just an extra screen to pop up as far as I’m concerned. I was booted the other night on Y!Tunnel (with stealth mode enabled) and the screen that popped up was “you have been disconnected from the yahoo server” and I was booted offline again for an extra 10 minutes trying to login. What does any of the Yahoo! addons do for iggy bots? What! you say nothing then what good is it anyway, my problem isn’t boots or laggs it is the dam bots filling rooms to take voice or just fill a room to keep people out. Like STB or Room Destroyer, I’m sure you are familiar with them. The porn bots per room compared to iggy bots or room filler/scroll lagger bots ratio is about 1 porn bot for 30 other bots. You all gotta stop talking out your bums and either fix the problems or be like a goose and flock off!
Comment by polar — March 21, 2007 #
Comment by polar — March 22, 2007 #
Just to let you guys know, Adam [Torseq Technologies] (co-developer of YTK Pro/YTK Lite/VC Sync) is giving away 5 keys to VC Sync on BigBlueBall (which is regularly $14.95) and includes all updates free for the lifetime of the program.
VC Sync is the ultimate protection from voice laggers, for any clients including Yahoo! Messenger, YMLite, YahELite, YaZak, etc, as well as ALGs like YTK Pro, YTK Lite, and Y!TunnelPro.
http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/yahoo-add-ons-utilities/39826-vc-sync-released.html
Good luck to anyone whom tries to get VC Sync, the 100% anti-lag protection
Comment by Venom — March 23, 2007 #
You forgot a few blogs venom, go post your programs on marcus’ forum http://www.romanware.com/iforum/index.php and anyone else go look at the crap this guy is selling to ruin Yahoo!
Comment by polar — March 23, 2007 #
Venom and his bum buddies and marcus and his bum buddies can all go and play super hero and villain to some unknowing chat freak. I’m not biting!
Comment by polar — March 23, 2007 #
I don’t see how you can compare protective software, against the malicious software the protective software protects against.
VC Sync puts Markus out of business in the voice lagger department.
Comment by Venom — March 24, 2007 #
The laggers are not my problem nor are the booters, the mass iggy and room filler bots filling rooms and splitting servers are my problem. Yahoo! needs the 10 room ignores and you are gone from the room option! That would give the Yahoo! gangbangers an advantage but the mass botting of rooms has got to stop. I look at the porn bots as Yahoo! commercials.
Comment by polar — March 24, 2007 #
I can compare protective software to malicious software because alot of the malicious software developers have protective software to work against their malicious software. It’s like a car dealership selling broken cars and selling the parts to fix them too, covering all angles.
Comment by polar — March 24, 2007 #
Venom… I notice that you acknowledged marcus for building voice laggers for Yahoo! Chat and how VC Sync puts him out of business in the voice lagger dept. Is there any plans for the YTK bunch to put him out of business with STB or SuperVox too? The people of YTK and Y!Tunnel seem to be smart enough, why not just shut his site down?
Comment by polar — March 25, 2007 #
i’m new and have only had my Y! IM program two days. what r iggy bots??
Comment by rachodavis — March 25, 2007 #
Iggy Bots are Yahoo! accounts logged into Yahoo! Chat through a program that mass ignores all the chatters in the room unless they are on a safe list.
Comment by polar — March 25, 2007 #
Will Yahoo stand up and be counted and remove the porn bots from Chat rooms please? The frightening statistic that 60% of users in Chat are pornsites is amazing. Perhaps we should send our complaints to subscribers and sponsors and paid advertisers to Yahoo. If I may also add, when will Yahoo ban the use of Clone names of actual chatters and the use of disgusting photos, all contrary to the terms of use when we sign up to Yahoo!!!
Comment by Debbie — March 26, 2007 #
AMEN debbie keep giving them crap ppl!
Comment by LOL — March 26, 2007 #
The only reason anyone should buy them (especially YTK Pro, which has a free version too, YTK Lite), is because they actually work as advertised.
YTK/VC Sync actually fixes some of the most annoying things Yahoo broke.
Go figure.
Comment by Mr. Wonderful — March 18, 2007 #
LMFAO at those 2 working together to spam ytk
Comment by LOL — March 26, 2007 #
I don’t see how you can compare protective software, against the malicious software the protective software protects against.
VC Sync puts Markus out of business in the voice lagger department.
PEOPLE have to buy it first 14.99 when people can not even get in chat get out of here with your spam jesus!
Comment by LOL — March 26, 2007 #
Not a soul will talk about iggy bots, it’s always porn bots and booters…When you join a room full of people and you can’t key up or you join a room and can’t hear some people talking or see them in the chatters list (sometimes they are ignored) or when you can’t join a room or when you join a room and key up with 100+ listeners, etc…that is iggy bots at work, not porn bots. We can all ignore the bots regardless if they are porn or iggy, but the iggy bots keep us off the mic and out of rooms.
Comment by polar — March 26, 2007 #
I don’t get it…. I was able to see the NCAA audibles but it cant be saved!
Comment by rad — August 25, 2007 #