June 28, 2007 on 7:23 pm | In News | 75 Comments
Time to get those creative juices flowing – the Yahoo! Messenger Emoticontest is here! Got a great idea for a new emoticon? Is there an expression or feeling that you always wish was an emoticon? Now’s your chance to bring that emoticon to life in the next version of Yahoo! Messenger.
To participate, just submit a photo of your emoticon idea to our contest. Remember we’re looking for new emoticon ideas, not your imitation of ones that already exist.
You can see our full list of existing emoticons here.
Plus, be sure to vote on the ones you’d like to see in our next version. We’re using Bix.com, Yahoo’s online contest service to power the contest, and they offer some easy tools to help you submit your emoticon idea and vote for your favorite entries in face-off style.
We’re running this contest in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Emoticon, invented by Professor Scott Fahlman of Carnegie Mellon University. “When I first proposed the 
smiley face symbol, I never thought it would take off the way it has,” said Professor Fahlman.
“It started as a way to indicate humor — or attempted humor — among a small, local community of computer researchers. It has been fascinating to watch this small but infectious idea spread into new communities as the Internet has matured.” Read more about the birth of the emoticon on Scott’s website.
Happy Anniversary to the emoticon!
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
June 27, 2007 on 6:17 pm | In News | 46 Comments
We will be doing some maintenance work tonight between 8pm and 12am midnight Pacific Time (timezone conversion tool).
This work is required to fix some issues that contributed to the service issues last night and this morning. During the maintenance period, you may experience some issues with signing in or with the online availability of some friends.
As an alternate, we recommend using Yahoo! Messenger for the Web if you experience problems during the maintenance period.
We apologize in advance for any inconvenience. Thanks for your patience,
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
June 27, 2007 on 9:52 am | In News | 42 Comments
[Issues have been resolved as of 10:45am PST. Thanks for your patience - SB]
Hi everyone,
We are troubleshooting the issues causing sign in problems right now on Messenger. Some users may be able to sign in, others may not. I recommend trying to sign in to Yahoo! Messenger for the Web - I had success with that this morning.
Thanks for your patience. I’ll update this post once the problem has been fixed.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
June 26, 2007 on 4:20 pm | In News | 82 Comments
Wow, it seems like every other comment on the blog these days can by summarized by a commenter named “Fitz”:
“yahoo, pls. don’t abandon your project (messenger for vista).. it’s so cool
”
Don’t worry Fitz, we’re working harder than ever on Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista.
You will be able to download a Beta version in the coming months. I wish I could be more specific with a release date at this point because I know how much anticipation our users have had for the entirely new Vista-powered interface.
As soon as we do have a more firm release date, our blog readers will be among the first to know. In the meantime, make sure you’ve provided your email address on our Messenger for Windows Vista page so you won’t miss it.
The work our team is doing with Vista’s new interface technology, WPF, is pioneering, but has taken time to perfect. As we discover the best ways to create WPF applications, we also take time to share knowledge and techniques with other software developers. At the Microsoft MIX conference in May, developers and designers from the Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista team presented some of their work. Check out the videos below for some behind-the-scenes looks at the making of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista.
Design talk on Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista (1:21)
Yahoo! joins Kalani Kordus, Lee Brimelow and Mark Ligameri of Frog Design to show early prototypes, concepts, and the development process.
Tech Talk on Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista (1:00)
Josh Jacobson provides background and a product demonstration, and Eric Burke discusses WPF tips and tricks (WPF tips start at 15:30 in the video).
Again, thanks for your continued patience and interest in the upcoming Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista. We can’t wait to let you take it for a test drive.
Josh Jacobson
Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista
P.S. - We’re always looking for talent to join our Messenger team. Check out latest job listing for a Messenger for Vista visual designer.
June 22, 2007 on 10:36 am | In Fun Stuff | 27 Comments
Some team members spotted Yahoo! Messenger in a couple of movies.
In the trailer for this summer’s “1408”, coming out June 22, John Cusack ’s character turns to Yahoo! Messenger for help with getting out of a harrowing hotel room (good luck with that!)…
And in “Epic Movie” from earlier this year (a parody that spoofs recent blockbusters), the Mac version makes an appearance:
Keep your eyes peeled in theaters this summer and let us know if you run into Yahoo! Messenger at the movies.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
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