August 31, 2007 on 9:49 am | In Mobile | 63 Comments
While using Yahoo! Messenger on a Blackberry is not new, a recent demo I got from the mobile team was enough to merit a blog mention. If you have a Blackberry smartphone, or are considering getting one, you’ll get to experience the best mobile version of Yahoo! Messenger that’s out there.
Most mobile phone users use the mobile web version of Yahoo! Messenger by visiting http://m.yahoo.com through their phone’s web browser. But on select devices, like a Blackberry, a more robust, downloadable application is available that includes some key extras like the ability to notify you when new IMs come in, even if you’re doing something else on the phone. The Blackberry version also offers graphical emoticons, and the ever-popular Buzz feature.
If you have a Blackberry, there are a couple of ways to get Yahoo! Messenger. Visit the Yahoo! Messenger download page on the Blackberry site (scroll to the bottom and click the Download button), or on your Blackberry, select the Internet Browser icon on the homepage and navigate to http://www.blackberry.com/yahoodownload.
It’s free to download Yahoo! Messenger and use it on your Blackberry, but note that carrier airtime, usage fees and other taxes may apply. Check the details of your Blackberry’s data plan with your mobile provider. Yahoo! Messenger is available for the following Blackberry devices: BlackBerry® 7100, 7200, 7500, 7700, 8700 and 8800 series, BlackBerry® Pearl™, and BlackBerry® Curve™. Yahoo! Messenger is not available for Blackberry users on AT&T.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
August 29, 2007 on 9:32 am | In Features | 585 Comments
Hi everyone,
To help reduce the number of automated bots, we’ve implemented a new process for entering the Yahoo! Messenger chat rooms known as Captcha. Captcha is used elsewhere on Yahoo! in places like Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Games to help verify that a user is in fact human rather than an automated bot. Here’s how it works in the Yahoo! Messenger chat rooms…
Once you’ve chosen a Yahoo! Messenger chat room, you’ll be put into an empty room (no text, no list of chatters) and see a chat message in the room from a user named “Messenger Chat Admin”. The message will contain a link that says: “Please click here to verify your account. This step is required before you can begin chatting”. Click the link and a new window entitled “Chat Room Verification” will open. Then enter the characters that match the letters and/or numbers in the Captcha test graphic. After successfully completing the Captcha test, you’ll be returned to the chat room and see a confirmation message: “Congratulations! Your account is verified and you now have access to chat rooms”. Then just start chatting!
A Captcha test is required each time you enter a room, not just when you start a session in the chat rooms. While we realize this may slow down your ability to switch rooms quickly, this extra security is needed to help reduce the number of bots.
This new process for entering chat rooms was introduced specifically to ward off the automated bots that have become frequent, unwelcome visitors in our chat rooms. We appreciate your patience as we implement this new feature and hope that it will result in a fun (and less bot-filled) chat experience.
Thanks,
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
August 24, 2007 on 5:01 pm | In Features | 514 Comments
Hi everyone,
We’ve pushed some fixes out to the chat rooms which will help with the issues around room entry and switching. And like before, your age, sex, location info shown in the chat rooms will reflect what is in your Yahoo! Profile (rather than your Yahoo! registration). Note that there may be short, periodic outages as we roll out the changes.
We are continuing to troubleshoot the bot problem and hope to have something soon. Until we do, we realize it will be difficult to find a room with availability. We’re aware of this and working as fast as we can to implement a solution. Thanks for your continued patience while we do.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
August 21, 2007 on 6:40 pm | In News | 118 Comments
An important security update is now available for users of Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 on Windows. It is strongly suggested that all users download and install the latest version (8.1.0.416) that includes this update.
Even if you installed Yahoo! Messenger as recently as August 20th, 2007 you may not have the very latest version.
You can check to see if you have the latest version by clicking the ‘Help’ menu option at the top right of your Yahoo! Messenger window, and then clicking ‘About Yahoo! Messenger’ or ‘Check for Updates’.
If your Yahoo! Messenger version number is 8.1.0.416 (or higher) then you have the latest and do not need to take any immediate action. If you are running anything lower than 8.1.0.416 then please upgrade to the latest version.
If you choose not to upgrade on your own through the website, you will eventually receive an upgrade notification while logged into Messenger. Please click the ‘Update Now’ button and follow the instructions provided.
After you have upgraded to the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger, as a general rule, we recommend that, even if you know and trust the sender, you always take caution when receiving files from other Yahoo! Messenger users, clicking links, viewing webcams etc.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
August 21, 2007 on 12:46 pm | In News | Add a Comment
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the new issues that have arisen in the chat rooms since last week’s server maintenance. While the update did improve the speed and performance of chat, it unleashed some other bugs that we’re working hard to fix in a timely manner. Here’s what we’re working on:
Room entry: This new method of automatically moving you into the next room within a topic if the first is full without warning was an unexpected result of the server changes. We know the majority of you like to meet up with regular friends in the chat rooms, so we understand your frustration with this inadvertent change. We’re working on reverting back to the old method of room residency that will let you either go into the top level lobby and be placed in the next available room, or if you try to go into a specific numbered room and it’s full, we’ll let you know and you can try to enter a different one of your choosing.
Please note that due to changes in the system, you may or may not find the exact same lobby you were used to visiting. For example, “Chicago” rooms are open, but “Chicago 78” specifically may not be available.
Profile information display: This is a bug that reared its ugly head with the work done last week. We’ll have this fixed as soon as possible so you can be who you want to be in the chat rooms and not be forced to reveal all the nitty gritty details hiding in your Yahoo! registration profile.
Bots, bots and more bots: We did not implement changes designed to reduce the bots during the August 13 maintenance, but it is still in the plans. So stay tuned – we know this is a critical piece, if not the most important.
While we know the above list is not exhaustive and doesn’t address all the complaints you have about the chat rooms, we greatly appreciate your patience as we work out the kinks from these initial changes. We’ll keep you posted here on the blog when we have news.
A quick note on comments being removed… They’re being removed because they’re off-topic to the post or they’re offensive. Please keep any chat room comments in the chat-related posts.
Thanks,
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
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