February 29, 2008 on 10:42 am | In Features, Fun Stuff | 52 Comments
We got an email in our inbox recently from Bogdan Nasgodineanu, a Yahoo! Messenger user who lives in Constanta, Romania (see pics on Flickr). Bogdan has worked for several years in the Romanian music industry, but recently turned his focus to composing and producing his own music.
Yahoo! Messenger is very popular in Romania and has inspired tributes from users there (check out our post on Darius’ Emoticoncerts). For his homage to Yahoo! Messenger, Bogdan, aka “Mister Boogie” took some of our most popular audibles and mixed them into a pumping club groove.
To listen to his creation, visit Bogdan’s MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/misterboogie; then click on the song “Yahoo All Stars” in his playlist.
Bogdan told us “As I try to create my own songs, I am constantly looking for new sources of inspiration, to put a new sound in my music, to distinguish from others and all those songs that sound very much alike.” He used some of his favorite audibles from the “Hello”, “Flirts” and “Goodbyes” category. Be sure to listen to the track to see if you can pick them out.
Thanks Bogdan for this great groove! 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
February 26, 2008 on 1:18 pm | In Features, Fun Stuff | 136 Comments
Ever wondered what the the devil’s laugh would sound like when you send the emoticon? 
Or wished that you could send a loud emoticon smooch over to your sweetie on Yahoo! Messenger? 
Then you’re in luck! A few of our favorite emoticons have found a second career as audibles. Audibles are animated characters with sound that you can send to a friend while you IM. You’ll find eight emoticon audibles to choose from including the cowboy, happy face, the devil, and more.
To try out the new emoticon audibles, click the audibles icon (the one with the lips on it) above the text box in your IM window (Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0 only). Click the More Audibles button on the right, then “See All Audibles”. Then select “Emoticons” from the list.
Emoticons, let your voices be heard.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – These audibles will only appear in the menu for users within the United States.
February 22, 2008 on 10:52 am | In Features, Fun Stuff | 45 Comments
Back in November, we told you about a new place you could visit to outfit your digital self: Avatar Towns. The team recently added some new shops and features.
Drop in on the “Pet Pals” store to find just the right animal to hang out with you. The gorilla and iguana are my favorites, but there are plenty of cats and dogs that need a companion too. Want to make sure you look your best out in this virtual world? Head over to the new Ocean Breeze Salon to find just the right hairstyle, bag and bling.
There are also a couple new features, including a day and night version of the town, depending on when you visit. Will you wear your sunglasses at night? 
And when you come across that must-have shirt, pet, or accessory, just add it to your Avatar, then hover your mouse on the item and choose “Add to Favorites”. When you visit the Yahoo! Avatars website in the future, just select the “Favorites” tab near the top of the page to see your stuff.
We hope you enjoy your trip to Avatar Towns. Visit anytime,
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
February 19, 2008 on 6:17 pm | In Vista version | 30 Comments
Here’s the story, of a lovely lady…” If you grew up in the U.S. in the 1970s, you’ll know that’s the opening line of the theme to the television show, The Brady Bunch. It also served as the inspiration for a hidden feature in the last release of Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista that we’re internally referring to as Matrix Mode.
Matrix mode expands on the tabbed conversations feature in Yahoo! Messenger for Vista. Tabs are handy for keeping your desktop free of multiple IM windows, but sometimes staying on top of all your conversations can be tricky.
Inspired by the grid in the opening credits of The Brady Bunch, hitting Ctrl + Alt + Shift + b on your keyboard will turn your tabbed conversation window into one single window with a matrix of boxes, each showing an IM conversation.
Once you’re in Matrix Mode, just click on the conversation you want to jump into and start typing. A white box around the conversation indicates which one you’re in. As you’re in one conversation, you can easily see messages coming in on the others, so it’s easy to read and respond quickly to IMs. As more conversations open, the layout will adjust to accommodate them.
To activate Matrix Mode, start a few IM conversations and then be sure to condense them into one window as tabs. You can do that by dragging the bottom tab of one window into another, or hitting Ctrl + , (ctrl plus comma) on your keyboard. Once your conversations are in a tabbed window, hit Ctrl + Alt + Shift + b to enter Matrix Mode.
Try it out and then visit our feedback page to let us know how we should develop this feature further!
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – Check out this picture of Product Manager Josh Jacobson during the naming brainstorm for matrix mode. Will the name stick???
February 14, 2008 on 12:15 am | In Avatars, Events, Fun Stuff | Add a Comment
Does your Avatar have the hots for another Avatar? Ready to make the ultimate commitment?
Yahoo! has partnered with Diet Dr. Pepper for a Valentine’s Day promotion called “Valentine’s in Vegas: Marry my Avatar”. Type in the Yahoo! ID of the Avatar you want to get hitched to, and voila, you’ll see your betrothed avatars together in front of a Las Vegas wedding chapel (Elvis not included).
To make sure your Avatar is appropriately dressed before taking the plunge, head over to Yahoo! Avatars and enter “wedding” into the search box.
If your Avatar does elope to Vegas for a quickie wedding, it’s only right that you send out picture proof to your friends and family (or the paparazzi). Just click to share it on del.icio.us, Yahoo! Messenger or Facebook.
Check out the Valentine’s in Vegas gallery to see Avatars that have already tied the knot today.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
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