Yahoo! Messenger Blog

Doodle your life away

August 7, 2008 on 1:45 pm | In Features, Fun Stuff | 15 Comments

In a meeting today someone mentioned the Doodle IMVironment. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to play with while IM’ing with a friend.

The Doodle IMV lets you and a friend both sketch together on a canvas right in the IM window, using a palette of colorful crayons. I’ve used this to literally illustrate an idea to a friend and when one of my colleagues is traveling, he signs on and watches his kids draw pictures for him.

To start your masterpiece, just click the crayon color at the top that you want to use (you can also select different thicknesses on the right hand side). Then use your mouse to draw by clicking and dragging on the white canvas. Your friend can also draw on the same canvas from their end.

If you don’t like your drawing or need to start over, click the “Erase Page” button on the right hand menu. But if it’s the best thing you and your friend have ever drawn, hit the “Print” button so you can put it up on the refrigerator.

One of the handiest features of Doodle is under the Extras menu. Click on “Tic-Tac-Toe” and the IMV will draw out the game grid so you and a friend can square off. There’s also a “Dots” option that will draw a grid of 48 dots for you (if you can think of a fun thing to do with that option, leave me a comment here on the blog).

The Doodle IMV is available on Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 and 9.0. Just click on the “IMVironment” button in the IM window and go to the “See all IMVironments” menu, then look in the “Interactive Fun” folder. Of if you’re using 8.1 or 9.0, click here to try it now.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

Do the dance

August 4, 2008 on 2:35 pm | In Fun Stuff | 8 Comments

Heard of Matt Harding? He’s the guy who traveled to 42 countries in 14 months and took his video camera along. At each stop, he would dance a silly little jig – sometimes on his own, sometimes with locals. His dancing videos became an internet sensation and his latest version, “Dancing 2008” has been viewed 8.5 million times since he posted it in June.

On a whim, our corporate blogger, Nicki Dugan sent Matt an email asking him if he’d like to come to Yahoo! and dance a bit with the purple posse. He said yes and the video below is the result of him dancing around our Sunnyvale, CA campus with a variety of teams and groups. You can catch your very own Yahoo! Messenger team at the 2:19 mark:

For legal reasons, you’ll have to watch the video over on Yodel, our corporate blog.

Thanks to Matt for being a good sport while we pummeled him with yellow smiley balls. To find out more about his adventures, visit http://wherethehellismatt.com.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager