July 31, 2009 on 8:03 am | In Fun Stuff | 3 Comments
A Philippines blog called “Yahoo! Purple Hunt Adventure” had a nice story about a 5-year old girl named Caitlyn.
After watching her parents communicate with friends and relatives on Yahoo! Messenger, she blurted out to her Mom one day, “this is how Yahoo! smiles!”.
Since then, our smiley has inspired her to practice drawing it and she even made a quick video, giving her best imitation of the “bouncy smiley” that you see when you’re signing into Yahoo! Messenger. Check it out below.
We’re all smiles over here too, Caitlyn.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
July 29, 2009 on 10:28 am | In News | 15 Comments
As many of you may have already heard today, Yahoo! signed a major search deal with Microsoft.
Under the terms, Microsoft will become the search engine behind Yahoo! and we will become the worldwide exclusive relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.
You can read more about what this means to you as a Yahoo! user over on our corporate blog, Yodel Anecdotal.
Keep in mind that this deal is limited to our search engine features, and will not affect other products like Yahoo! Messenger. As you know, we already interoperate with Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger, allowing you to chat via Yahoo! with your friends that use Windows Live.
Below is a brief video from our CEO, Carol Bartz, about today’s news. You can also visit this special site that was set up to further explain the search partnership.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
July 27, 2009 on 2:11 pm | In Features, Web version | 19 Comments
Have you tried out Yahoo!’s new home page yet? This latest version gives you even more ways to customize the page with your favorite news, sites and services.
For the new Beta page, we worked with the team behind yahoo.com to create a new Yahoo! Messenger module. This new version provides a quick view of which friends are online, plus you can easily IM them right from the page. Here’s a quick look at the features of the new Yahoo! Messenger on yahoo.com:
See all your friends in one place
Like the versions we currently offer in Yahoo! Mail, this Yahoo! Messenger module will show you all the friends you’re used to seeing in your list, plus other online friends that are in your Yahoo! Address Book. These are grouped under “Your Yahoo! Contacts”. You may see friends in there you didn’t even know were on Yahoo! Messenger so drop them a line to say hi!
Instant message or send a SMS text message
You can start a conversation with a friend right from the home page. Find them in your list and then click the IM or SMS icon to the right. This will launch a new IM window in Yahoo! Messenger where you can start chatting. Note that the SMS icon only shows up when you have a mobile number in your address book for a friend.
Search to find a contact
This one’s handy for those of you with a lot of friends. Use the search box at the top of the module to quickly find a friend in your list. Once you do, click the IM or SMS icon to start a conversation.
Collapse/expand groups
Click the arrows at the right of a group header to expand or collapse a group.
Change how your list is sorted
Click the Settings icon near the top of the module to sort your list alphabetically or in reverse alphabetical order.
Related links
Looking for more information on Yahoo! Messenger and its features? Check out the links to the right for help with finding the latest version, using a webcam, or getting to know emoticons.
We hope you enjoy the new homepage and find the Yahoo! Messenger module useful. Are there other features you’d like to see incorporated into Yahoo! Messenger on yahoo.com? Leave a comment to let us know.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
July 20, 2009 on 7:40 pm | In iphone | 162 Comments
The latest version of Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone (v1.2.1) is now available. Here’s what’s in store for you:
New message alerts
(push notifications)
We’ve taken advantage of Apple’s 3.0 push notifications platform to enable new message notifications. Now, you will be notified when a new IM comes to your iPhone, even if the Yahoo! Messenger app is closed (or your phone is asleep).
The new message alerts for Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone work like the push notifications you get for Mail. When a new message comes in, a badge appears on top of the Yahoo! Messenger app icon on your home screen, indicating the number of new messages. This badge is based on cumulative messages received so whether three friends send you one message or one friend sends you three messages, you’d see a “3” on the app icon either way.
We’ll also pop up an alert on your home screen when a new message comes in. This is similar to when you receive an SMS text message on your phone. A notification overlays your home screen and you can decide whether to view the new IM or just close the alert. Even if your phone is asleep, we’ll wake it up and display the alert message.
You can also be notified with a sound when a new IM comes in. If your iPhone is muted, it will vibrate instead.
You can choose to use all or none of these new message alerts. To set your preferences, tap “Settings” on the home screen, then “Notifications”, and finally “Yahoo! Messenger”. From there you can turn on/off the sound, alert or badge notifications (they’re defaulted on when you install the app).
Now that new message alerts are included, you may want to make sure your Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone app icon is visible on your primary home screen. Get tips from Apple on how to customize your home screen icons. Using the same method, you can also drag and drop the Yahoo! Messenger app icon into your dock.
Stay online for up to 2 weeks
The Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone app will keep you signed in and visible to your Yahoo! Messenger friends for up to two weeks. When the app is closed on your phone, your status will show you as online but in an Idle state. Friends can IM you and when they do, you’ll receive a new message notification as described above.
There are a couple of ways your Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone availability can be interrupted. The first is if you sign into Yahoo! Messenger on a different device, such as your computer. Currently you can only be signed into Yahoo! Messenger from one location, so if you tend to move back and forth between your computer and your iPhone, just remember to sign in to your Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone app to ensure you’re online.
The other way to go offline on your iPhone is to manually sign out of the Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone app. In the app, tap on Settings, then scroll down and tap “Sign Out”. This will close the app and you will be offline, no longer able to receive messages on your iPhone.
Buzz your friends…with an iPhone twist
Buzz was one of the most requested features from our users on the iPhone app. So you’ll be happy to know you can now buzz away to your heart’s content. We also gave it a little iPhone flavor. When you want to buzz a friend, just shake your iPhone vigorously. Your friend gets buzzed on their end and you’ll also see the usual BUZZ!!! message in the conversation window.
We also added a few other items… Search in the app is now integrated with the Contacts app on your iPhone. Now when you search for someone’s mobile number so you can SMS them from the Messenger app, they’ll show up, even if they’re not on your Messenger list. We also added a preference to turn off the landscape keyboard option and we fixed a bug so that empty groups in your contact list will no longer be shown.
To download the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone (v1.2.1) that includes these new features, go to the iTunes App Store, or tap the App Store icon on your iPhone and search for Yahoo! Messenger. If you already have Yahoo! Messenger installed, you may also have an update alert for the app.
If you run into any issues with the new version, please use the “Report a problem” feature in the app to let us know. Tap on Settings, then scroll down and tap on “Report a problem”.
We hope you enjoy this latest version of Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – If you installed 1.2 last night or earlier today, please uninstall and install it again. The one we submitted last night had some issues with push notifications, so be sure to install this final update. Thanks!
July 20, 2009 on 2:41 pm | In 9.0 version | 10 Comments
Back in April, we told you all about the Updates feature in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0, which allows you to see what your Yahoo! Messenger friends are up to and to share your own online activities with them.
Beginning this week, more types of updates from Yahoo! Groups are being supported. Now when you send a message to your Yahoo! group you can automatically share the update with your Yahoo! Messenger friends. This new type of update will begin rolling out to users this week.
Note that sharing your Yahoo! Groups updates is optional. You’ll find sharing settings on your groups page as well as on the settings page of your profile, where you can determine who, if anyone, sees your Yahoo! Groups updates.
Please visit the Yahoo! Groups Blog for complete information on this new type of update from Yahoo! Groups.
The image below shows the Yahoo! Groups listing on the profile settings page, which includes the type of updates from Yahoo! Groups that can be shared, along with a menu to let you select with whom you share your updates.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
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