December 17, 2008 on 10:15 am | In 9.0 version, Avatars, Fun Stuff, Pingbox | 5 Comments
December is already halfway done so time is running out to send your holiday greetings to your Yahoo! Messenger friends. Here’s a round-up of the fun things you can do:
Flickr IMVironment: Get in the winter spirit
Put some seasonal photos into your IM background with the Flickr IMV. It will open automatically to pictures from December, full of snowy landscapes and other winter favorites. Try it now with a friend or preview it yourself. (Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only).
Holiday audibles
We’ve brought back the “Holiday” and “Holiday Hints” audibles. Send a mistletoe kiss to your sweetie or send a not-so-gentle reminder that you want to find a MP3 player under the tree this year. (Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only)
Emoticarolers
Pick the Yahoo! Messenger Emoticarolers for your group, customize the lyrics to a favorite tune like “Jingle Bells” or “Deck the Halls”, and then send your e-card off to the digital doorsteps of your friends and family.
Pingbox holiday themes
Check out the new background themes in the Pingbox studio. If you’re already hosting a Pingbox on your website or social network profile, just edit its settings in the studio and your Pingbox will automatically get updated.
Elf your Avatar (or a friend’s)
Dress up your Avatar with holiday cheer for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or New Year’s. Or install the Yahoo! Avatars Makeover plug-in to create a new Avatar for your friends (plug-in for Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only).
Happy Holidays!
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – In addition to all these Messenger holiday goodies, there’s also a Yahoo! holiday e-card called “Frosty’s Scrapbook”. Choose a background (or upload your own photo) and then drag and drop fun objects into your card to create your holiday scrapbook greeting.
October 29, 2008 on 11:20 am | In 9.0 version, Avatars, Features | 20 Comments
If you’ve checked out the Audibles menu lately in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0, you may have come across some new residents. We’ve brought back the election audibles along with the ghoulish Halloween characters. And by popular demand, we’ve expanded the role of Emoticats by giving them their very own audibles.
Boo!
Send spooky greetings to your Messenger friends with the Halloween audibles. You can egg their IM window, send a black cat across their path, or scare them with a werewolf, ghost or ghastly scream.
Get out and vote
Early voting has already started in some states and our election audibles are ready to help you make sure your friends make it to the polls by November 4th. All the biggies are there – Abraham Lincoln, Uncle Sam, and the Statue of Liberty. And although you can’t wear election gear to the polls, you can outfit your Avatar with apparel to support your party or candidate.
Meooowwww
We know you love the Emoticats IMV so we turned your furry friends into audibles. There’s a happy cat, a “vacationing” cat, and even an emoticat with a ‘tude.
To try them out, click the audibles icon ( 
) above the text box in your IM window (Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 only). Click the More Audibles button on the right, then “See All Audibles”. Then select “Halloween”, “Election” or “Emoticats” from the list.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
March 18, 2008 on 10:15 am | In Avatars, Features, Fun Stuff | 5 Comments
It’s that time of year again when students, alumni and fans around the country put on their favorite college colors to cheer on their team in the NCAA College Basketball tournament.
Grown men will cry, women who don’t normally follow sports will become rabid with NCAA fever, and productivity in offices will take a hit as workers follow the games from their cubicles. Of course Yahoo! Messenger has a few items to further fuel your basketball obsession…
When it comes time to taunt your friends about their team losing or making a bad play, check out the NCAA audibles. There’s a referee ready to charge your friend with an offensive foul, a baseball cap-wearing superfan (complete with horn), and a laid back player who illustrates what it means when the defense is “taking a vacation”. To access the NCAA audibles, click the Audible icon in your IM window, click “More Audibles”, then “See All Audibles” and select NCAA Basketball (Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0 Beta only).
You can also show your team pride by dressing the part. Head over to the NCAA section on Yahoo! Avatars to find jerseys from over 25 schools including Duke, University of North Carolina, UCLA, Kentucky and more.
To find out more about the tournament and follow all the action, check out NCAA Basketball on Yahoo! Sports. You still have time to pick your teams before the first game – download the tournament brackets: Men’s | Women’s
And if you’re on the go and want to follow what’s happening, go to http://m.yahoo.com/ncaa from your mobile phone for the latest scores and highlights.
Go team!
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
February 14, 2008 on 12:15 am | In Avatars, Events, Fun Stuff | 6 Comments
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
November 12, 2007 on 11:17 am | In Avatars, Features, Fun Stuff | 95 Comments
Up for a little field trip? Head over to the new Avatar Towns, a virtual world designed especially for your Avatar fashion needs. Now you can drop in to different stores to find just the right outfit for the virtual you. Cruise by Island Style to find the perfect swimsuit, or jog into Top Score for some sportier attire. And even though Halloween is over, you can still pretend to be someone else after a stop at Costumes ‘R’ Us.
When you arrive in Avatar Towns, be sure to say hello to Jessica and get some directions on where to go. Once you’re in a shop, you’ll be placed on a modeling pedestal while you browse the racks. Click on items that you want to try on and you’ll see them appear on your Avatar. If you don’t like the item once it’s on, click on it again to remove it.
At the bottom of your pedestal are some helpful controls – Redo and Undo arrows, a Save button, plus a button to toggle your background on and off. When you’d done, click the Exit button to return to the main street where you can then head into other stores.
Avatar Towns is in Beta for now, but there are plans to roll out other towns so you can shop ‘til you drop. I just hope they add a spa – my Avatar is going to need somewhere to relax after all this shopping! 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – Into Star Wars? Check out the new collection of Star Wars avatar gear.
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