Yahoo! Messenger Blog » Events http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:59:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Celebrate Diwali with Yahoo! Messenger http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/10/15/celebrate-diwali-with-yahoo-messenger/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/10/15/celebrate-diwali-with-yahoo-messenger/#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:17:56 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/?p=625 Diwali, also known as the “Festival of Lights”, is a very significant Indian festival that symbolizes the victory of good over evil. This year it falls on October 17th.

Many Indians living outside of their home country will be calling home to wish their friends and family a happy Diwali. If you’re one of them, Yahoo! Messenger is a great way to stay connected not only during Diwali, but any time.

If your family and friends are already using Yahoo! Messenger, you can make high-quality PC-to-PC calls for free. And with the new video calling feature in Yahoo! Messenger 10, you’ll feel like you’re right there with them. Get great quality video, synched audio, even a full-screen mode.

If your friends and family aren’t using Yahoo! Messenger, you can still call them using Messenger, and enjoy great savings. Sign up for a Yahoo! Messenger Phone Out account and you can make calls to any landline or mobile phone in India for just 7.9¢ a minute – right from your desktop.

You can also send free SMS text messages from Messenger to your friends and family in India if they are on the following carriers: Vodaphone Essar, Airtel, Spice, Escotel, Reliance. Their replies come right back to you in Yahoo! Messenger. Find out how to SMS from Messenger.

Even if you just plan to IM friends this weekend to celebrate the festival, you can dress up for it. Head over to Yahoo! Avatars and search on “india” to find Indian-themed clothing and backgrounds. Or add a little Diwali with a custom display image. Click on one of the designs below to make it your display image (you need to be signed into Messenger before you click):


      

From the looks of Diwali pictures I found on Flickr (see slideshow below), the festival is bright, warm and colorful. Lamps (called “diyas”) are lit in homes, fireworks are set off, sparklers color the night air, gifts are exchanged and people eat all kinds of delicious Indian sweets and snacks made specifically for the festival. To learn more about Diwali, head over to diwalifestival.org.

We wish all of our Indian users a Happy Diwali!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager



]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/10/15/celebrate-diwali-with-yahoo-messenger/feed/ 5 Earth Day: Go green & save some green http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/04/21/earth-day-go-green-save-some-green/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/04/21/earth-day-go-green-save-some-green/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:16:26 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/04/21/earth-day-go-green-save-some-green/ Every year, Yahoo! gets into the spirit of Earth Day and educates our users about what they can personally do to make a difference for the environment. This year, our focus is on how to be green at home and still save money. There’s a common misperception that helping the environment can weigh on your wallet, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

The Yahoo! Green Earth Day site has tons of advice, tips and tricks for saving the earth and your pennies. Browse the virtual house on the homepage to find affordable ways to go green in every room of your abode or check out their helpful buying guides on cleaning products, water filters, and energy efficient products. Plus find out which household appliances have earned the nickname “energy vampire“.

While you’re thinking green, why not get your Avatar in the mood too? Head over to the Yahoo! Avatars website to get decked out in fun Earth Day apparel. Then help spread the word about Earth Day (April 22) to all your friends on Messenger!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/04/21/earth-day-go-green-save-some-green/feed/ 11 Happy 14th Birthday, Yahoo! http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/03/02/happy-14th-birthday-yahoo/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/03/02/happy-14th-birthday-yahoo/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:06:59 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/03/02/happy-14th-birthday-yahoo/ Yahoo! turns 14 today – Happy Birthday! Head over to our corporate blog to check out more photos from back in the day.

The cake to the right was served in our cafeteria today (more pics). Yum!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

A video looking back on our 14 years:

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2009/03/02/happy-14th-birthday-yahoo/feed/ 39 Save the date: 9.0 Workshop on Oct. 6 http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/10/02/save-the-date-90-workshop-on-oct-6/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/10/02/save-the-date-90-workshop-on-oct-6/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:00:11 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/10/02/save-the-date-90-workshop-on-oct-6/ Have questions about the new Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 that we released recently? Join us for a live, moderated Workshop on Monday, October 6th at 3pm Pacific time (time zone converter).

At the workshop you’ll be able to submit questions directly to Yahoo! staff members about our latest 9.0 version. We’ll answer as many questions as we can during the workshop, and we’ll post the transcript from the Workshop here on the blog afterwards.

Unable to attend on October 6th but still want to participate? You can pre-submit your questions before the Workshop by going here:
http://forums.prospero.com/yh-event001

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Messenger Community Manager

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/10/02/save-the-date-90-workshop-on-oct-6/feed/ 18 Yahoo! Open Hack Day, Sept. 12-13, 2008 http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/09/02/yahoo-open-hack-day-sept-12-13-2008/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/09/02/yahoo-open-hack-day-sept-12-13-2008/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:15:36 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/09/02/yahoo-open-hack-day-sept-12-13-2008/ Yahoo! is hosting its second public Hack Day here on our Sunnyvale, CA campus from September 12-13, 2008.

Usually hack days are for Yahoo! employees only. But this event is a wide open, public hack day where people with a passion for Yahoo! products can come together to build and share their best ideas for extending, re-shaping and mashing together our products and features.

We’ve profiled a few Yahoo! Messenger hacks here on the blog, but if you’ve got one in mind and want to bring it to life, come to our Hack Day. You’ll be surrounded by other hackers working on the next great Yahoo! idea. Your hack idea doesn’t have to involve Yahoo! Messenger, but we sure would love it! To sign up for a Hack Day invitation, visit http://www.hackday.org.

Looking for inspiration? Check out the brief video for Hack Day below, or take a look at some of our past articles on Yahoo! Messenger ideas that have come out of our internal hack days.





More about Yahoo! Messenger hacks:

The World According to Shumbee
A Hack Day Full of Messenger Ideas
Discov’ring New Friends
Hacking Away at Yahoo! Messenger

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/09/02/yahoo-open-hack-day-sept-12-13-2008/feed/ 6 Think Green – It’s Earth Day! http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/04/21/think-green-its-earth-day/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/04/21/think-green-its-earth-day/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:14 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/04/21/think-green-its-earth-day/ Every year, Yahoo! gets into the spirit of Earth Day and educates our users about what they can personally do to make a difference for the environment. This year, our focus is on the “Reuse” part of the often heard “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” creedo.

Did you know that there are reuse groups around the world whose mission is to give used items away for free to other people in their community who can use them rather than throwing them away? Items like furniture, dishes, bikes, and electronics.

You can find out more about Earth Day and how to become part of the worldwide reuse effort on the Yahoo! Earth Day website at http://green.yahoo.com/earth-day. You can even find a local reuse group in your area whose members may need some of those items that are gathering dust in your closet or garage. Plus you never know what free items you might come away with.

While you’re thinking green, why not get your Avatar in the mood too? Head over to the Yahoo! Avatars website to get decked out in fun Earth Day apparel. Then help spread the word about Earth Day to all your friends on Messenger!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/04/21/think-green-its-earth-day/feed/ 13 Smiley Award winners http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/03/04/smiley-award-winners/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/03/04/smiley-award-winners/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:13:03 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/03/04/smiley-award-winners/ Back in September 2007, we told you about a celebration at Carnegie Mellon University that honored the Emoticon. Twenty five years earlier, Professor Scott Fahlman was the first to use the text version of the emoticon with his colleagues on a computer message board. To mark the anniversary, Professor Fahlman and his colleagues teamed up with Yahoo! to start an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication, now known as the Smiley Award.

Last week, “One Cold Hand” (http://onecoldhand.com), a website designed to reunite lost gloves with their mates, was named the winner of the inaugural Smiley Award. “One Cold Hand” was created by Jennifer Gooch, a graduate student in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Art, and Turadg Aleahmad, a doctoral student in the Human Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) – part of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. They will share the $500 first prize, and their names will be engraved on a plaque kept on permanent display at the university.

Winner Jennifer Gooch said. “A lot of my current work and research looks at how people use technology in order to connect. As a native of Dallas, we didn’t need gloves very often. When I moved [to Pittsburgh, PA] I noticed them everywhere, lying on the ground lonely and useless. I thought a site to reunite gloves — a dating site for gloves, as it were — would be an interesting metaphor for our attempt to find what’s missing.”

A Smiley Award honorable mention went to “Moodjam” created by doctoral student Ian Li. Moodjam is an online diary that allows people to express their moods and feelings using patterns of color. Another honorable mention went to “Buxfer” (http://www.buxfer.com), a free, Web-based application that allows its users to easily keep track of shared expenses, which is handy for roommates, student social groups and many others. Buxfer was created by computer science doctoral students Ashwin Bharambe, Amit Manjhi and Shashank Pandit.

The winning student projects were chosen by a panel of faculty and student judges at Carnegie Mellon and Yahoo! joined in the celebration held on campus last week (see pics here).

Congratulations to “One Cold Hand” for winning the first Smiley Award! We look forward to seeing even more innovation inspired by Smiley in the coming years.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

Here are some photos of the Smiley Award party, held last week at Carnegie Mellon University (photos courtesy of Ralf Brown):


View a larger slideshow

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/03/04/smiley-award-winners/feed/ 11 A quickie Vegas wedding for your Avatar http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/02/14/a-quickie-vegas-wedding-for-your-avatar/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/02/14/a-quickie-vegas-wedding-for-your-avatar/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:15:11 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/02/14/a-quickie-vegas-wedding-for-your-avatar/ 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

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/02/14/a-quickie-vegas-wedding-for-your-avatar/feed/ 3 Macworld – watch for us! http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/01/15/macworld-watch-for-us/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/01/15/macworld-watch-for-us/#comments Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:45:41 +0000 Administrator http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/01/15/macworld-watch-for-us/ In case you’re headed to Macworld this week in San Francisco, keep an eye out for a team of Yahoo! Messenger for Mac engineers. They’ve been working hard so we thought we’d give them a chance to catch up on all things Mac. They are clad in Yahoo! Messenger for Mac t-shirts so feel free to stop one of them and catch up on the most recent features of our Mac application.


And as Mr. Jobs says, “One more thing…” – we are working hard to add voice capabilities to our next release. Stay tuned for more updates.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

]]> http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/01/15/macworld-watch-for-us/feed/ 37 Smiley has a party http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2007/09/27/smiley-has-a-party/ http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2007/09/27/smiley-has-a-party/#comments Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:54:54 +0000 Administrator http://blog.messenger.yahoo.com/blog/2007/09/27/smiley-has-a-party/ Last Friday, Carnegie Mellon University celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Smiley emoticon with a gala reception for the students and faculty of the School of Computer Science.

The CMU students reserved their monthly TG (short for TGIF) social to recognize this remarkable icon of the Internet age – a simple three keystroke image that morphed into personalized renderings of the mood people wanted to put into a conversation or post. The original emoticon – – was first used by CMU Professor Scott Fahlman as a way to communicate humor when posting messages to some early online bulletin boards.

Yahoo! Messenger was part of the celebration as well. To mark the anniversary, Professor Fahlman and his colleagues started an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication. This Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo!, will carry a $500 cash prize. The first one will be given out in 2008.

Yahoo! Messenger engineer Anurag Gupta also attended the event, demonstrating some of our latest product innovations, including the humorous Shumbee prototype that came out of a Hack Day earlier this year. Check out more pictures from Smiley’s anniversary party.

Thanks to the crew at CMU’s School of Computer Science for throwing Smiley a great anniversary party. And special thanks to Ken Schmidt from Yahoo! Academic Relations for the event photos and report. Here’s to 25 more years of innovation in communication!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

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