I came across a story on CNET today by Dong Ngo, an editor that is spending a month in Vietnam. While there, he is writing about how technology has permeated their culture. In his latest post, “Looking for love in Vietnam: Don’t forget to : )”, Ngo discusses how integrated technology is with the dating scene.
“Love, or the lack thereof, is an ongoing global issue. I offer no solution, but if you want to look for the one here in Vietnam, a word of advice: learn to text and know your emoticons.”
Ngo confesses that while text messaging is a simple endeavour, he is intimidated by instant messaging. This is because a lot of the Yahoo! Messenger emoticons mean something different to the Vietnamese. “Though most Yahoo IM emoticons are designed to mean something that’s widely understood, there are some that are interpreted here entirely differently from what they are originally designed to mean.”
Here’s a quick look at how the Vietnamese have re-interpreted some of our emoticons:
“Time out!” in Vietnam is known as “I am going to hammer you on the head”.
“Talk to the hand” and “Bring it on” in Vietnam is often used for “bye bye”
“Not worthy” is used to mean “po’tay” which is a slang way of saying “You’re too much, I give up”
Hard to say whether these are due to cultural differences or in the case of talk to the hand and bring it on, ambiguous animations on our part. Either way, it’s always interesting to see how our users put emoticons through their paces. To read Dong Ngo’s complete story, head over to CNET.com.
Are there emoticons you use in an unintended way? Let us know by leaving a comment here on the blog.
In celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ve got a couple of treats to share with you.
New Flickr IMVironment
Dubbed “the IMV for all seasons”, this new IMV displays Flickr photos in the background of your IM conversation. When you load the IMV, it goes to the current month we’re in. Then it will rotate photos that we’ve found on Flickr that fit with that month or season. Snowy landscapes in the winter months, sunny beaches in the summer – you get the idea.
When you switch to a different month, it switches for your friend too (but you’ll likely see different photos within each month because they rotate randomly), It’s a great IMV to add some color to your IM conversation. Plus when it’s cold and snowy outside, you can just switch to a warmer month to take your mind off things. Tip: You can move and resize the conversation space within the IMV. Try it now with a friend or just preview it yourself (Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0 only).
Thanksgiving Audibles
Send some thanksgiving wishes to your IM friends with this trio of audibles. We’ve got a thankful pilgrim and a bloated diner who really know how to show their gratitude for a good meal. And of course we have a talking turkey – how could we not? To access them, go to the Audibles menu in your IM window, select “More Audibles”, then “See All Audibles” and click on “Thanksgiving” (U.S. only; Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0).
This will be our only post this week and comments will be turned off for a few days until we’re back in the office to keep an eye on things.
I saw this on several gadget blogs this week and couldn’t resist posting about it.
A Italian company called andriodesign has created what is most aptly described as an emoticon keyboard. Advertised with the tagline “the new emotional communicator”, the Bajca is a 4×4 grid of emoticon buttons.
Plug Bajca into your computer’s USB port and voila – the bubbly looking device functions as an emoticon keyboard. So if you’re too lazy to type a semi-colon and parentheses for your smiley, or you like to punch out your emotions while you type, Bajca is the answer.
Their press materials also reveal another interesting use for the keyboard: “The keys can also be used to create personal jewelry to wear and show: everyone representing our emotions of everyday life!”. Pluck a button out of the grid and embed it in a ring setting or throw it onto a necklace chain. Now you can wear your emotions on more than just your sleeve!
It’s unclear whether this is just a concept or a product we’ll actually be able to buy. We’ll keep an eye out. In the meantime, you can always refer to our site for the traditional method of typing in the emoticon characters.
If you use Yahoo! Messenger, you already know that your status message is about more than whether or not you’re available. You can use it to update friends about where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re thinking… You can even use it to share your favorite web links.
Do you have favorite status messages that you’ve used on Yahoo! Messenger? If so, leave it in a comment here on the blog and we may include it an upcoming project we’re working on (sorry, can’t divulge all the details just yet!). It can be a status message you’ve used or that you saw on a friend’s status, or one that you just make up right now.
Check out the image with this post. One of our team members came up with a few to help get your creative juices flowing.
Got a good one? Tell us your favorite status message by leaving it in a comment.
Did you know that purple is the official color of Yahoo!? We use it in our company logo and products, and if you visit our headquarters, you’ll find it colors our conference rooms, chairs, cubicle walls, carpet, buses, even the fire hydrants.
You may wonder why we love purple so much. It started out as an accident – one of our founders painted a wall in the first office and realized the discount color he’d purchased had a distinct purple tinge to it. Since then, it’s stuck. Now, as the color that represents us, purple inspires our creativity and ingenuity, and encourages us to live life with an exclamation point.
Right now we have a campaign going on around the theme “Start Wearing Purple”. It was inspired by the song of the same name by Gogol Bordello (see the video below). We thought it was the perfect irreverent take on the spirit of purple.
Yahoo! Messenger is also spreading the purple with some new audibles, an IMVironment and spiffy purple Avatar gear (audibles and IMV only available on Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 and 9.0).
To try out the six new audibles, click the audibles icon ( ) in your conversation window, click on “More Audibles”, select “See All Audibles” and then click on “Purple”. You’ll see some familiar faces that have something new (and purple) to say.
We also “purple-ized” the popular Falling Leaves IMV. This new “Purple Leaves” IMV can be found under the IMVironment menu in your IM window. Be sure to try out the Buzz button when you’re using it in your IM conversation. Try the Purple Leaves IMV now (you must be logged into Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0).
To find out more about the “Start Wearing Purple” campaign, visit http://startwearingpurple.com. And check out the video below for the original “Start Wearing Purple” song that inspired it.
I came across a story on CNET today by Dong Ngo, an editor that is spending a month in Vietnam. While there, he is writing about how technology has permeated their culture. In his latest post, “Looking for love in Vietnam: Don’t forget to : )”, Ngo discusses how integrated technology is with the dating scene.
“Time out!” in Vietnam is known as “I am going to hammer you on the head”.
“Talk to the hand” and “Bring it on” in Vietnam is often used for “bye bye”
“Not worthy” is used to mean “po’tay” which is a slang way of saying “You’re too much, I give up”
Either way, it’s always interesting to see how our users put emoticons through their paces. To read Dong Ngo’s complete story, head over to CNET.com.
In celebration of the 
To access them, go to the Audibles menu in your IM window, select “More Audibles”, then “See All Audibles” and click on “Thanksgiving” (U.S. only; Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0). 
If you use Yahoo! Messenger, you already know that your status message is about more than whether or not you’re available. You can use it to update friends about where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re thinking… You can even use it to share your favorite web links.
Did you know that purple is the official color of Yahoo!? We use it in our company logo and products, and if you visit our headquarters, you’ll find it colors our conference rooms, chairs, cubicle walls, carpet, buses, even the fire hydrants.
) in your conversation window, click on “More Audibles”, select “See All Audibles” and then click on “Purple”. You’ll see some familiar faces that have something new (and purple) to say.