IM is great for keeping in constant contact with your friends. But eventually, we all have to sign off and as a result, we’re no longer reachable.
But now, with a couple of features available in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, you no longer have to sign off and drop off. You can have incoming IMs and voice calls forwarded to your mobile phone. Here’s how it works…
Above your Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 contact list you’ll notice two new buttons – an icon of a small mobile phone and a Yahoo! Voice button. Click on the mobile phone icon and select “Set Up Mobile Device”. A small window will appear where you can register your mobile phone with Yahoo! Messenger.
Once registered, you can turn on IM forwarding. After signing out of Yahoo! Messenger, you will still appear online to your friends but with an “I’m Mobile” status message. Friends can then IM you and the messages will be forwarded to your mobile phone as text messages (SMS). Reply to the SMS from your phone and your friend will receive it in Messenger. So even when you’re away from your computer, you can still receive and reply to IMs.
To enable IM forwarding whenever you sign out, select the “Always Sign in to [your mobile number]” from the mobile phone icon. If you prefer to enable it occasionally, go to the Messenger menu when you’re ready to sign out and choose “Sign in to [your mobile number]”. Find out more about IM forwarding
The same kind of forwarding can be set up for voice calls. If you’re signed out and a friend tries to call you via PC-to-PC or on your Phone In number, the call can be immediately forwarded to another phone you have (mobile or landline). A Phone Out account is required. When calls are forwarded to you, they are subject to the standard per minute rates of our Phone Out service.
To enable call forwarding, click the “Yahoo! Voice” button above your contact list and select “Set Up Call Forwarding”. Indicate which number you want your incoming calls forwarded to and you’re done. Once you set up call forwarding, it will even forward calls when you are signed into Yahoo! Messenger. So if you prefer to receive calls in Messenger when you’re signed in, just return to the button and select “Call Forwarding > Disabled”. Find out more about call forwarding
Last week we released an update of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta. That new release includes a fix for Windows Vista users who use 9.0, enabling voice features in chat rooms and in private conferences. Previously, voice did not work for Vista users but in this latest release we added a codec to enable it.
Please note that this fix is not related to our Yahoo! Messenger for Vista version which does not yet have chat rooms or conferencing features. If you are on Windows Vista and want to visit chat rooms, you should use Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta.
Currently, we manage our own end to end services that enable users to call from Yahoo! Messenger to regular or mobile phones around the world for as low as 1¢ a minute. Upon integration, Jajah will power these services and we will leverage their VoIP network for delivering Phone Out and In services.
Rest assured that our voice services will remain the same and as a user, you will not notice any change. We are committed to achieving the highest possible call quality and ease of use. This change does not affect our free PC to PC calls; these will continue to be handled by Yahoo! Messenger (and still be free!).
We’ll keep you posted here on the blog about any additional voice news. For more information on Yahoo! Messenger’s premium voice services, please visit http://voice.yahoo.com.
We know you’ve waited a long time for this… The new version of Yahoo! Messenger for Mac Beta now has voice calling!
With this new version, you can make free PC-to-PC calls or sign up for a Phone Out account to make calls from your Mac to regular or mobile phones worldwide for as low as 1¢ a minute (see rates). And if you want friends to be able to call you on your Mac from any phone, sign up for a Phone In account and choose a number.
Now that our Mac version has voice, users can also enjoy two other handy features: free voicemail and call forwarding. If you’re away from your Mac or signed out of Yahoo! Messenger, friends can leave you a voicemail which is then delivered as an email attachment to an address of your choice.
If you want to make sure you don’t miss any calls, use the call forwarding feature to immediately send incoming calls to any regular or mobile phone number. Note that you do need a Phone Out account to use call forwarding.
There is also a new Voice & Calls section in the preferences menu. From there you can set what email address should receive your voicemails, what number your calls should get forwarded to, and handy things like whether or not you want iTunes to pause when a call comes in.
You’ll find the voice features in a new “Voice & SMS” button in your IM window. From there you can start a call, or send a free SMS (text) message to a friend’s mobile phone (note that your friend may be charged for receiving your SMS message depending on their mobile phone data plan).
The main contact list window also has a button near the bottom that opens up a dial pad. This is handy if you have a number you need to call that’s not associated with a contact.
Check out this short screencast to see how the new voice features work:
If you’re curious about the voice features but aren’t ready to sign up for a Phone Out account (or don’t have a friend you can call for free on PC-to-PC), try the “Make a free test call” button in the Voice preferences menu. During the free call you can record and playback your voice to check out the quality.
We really want your feedback on this new version, so after you’ve had some time to try it, please visit our feedback page to let us know what you like and don’t like.
Soundtrack is one of my favorite “hidden” features in Yahoo! Messenger. While you’re on a voice call, you can choose a music file from your hard drive to play during your call. I use it all the time to play music for myself and a friend while we talk.
To use the Soundtrack feature in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0, first place a call to a friend. You can either call another Yahoo! Messenger friend for free on a PC-to-PC call, or call a friend’s mobile or other number using PC-to-phone. Once your friend answers and you start talking, click the sound icon, then click the music note icon. This will open a window that lets you select a MP3 file from your hard drive.
Once you’ve loaded the MP3 file into your call, it will play in the background for both you and your friend to hear. If it’s too loud, click the music note icon to adjust the volume. This is handy if you just want your music to play in the background softly during the call (or have some karaoke fun). The menu also allows you to forward or reverse to a specific point in the song.
I’ve used the Soundtrack feature for a few different things – introducing a friend to a new song, singing along to a track to entertain a friend, or even to listen to a MP3 podcast together. Try adding a soundtrack to your next call in Yahoo! Messenger.
IM is great for keeping in constant contact with your friends. But eventually, we all have to sign off and as a result, we’re no longer reachable.
Last week we released an 
Once you’ve loaded the MP3 file into your call, it will play in the background for both you and your friend to hear. If it’s too loud, click the music note icon to adjust the volume. This is handy if you just want your music to play in the background softly during the call (or have some karaoke fun). The menu also allows you to forward or reverse to a specific point in the song.