June 17, 2008 on 8:02 am | In Features | 1 Comment
A recent comment from a user prompted me to write on this topic. He said:
“You should add a translation program so we can talk to non native speakers in their language but see it in ours” – John
While we don’t have this feature built right in to Yahoo! Messenger, we do offer plug-ins that enable translation or look-ups during an IM conversation. These are conversation plug-ins which are meant to be used with a friend during an IM conversation. Here’s an overview of the translator plug-ins that are available.
Yahoo! IndiChat / ChitChat (Indian)
Launch this plug-in and you can type in English and have your message translated into one of eight Indian scripts (Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Gujarati; ChitChat includes Punjabi). As you type, the English characters are displayed in Indian script and when you press the ‘Send’ button, it sends the message to your friend in the selected language.
IndiChat: More info & Install | Try it now
ChitChat: More info & Install | Try it now
Jhol (Indian)
Similar to IndiChat and ChitChat, Jhol lets you type your message in various Indian scripts. The main difference is that the Jhol interface includes a keyboard interface as an aid. More info & Install | Try it now
Dictionary
If you’re not a native English speaker and sometimes struggle with the IMs from your friends, Dictionary can help. The plug-in will display the latest message from your friend with links on each of the words. Click a link to see a word’s meaning from one of three sources – Wordnet, Urban Dictionary or Wikimedia. Even if you do speak English well, this can be a fun plug-in to test each other on word meanings. I still enjoy a good game of Dictionary every now and then.
More info & Install | Try it now
Plug-ins are available for Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 and 9.0. You can use plug-ins for your own use (tab plug-ins) or with a friend during an IM conversation (conversation plug-ins). Visit our plug-in gallery to find plug-ins for games, music, entertainment, news, utilities and more.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
June 13, 2008 on 8:58 am | In Features | 20 Comments
With the launch of our new website and the recent update to Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, we improved the import contacts feature. Now you can add friends to your Yahoo! Messenger contact list from address books you have on other online services like Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Orkut…22 services in all. You can even import contacts from Outlook. Here’s how it works…
From Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, go to the Contacts menu and select “Import Contacts…”. A window will appear showing a list of available services from which you can import. Yahoo! Mail / Address Book will automatically be checked and will use your same Yahoo! ID that is signed into Messenger. Just uncheck it if you don’t want to import from your Yahoo! Address Book.
Scroll down in the list to choose one or more services. Click on the bar corresponding to the service and it will expand, giving you fields to fill in your username and password for the service. Repeat that for each service you want to get contacts from. Once you’re done choosing the service(s) and filling out your account info, click the Continue button.
In the next step, we’ll show you which of the friends in your address book(s) are using Yahoo! Messenger already. You can then quickly add them to your contact list and they will in turn receive a prompt from you to confirm the request and add you to their list. If they’re not online at the time, they’ll receive the request the next time they sign in. (Until they approve your request, they’ll remain in your list with an “Add request pending” note next to their name.)
In the final step of the import contacts feature, we’ll show you all the other friends from your address book(s) that are not yet using Yahoo! Messenger. For the friends that you select, we’ll send them an email on your behalf, inviting them to chat with you on Yahoo! Messenger. From the email they receive, they can easily add you to their Messenger contact list, or if they’re new to Messenger, download the program and get started.
The Import Contacts feature is also available on our website at http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite. We hope this helps you find a lot more friends to chat with, play games, share photos and files, watch videos and more.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
June 10, 2008 on 9:40 am | In 9.0 version, Voice | 19 Comments
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.
If you are on Windows Vista and want to restore voice features to chat rooms and conferences, be sure you download and install the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta (9.0.0.1389).
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.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
June 9, 2008 on 3:57 pm | In News | 33 Comments
We’re happy to announce our maintenance update is complete! During this time, some of you may have experienced trouble logging into your Y! Messenger account or noticed a little bit of lag time when messaging– hopefully it wasn’t too bad.
For those of you curious about what was done during this maintenance, we’ve moved our older Messenger version users out of our old data center (called DCN) and into our new data center (called MUD).
Version 8.1 and 9.0 users were moved to new data centers seamlessly a few weeks back. By doing this, we’re preventing future maintenance outages and have already implemented these new systems into the 8.1 and 9.0 versions of Yahoo! Messenger. These changes make it much easier for us to move users around data centers. If you’re still using a Yahoo! Messenger version 8.0 or earlier, you may want to update to one of the latest versions– you’ll get a higher level of service from Yahoo! Messenger.
-Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Messenger Community Manager
June 6, 2008 on 8:00 am | In News | 2 Comments
A recent article in Science Daily reports that instant messaging actually proves useful in reducing workplace interruptions. Results of this research run counter to the common assumption that IM is distracting to workers and decreases productivity. Read on for more about what they found out in their survey of office workers.
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ScienceDaily (Jun. 4, 2008) - Employers seeking to decrease interruptions may want to have their workers use instant messaging software, a new study suggests. A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not.
The study challenges the widespread belief that instant messaging leads to an increase in disruption. Some researchers have speculated that workers would use instant messaging in addition to the phone and e-mail, leading to increased interruption and reduced productivity.
Instead, research showed that instant messaging was often used as a substitute for other, more disruptive forms of communication such as the telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face conversations. Using instant messaging led to more conversations on the computer, but the conversations were briefer, said R. Kelly Garrett, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State.
“The key take away is that instant messaging has some benefits where many people had feared that it might be harmful,” Garrett said.
Read the full article at ScienceDaily.com
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
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