Yahoo! BrowserPlus: The rumor is true!

Awhile back I heard a rumour that Yahoo! had a “Gears-like” project that was cancelled. I thought this was a shame, as having Yahoo! pushing the browser would be a great thing, and I wished that we could all join forces and push together.

It turns out the rumour is true, and even better, the project has survived.

After 3 years of hiding out in the campuses of Yahoo! it’s good to finally have something external to show for it. Most exciting is the release of BrowserPlus, a software and software distribution framework that allows device developers (desktop, mobile, etc.) to seamlessly bridge the browser programming environment (DHTML, JS) to any component they can dream up (VoIP, image manipulation, data caching, etc.). Some time ago we created a platform team to focus on device software at Yahoo! and this is what has emerged amidst the quickly shifting strategy of the mothership. The 1.0 release of BrowserPlus is intended only for use by Yahoo! sites to enhance customer experiences; however, in the coming months, developers might expect the ability to use components on their own sites.

In the meantime, you can hack the framework on your own system after you’ve installed it to start experimenting. You can experience BrowserPlus currently through the PhotoDropper module on Mash, though direct installs are available for mac or pc

There isn’t a lot of information out there, but hopefully we will here more soon. It currently doesn’t seem to be open source, but I would love to reach out to the team, and Yahoo! in general. I consider Yahoo! a proponent of the Open Web, and would love to see us work together in a way that pushes the browser platform forward from the point of view of Web developers (as compared to browser vendors).

It would be great to take the PhotoDropper, and make the generic kick arse file uploader (input type="file" multiple="true") that I have wanted for a long time.

ajaxian.com

Google: Nice to be working with Yahoo

AN FRANCISCO: Google Inc's top executive said that the company was excited to be testing out a partnership to run at least some of rival Yahoo Inc's Web search advertising sales.

But Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt stopped short of characterising how far negotiations with Yahoo had gone or how likely they were to lead to an actual business partnership.

Instead, Schimdt had nothing but kind words to say about Yahoo -- Google's erstwhile rival recently turned potential business partner -- during a conference call with investors following the company's first-quarter results.

"It's nice working with Yahoo and we like them very much," Schmidt said of Google's feelings towards its crosstown rival.

He declined to comment further on its ties to Yahoo, which has been seeking to find alternative partners to strengthen its hand in negotiations with Google archrival Microsoft Corp on the software giant's takeover offer for Yahoo.

(Reporting by Eric Auchard; Editing by Braden Reddall)
infotech.indiatimes.com

Yahoo Tweaks Its Advertising Algorithm

Did Yahoo just raise its prices for search ads? Yesterday, Yahoo made a significant change to its advertising bidding system by removing the minimum bid for sponsored search keywords. The minimum bid used to be $0.10 per keyword. Now, the minimum bid will be set more dynamically based on two factors: the quality of the advertiser and the value of the keyword.

In theory, advertisers whose ads are clicked on more often will be rewarded with lower minimum bid requirements. But the past popularity of a keyword also goes into the equation, so a keyword that has been bid up in the past could also result in a higher minimum bid. So minimum bids have now become dynamic, and no single advertiser really knows what they are until they put in their bid for a specific keyword.

Already some search advertisers are complaining that their minimum bids have gone up 2X to 4X overnight. At this point, that is just anecdotal evidence. We will have to wait until the end of this quarter to see if the change has had any material impact on Yahoo’s revenues.

What is curious about this move is that it suggests that many keywords on Yahoo get bought at the minimum price, without any real competitive bidding going on. After all, if at least two advertisers are bidding for a keyword that means the minimum bid is no longer an issue. So it makes you wonder how effective Yahoo ad auction system is as a market. For a market to exist, there needs to be at least two bidders.

Conversely, the advertisers with the highest click through rates will now be in a position to buy up keywords below the point where lesser advertisers even hit their minimum bid. And that is not really a market either. For instance, if TechCrunch is awarded a minimum bid of $0.06 for the term “startup” and a Silicon Valley law firm needs to pay $0.15 for the same term (I am just making these up), TechCrunch could buy up the term all day at $0.06 if the law firm does not bid its $0.15. In that scenario, there would be even less competition than if everyone had the same minimum bid. But maybe Yahoo does not care so much about creating a market as it does about improving the quality of the ads on Yahoo search.

Any Yahoo advertisers out there seeing their prices go up? Any seeing their prices go down? Is this a good move for Yahoo ora bad one? Please share in comments.

techcrunch.com

Yahoo! - What we don't value

A page you might have never visited, describes the things that the Yahoo! doesn't value as an Internet Corporation.

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/values/page2.html

“Google’s Popularity”, Yahoo’s Dilemma

“Yahoo! has just recently given its throne to Google,” this could be quoted if these two largest companies is in the field of royalties. But, the thought is true. Awhile aback, in speaking of surfing the internet, it’s always Yahoo!, nut now it has been taken place by Google. It thus proves this adage, “Popularity is just a temporary thing in this world.”

Everything has just turned upside-down in Yahoo!’s side. It is reality. Before, we can just see Google as a subordinate. And now, we can say a subordinate has just taken its superior’s fame.

How could this happen. Well, who you usually surf in the internet anyway. The answer is “people around the world”, right? Yes it is. So, if then, maybe everyone has just find out Google’s amiable entertainment and thoughtful service to its customers.

Avid consumers of Yahoo maybe have just realized Googles’s concern. That could be the case. And yet, if Yahoo! would ignore these things maybe the problem would gone longer and worst. (But now, in newspapers Yahoo! has already done steps to solve the problem.)

So, customers are always taking concern the answers to their needs. In addition, actions done quickly are the best answer to follow today’s trend.
myce101.com

Microsoft hires lobbyists to help with Yahoo deal...

Microsoft is already hiring lobbyists in order to speed up approval of a Yahoo acquisition, the lobby group in question has disclosed. Bryan Cave Strategies says it has bee

read more | digg story

Microsoft can raise Yahoo bid 'by 10 percent'

Microsoft may find it has some leeway in increasing its Yahoo bid by 10 percent without spooking its investors, one Wall Street analyst notes in a research report released yesterday.

Brent Thill, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets, surmises in his research report that Microsoft's share price already reflects a possible 10 percent increase for its initial stock-cash buyout offer of Yahoo for US$31 a share.

"We think Microsoft's stock embeds a potential 10 percent increase in the bid price; anything greater may create additional pressure on the shares," Thill says in the report. "We continue to believe a US$34 offer would be a reasonable, valuation-supported base case for Yahoo."

Since Microsoft announced its unsolicited buyout bid on 1 February, its share price has fallen 11 percent, while the Nasdaq has dipped only two percent.

Microsoft investors, Thill notes, apparently are focused only on the Yahoo transaction and are ignoring strong underlying fundamentals of the Redmond giant, as it gears up to report its fiscal third quarter next Thursday.

Wall Street expects Microsoft to post third-quarter earnings of 44 cents per share on revenue of nearly US$14.5 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

But Thill expects the software giant to beat Wall Street's estimates for both earnings and revenues for the quarter. He anticipates that Microsoft will earn 45 cents a share on revenue of $14.6 billion.

Some of the issues driving this bullish assessment include a continuation of a strong product cycle and reduction in piracy -- two things that aided its performance in the previous two quarters, as well as seasonally stronger PC shipments and upbeat forecasts from IBM and Intel on worldwide demand.

The latter hardware forecasts are expected to help drive software sales for Microsoft.

Microsoft's attempt to acquire Yahoo is expensive, but there could be a significant other expense for the software maker: retention bonuses.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer publicly discussed these payments to keep Yahoo employees from leaving, saying that "we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders, and employees across all disciplines." But The New York Times on Wednesday dug out a number that puts the retention bonus factor into perspective.

Specifically, the paper said Microsoft's acquisition of Tellme Networks, a deal valued at about US$800 million, was supplemented by a further US$100 million to retain employees.

There are major cultural and technology differences between Yahoo and Microsoft that would complicate integration and make retention bonuses more necessary. But Tellme Networks chief executive Mike McCue said Ballmer had become sensitive to at least one technology aspect of integration.

When McCue asked whether Tellme would have to move its software from Sun Microsystems' Solaris version of Unix to Windows, Ballmer replied, "No, no, we've learned our lesson," McCue recounted to the Times. That could be a reference to the long and arduous transition of Hotmail from FreeBSD Unix to Windows after Microsoft acquired the e-mail service.

That could be music to Yahoo ears, since the company uses open source software extensively rather than Microsoft's products.

Flickr Code

Flickr, Yahoo's photo sharing service, has rolled out a new website dedicated to Flickr's popular API tools. The new site, Code.Flickr, offers developers a place to review API information, discuss tools in the forums and of course rant about the future of Flickr development.
code.flickr.com

Yahoo's Best 'Alternative': Merge with eBay

With Steve Ballmer's "three weeks or we're going hostile" deadline rapidly approaching, time is running out for Tech Ticker's parent to find a legitimate alternative to Microsoft's unsolicited embrace. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo's "limited test" of outsourcing search to Google is going so well, the companies are discussing a full partnership.

Such a move -- or even discussion -- might face regulatory scrutiny, but could prove to be a "brilliant 11th-hour countermove by Yahoo [that] will force Microsoft to pay more for Yahoo than it otherwise would have," writes Henry Blodget.

But there's another alternative for Yahoo that, while often rumored in the past, hasn't come up much during the current saga: Merge with eBay.

James Altucher, managing director of Formula Capital, believes Microsoft will ultimately get its way, albeit by raising the cash portion of its bid. But the author and columnist also believes a Yahoo-eBay combination would be a true win-win for both companies. Yahoo's China properties would be key to the deal, and a combination with eBay is something Alibaba might view more favorably than the Microsoft tie-up, Altucher says.

finance.yahoo.com

Yahoo Pipes Apps on iPhone

After the release of Apple iPhone in July 2007, the yahoo team of developers get there code out for the new gizmo. They created the famous yahoo pipes interface for the Apple iPhone. The interface was as slick and intriutive as the iPhone itself. With the use of iPhone custom ringtones you can make a mush up at iphone.pipes.yahoo.com. The yahoo pipes is also integrated with the apple iPhones built in mapping application. So one can put any of the geo Pipe results on the Apple iPhone just be tapping the :MAP: button.

So you can check the restroom locator with your customise yahoo pipes Apps. Some other featured pipes that work well while mobile include Live Traffic Results and for the shopping geeks the Price watcher . So get the first hand experience of yahoos filters on your iPhone with iphoneapp.

With the Apple iPhone upgradation to the new version iPhone 1.1.3, 2008 and the iPhone price getting slashed to the new Price, it is evident that the technology of iPhone is getting cheaper with its sales figure growing. In the recent development Apple iPhone is also set its target in the Asian regions like India, China, Philipines, Korea and Japan.

smartphones4u.net

Microhoo Deal Would Be Best Option for Marketers

Surprising as it may sound, marketers should probably be rooting for a Microsoft-Yahoo link-up.

On many levels, of course, any merger of such a scale can seem an unappetizing prospect that's as much about delivering short-term gains for banks, corporate lawyers and major shareholders as it is about pioneering digital marketing solutions or looking after the individual services that consumers, publishers and advertisers have come to rely on.

In that regard, while they're technology companies as much as media players, Microhoo is worryingly reminiscent of the creation of a number of media conglomerates over the last two decades. While those conglomerates' heft has given them leverage in the media-selling and buying equation, they've delivered sporadically, at best, on the promised synergies or product improvement audiences and advertisers might have hoped for.

But by now it's clear Yahoo's unlikely to remain independent, which leaves advertisers, agencies, publishers and consumers wondering which of the proposed combinations works best for them. And realistically, the Microsoft-Yahoo merger has the most upside because it has the potential to be a viable competitor to Google. As significantly, it has the least downside, as it better preserves competition in search and display.

It's also looking like the scenario most likely to happen, but as last week showed, there are other options to consider. Here's how those proposed so far break down.

Scenario 1: First proposed Feb. 1, Microsoft would absorb all of Yahoo to create a stronger No. 2 search player. Additionally, Microsoft would benefit from the third-party network Yahoo is aggressively building; it has deals with companies such as Comcast, eBay and more than 600 newspapers. This scale helps offset any display-ad power Google has amassed through its DoubleClick acquisition.

Microsoft believes eventually there will be two players, itself and Google, offering a full online advertising platform for online-ad buyers and sellers -- everything from ad serving to exchanges to display selling to search. And while a duopoly can sound a bit scary, it is better than a monopoly, as Brian McAndrews, head of Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions division, pointed out.

As Ad Age has said before, the challenges for this merger lie in the integration of two enormous and complex organizations. Already difficult, the proposed union got markedly more so when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer injected some animosity with a sternly worded, clearly impatient letter last week, giving Yahoo a three-week deadline (effective April 26) to get a deal done or face a hostile takeover. He said Yahoo had already lost value since the original bid and suggested that having to go hostile could lower the bid. In the end, though, it'll pay for Microsoft to pony up now that Yahoo has proved it has other options.

Scenario 2: Should Microsoft not want to go it alone, it can always count on Rupert Murdoch for help. While originally he explored a deal with Yahoo to help it thwart the Microsoft takeover, last week reports surfaced that have him helping Microsoft. A three-way deal could kick in MySpace for a stake in the combined entity. There's also the possibility News Corp. could absorb Yahoo's content properties, leaving Microsoft with the search and technology assets it most covets, although this is less likely as News Corp.'s major incentive in participating is to unload MySpace, which many believe has hit its high-water mark. But consider that MySpace is chock-full of low-value inventory, and Yahoo and Microsoft already have that through e-mail traffic -- they don't need more.

Regardless of all that, the biggest issue is that an additional player complicates matters, both in the dealmaking and the post-deal integration, and history is not on the side of M&A menages a trois. Plus, Microsoft doesn't need News Corp.'s help to buy Yahoo.

Scenario 3: But other parties are also stepping up to wrap their arms around Yahoo. Time Warner and Yahoo have been talking and are very serious about a deal that would have Time Warner contributing AOL plus cash in exchange for a 20% stake in a combined entity, according to The Wall Street Journal. Yahoo would woo shareholders by promising to buy back some of its stock (with the cash from AOL) at a price higher than what Microsoft is offering. And partnering with Google on search could help sweeten the deal.

But who really wins in this merger? Time Warner -- it gets to unload its nine-year Achilles' heel, AOL. And Google -- Yahoo would likely have to strike some sort of business relationship with the search giant to better monetize its search traffic.

A trial has already begun. Last week, Yahoo announced it would begin testing Google search ads on up to 3% of the search results on Yahoo-owned sites. A small test is one thing; more comprehensive plans would most certainly face regulatory scrutiny.

And for advertisers, having search so highly concentrated in a single system is a bad thing. If the test were successful and Yahoo struck a deal to outsource its search to Google, "that would give Google an effective monopoly over search, which wouldn't be healthy for marketers or the overall internet economy," said Bryan Wiener, CEO of New York-based agency 360i. With this idea, he said, "It seems like Yahoo's running away from Microsoft into a potentially more dangerous bear hug."
adage.com

Yahoo reportedly closer to Google search ad deal

After positive initial results using Google's search advertisement, Yahoo is closer to outsourcing it to Google.

read more | digg story

Share your Video with inline media player in Yahoo IM

Last week, Flickr.com announced its new video feature, allowing Flickr Pro users to upload videos and share them online alongside their photos.

As a result, Yahoo IM support for Flickr videos to the inline media player in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta. If you share a Flickr video link or a friend shares one with you, you can watch the video right in the IM window.

Unlike conventional video sharing services like Yahoo! Video or Youtube, Flickr videos are designed to be “long photos” that capture slices of life. To encourage this, Flickr has limited the length of uploaded videos to 90 seconds. While that may seem like a really short video, it’s ideal for sharing those clips you capture on your digital camera or mobile phone (which often go unshared). Check out a couple of the uploaded videos from the early beta testers:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fraying/2391084921/

Video Sharing is now adopted by Photo Sharing Websites - Do you think Flickr will give challenge to Youtube ?
techmatch.blogspot.com

Yahoo Search Marketing takes a page from the AdWords book

Yahoo Search Marketing, the pay-per-click arm of Yahoo advertising, is making changes that more closely resemble the Google AdWords pricing philosophy. Yahoo has required minimum bids on both the sponsored search and the content match networks be a minimum of $.10 per click. Starting soon, Yahoo will move to more of an AdWords quality score rating system that will impact the minimum bids required on the sponsored search network.Content match bids will remain fixed at a minimum bid of $.10, but the Yahoo sponsored search minimum bids will fluctuate based on a number of factors. A unique twist on the pricing structure will gauge the value of any particular keyword bid based on the number of bidders and the actual amounts of the bids on the keyword. This could result in either an increase or a decrease on the minimum bid required to keep your keywords active.

Yahoo is also implementing an ad and keyword quality score which will determine the relevance of your keywords to your ad and landing page, not unlike Google Adwords. Unlike AdWords, however, Yahoo says the minimum bids will not be influenced by ad conversion rates.

As an example of how the new sponsored search bid pricing will work, if you are bidding on a highly competitive keyword, all things being equal, you will be required to increase your bid amount in order to keep your ad active in your campaign. The implementation of an ad quality score puts Yahoo on par with AdWords ad optimization requirements, and I would think it would make running campaigns on Google and Yahoo easier to implement and compare.

Will this change result in higher advertising costs for advertising on Yahoo? I would venture to say probably not. If you maintained lower bids on a keyword, chances are your CTR was equally as low. With the new pricing structure, if the keyword is competitive, your minimum bid may rise, but CTR across all advertisers should remain constant. If your keywords, ad text and landing page are optimized as they should be, you may actually end up paying less than before for an equal or higher CTR.

In reality, we all knew this change would come at some point. As Google leads, Yahoo follows. My only problem with this change is Yahoo’s reluctance to lower the content match minimum bids. I would venture to say that 90% of campaigns generate a higher CTR and conversion on the sponsored search listings, so why require advertisers to potentially pay more for clicks in the content network? My guess would be changes to the content match pricing structure will be coming in the near future as Yahoo seeks to make up for lost market share. Time will tell.

webrehash.com

Top 10 reasons why Microsoft bags Yahoo!

Sandeep Aggarwal (pictured) leaves no stone unturned in his analysis of Microsoft Corp.'s [MSFT] pursuit of Yahoo! Inc. [YHOO] in a research report he put out Wednesday for Collins Stewart. Aggarwal, who was previously the Internet analyst at Oppenheimer, assigns a 90%-plus probability to Microsoft acquiring Yahoo! and that it is "very likely" that the price will be higher than the $31 a share cash-and-stock offer Microsoft originally made Feb. 1.

A la David Letterman, Aggarwal publishes a Top 10 questions list relating to the deal. We won't go through all 10 of them (a couple are actually answered in the above paragraph), but some of the more relevant ones. Foremost, Aggarwal believes that Microsoft will likely pay $33.50 per share in cash and stock for Yahoo!, or 10% more than its current offer. He writes that he does not think Microsoft is willing to pay "materially higher" than its original offer, especially considering the economic outlook and its current share price. He assigns less than a 10% chance the deal gets done above $33.50.

Aggarwal assigns a 55% probability to a deal getting done amicably (that means a 45% chance of a hostile deal, for those among the math-challenged). Depending on which of those scenarios comes to fruition, he would expect a resolution by the end of April or mid-May (in an amicable deal), or in the case of an unfriendly deal, he predicted Microsoft would start a proxy war by the end of April with the hopes of getting its candidates on Yahoo!'s board by July. In both scenarios Aggarwal expects regulatory approvals to take up to three quarters.

As for potential alternatives, Aggarwal writes that Yahoo! has "explored and largely exhausted most of them if not all." He discounts a partnership with Google Inc. [GOOG] because of regulatory and operational challenges, and argues that the company was unable to garner the magnitude of support it expected from investors to pursue a higher valuation from Microsoft.

Aggarwal also tackles Yahoo!'s first-quarter report April 22, writing that at best the company will have an in-line quarter while raising guidance for the remainder of the year. He notes concern about Yahoo!'s exposure to the financial services sector through its Yahoo! Finance site and could suffer as online budgets are slashed by mortgage, credit card and other companies impacted by the credit crunch.

Finally, Aggarwal looks at potential synergies of a potential Microsoft-Yahoo! merger and concludes the combo would have cost synergies of a robust $1.3 billion. He places a buy rating on Yahoo!'s stock with a price target of $33.50. - David Shabelman

techconfidential.com

Yahoo Hit With $1 Million Click Fraud Lawsuit

An Internet retailer that used a pay-per-click advertising service operated by Yahoo is suing the Internet giant for more than $1 million, claiming it was overcharged by thousands of dollars as a result of click fraud that Yahoo did little to prevent.

Bigreds.com, which sells collectibles online, said it paid Yahoo's Search Marketing unit, formerly known as Overture Services, more than $900,000 between 2002 and 2006. The fees were based on the number of clicks that Bigreds ads received on sites affiliated with Yahoo and Overture.

Bigreds claims that many of the clicks were not from legitimate buyers but from affiliate Web site operators who received commissions from Overture and Yahoo based on the number of clicks their sites generated for advertisers.

"These clicks were not actual traffic, but were fraudulent clicks," Bigreds claims in court papers filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in New York. "Affiliates of Overture used software programs, employed people, and/or directed people other than actual customers to click on plaintiffs links from keyword search results," the complaint states.

Yahoo acquired Overture, which launched in 1998 as GoTo.com, in 2003.

Bigreds claims Yahoo in 2006 acknowledged the bad-click problem, but offered a refund of only $17,000. Bigreds also alleges that Yahoo's Overture unit had technology and information at its disposal that it could have used to prevent click fraud but did not take steps to do so.

"Overture was able to tell what was bad, who conducted the bad click, where it came from, what keyword was involved and generally had superior technology and access to records in its dominion that enabled Overture to determine what persons or entities or affiliates were involved," the suit claims.

Bigreds is seeking more than $1 million in damages and penalties. Yahoo has yet to file a formal response to the allegations.

Click fraud is one of the multi-billion dollar search marketing industry's dark secrets. Virtually all major players, including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, have been forced to acknowledge the problem. Critics argue that search engines have little incentive to police the practice because much of their revenue is generated by ad clicks.

Yahoo in 2005 paid $4.5 million to settle a click fraud class action lawsuit. Google paid $90 million to settle a similar suit in 2006.

informationweek.com

Yahoo search ads grew in quarter vs Google: report

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - New industry data out on Tuesday showed Yahoo Inc may have started gaining share in the Web search ad market against Google Inc even as Google's share of search audience inched up.

One study by RBC Capital using data on ad-buying trends from Web search marketing firm SearchIgnite shows Yahoo outpacing Google in spending on search advertising, ad viewership and click-through rates during the first quarter.

Meanwhile, a report from research firm comScore showed Google gaining share against Yahoo in the overall Web search market in March, but gave no insight into how Google was doing converting Web searchers into ad viewers.

Yahoo's first-quarter share of search spending by selected advertisers rose to 23 percent of the market, up from historic levels of 18 percent to 19 percent, SearchIgnite said.

Google's dominant search advertising share dipped to 71.1 percent from 74.9 percent the previous quarter, it said.

"Yahoo increased its share of wallet meaningfully for the first time in several quarters," RBC analyst Ross Sandler said in a note to investors, referring to the SearchIgnite data.

Shares of Yahoo gained 36 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $28.16. Google dipped $1.15 to $450.51.

Google is set to report quarterly results on Thursday as investors debate whether the company's explosive growth in search advertising has begun being hobbled by a slowing economy. Yahoo reports quarterly results next Tuesday.
reuters.com

How to save Yahoo chat log online

Almost every one of us has an account with both Yahoo and Google. And you probably use both Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk to stay in touch with buddies. Unlike Yahoo ,Google offers the web-based version of Google Talk . But you can also get web IM for Yahoo using services like Meebo, or ebuddy . These services though don't provide any online space to store your yahoo chat log( Yahoo chat log while using Yahoo Messenger is stored locally. Hence you can't access your yahoo chat log when you login from another computer). So, there is no way you can access it while on the move. But don't loose your heart.... Google comes to your rescue again.
With Google Talk, conversations are archived and stored in the same manner as emails. This allows users to search within their chat logs easily. It would be great if I can transport all my Yahoo contacts to Google Talk so that all my Yahoo buddies are also visible in Gmail chat window. This way I can chat with Yahoo buddies while still in Gmail and therefore, all Yahoo chat log can be stored in Gmail and my purpose of accessing chat logs from anywhere is fulfilled. Now the billion dollar question : How could it be possible to transfer Yahoo contacts to Google Talk. Here is a nice tutorial which will guide you through this process.


The set up process requires cross platform Jabber client Psi and is a one time set up process( i.e. you can uninstall Psi after you have transferred the contacts). The similar process applies to your MSN/AIM contacts.

technolaziness.blogspot.com

Yahoo's tinfoil hat message?

This is showing up at the bottom of emails sent from Yahoo! accounts. Does anyone know what it means?

0000-00-00 and 9999-99-99

It is on some of my emails. I can only presume it is a form of protest about today being tax day in the USA...April 15th.

The form of the numbers fits to Social Security Numbers.

IndexTools (Yahoo!) Web Analytics goes FREE

Hi there, a bit of news for you who follow the Yahoo! IndexTools integration steps. But first, THANK YOU very much for all the positive feedback I received in blog comments, separate blog posts, emails, phone calls etc. I truly appreciate that.

Summary:
Yahoo! currently intends to provide the IndexTools Web Analytics service FREE of charge to clients and partners who accept the standard Yahoo! agreement.

Today we will communicate that we’ll require our partners and clients to accept a new standard Yahoo! agreement and that Yahoo! (we) currently intends to provide the service FREE of charge to clients and partners who accept the Yahoo! Agreement. It is however important to note that our clients and partners must accept this agreement to continue using the service.

I think this is a fair tradeoff for an Enterprise class Web Analytics system?

Further to this, it should be noted that Yahoo! (I should probably teach myself to say - we - at some point) does not intend to add any new partnerships or direct clients in the short to midterm, while we prepare for the next rollout wave. This means that our current partners and clients will be in a unique position to either provide a service or use a service to which the rest of the market will not have ready or immediate access.

Very exciting isn’t it? .. :-)

For those of you who know me or heard me evangelize IndexTools as essentially 80% of the functionality of Omniture for a fraction of the cost – have to get used to the NEW NEW; 80% of the functionality of Omniture for FREE! ;-) he he...
visualrevenue.com