On Monday it was announced that Yahoo's acquisition by Verizon was almost complete. The deal would see Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, co-founder David Filo and others resigning from the company's board and the company being renamed Altaba. A move which many thought would mean that Yahoo would be no longer. Reports from today however have breathed new life into Yahoo as a brand. It now appears that much of what makes Yahoo, well the Yahoo we know, will live on under the Yahoo name.
In their U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday Yahoo said that it will shed almost everything that makes it Yahoo, including its name, when its deal with Verizon closes. This is were things are a bit confusing for some. Like many companies Yahoo is diversified and it made up of two major assets of very differing backgrounds.
The first asset, and most well know by the general public, is their worldwide network of internet portals. This makes up Yahoo.com, Yahoo Mail ect. The second major asset is a 15 percent stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba. This is in essence what is going to remain of Yahoo Business while Monday's deal will see the company sell its portals, and its brand to Verizon for $4.8b.
Verizon is the expected to merge Yahoo's portal activities with AOL, which it bought in 2015.
In July, just after Verizon announced the Yahoo deal, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong told TechCrunch: "The Yahoo brand will be staying with us for a very long period of time, we'll be investing in it."
In the end, this all means that despite the major issues Yahoo has faced over the past couple years with several major data breaches and major ups and downs with CEO Marissa Mayer. The company you most likely know Yahoo for being will still be alive and kicking. So you won't be in danger of loosing access to your Yahoo Mail account, or any of your favorite services they offer. At least not for now!
Showing posts with label yahoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yahoo. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Yahoo Passwords Leaked Other Sites May Be At Risk
Yahoo Inc has confirmed that more than 400,000 user names and passwords to access websites including its own, have been stolen and posted online. Security researchers who have looked at the data say that it appears that the passwords came from the company's VoIP service, Yahoo Voice. However the full extent of the breach is as of yet unknown.
In a statement published by TechCrunch, Yahoo representatives confirmed a breach that hit the site's Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) on Wednesday. The stolen data was contained in an "older file," and only about 5 percent of the exposed credentials were still valid on Yahoo.
"We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised," the statement continued. "We apologize to affected users. We encourage users to change their passwords on a regular basis and also familiarize themselves with our online safety tips at security.yahoo.com."
The concern, however, is that despite all the recent warnings issued over creating better, stronger passwords, many of the passwords listed weren't all that secure to begin with. More than 1,600 of the passwords are "123456" and another 780 are "password". This raises flags not only on the Yahoo site but could potentially open users to security risks on other sites as well. Many people tend to re-use passwords on multiple sites, meaning that if their password has been stolen on one site it might be used on another and therefore should be considered at risk on other sites as well.
"Since all the accounts are in plain-text, anyone with an account present in the leak which also has the same password on other sites (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc), should assume that someone has accessed their account," said Anders Nilsson of Eset
Update: According to security firm Rapid7, the breakdown data stolen from the Yahoo breach included log-ins and credentials from not only Yahoo but Google Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail, and AOL, Comcast and MSN accounts. The break down as follows in terms of various service provider accounts:
1. 137,559 yahoo.com
2. 106,873 gmail.com
3. 55,148 hotmail.com
4. 25,521 aol.com
5. 8,536 comcast.net
6. 6,395 msn.com
7. 5,193 sbcglobal.net
8. 4,313 live.com
9. 3,029 verizon.net
10. 2,847 bellsouth.net
In a statement published by TechCrunch, Yahoo representatives confirmed a breach that hit the site's Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) on Wednesday. The stolen data was contained in an "older file," and only about 5 percent of the exposed credentials were still valid on Yahoo.
"We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised," the statement continued. "We apologize to affected users. We encourage users to change their passwords on a regular basis and also familiarize themselves with our online safety tips at security.yahoo.com."
The concern, however, is that despite all the recent warnings issued over creating better, stronger passwords, many of the passwords listed weren't all that secure to begin with. More than 1,600 of the passwords are "123456" and another 780 are "password". This raises flags not only on the Yahoo site but could potentially open users to security risks on other sites as well. Many people tend to re-use passwords on multiple sites, meaning that if their password has been stolen on one site it might be used on another and therefore should be considered at risk on other sites as well.
"Since all the accounts are in plain-text, anyone with an account present in the leak which also has the same password on other sites (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc), should assume that someone has accessed their account," said Anders Nilsson of Eset
Update: According to security firm Rapid7, the breakdown data stolen from the Yahoo breach included log-ins and credentials from not only Yahoo but Google Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail, and AOL, Comcast and MSN accounts. The break down as follows in terms of various service provider accounts:
1. 137,559 yahoo.com
2. 106,873 gmail.com
3. 55,148 hotmail.com
4. 25,521 aol.com
5. 8,536 comcast.net
6. 6,395 msn.com
7. 5,193 sbcglobal.net
8. 4,313 live.com
9. 3,029 verizon.net
10. 2,847 bellsouth.net
Friday, July 06, 2012
Yahoo And Facebook Set Aside Their Differences To Form New Partnership
Yahoo today announced that it is dropping its patent lawsuit against Facebook and engaging with the social network in a new partnership.
The deal ends litigation between the two parties over several patents that lie at the heart of either's companies. Yahoo sued Facebook in March claiming infringement of ten patents, and saying "Facebook's entire social network model … is based on Yahoo!'s patented social networking technology." Facebook quickly fought back with a counterclaim accusing Yahoo of infringing ten patents of its own, most of which Facebook had just acquired from other companies and sources.
Here's the official release:
In brief we shouldn't expect a conglomeration of the the two sites. Rather the agreement will mean you'll see more Facebook integration into Yahoo' services, more advertising sharing and possibly some collaboration down the road on new projects.
The deal ends litigation between the two parties over several patents that lie at the heart of either's companies. Yahoo sued Facebook in March claiming infringement of ten patents, and saying "Facebook's entire social network model … is based on Yahoo!'s patented social networking technology." Facebook quickly fought back with a counterclaim accusing Yahoo of infringing ten patents of its own, most of which Facebook had just acquired from other companies and sources.
Here's the official release:
SUNNYVALE AND MENLO PARK, CALIF. - JULY 6, 2012 - Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) today announced that they have entered into definitive agreements that launch a new advertising partnership, extend and expand distribution arrangements, and settle all pending patent claims between the companies.
Under the agreements, which include a patent portfolio cross-license, the parties will work together to bring consumers and advertisers premium media experiences promoted and distributed across both Yahoo! and Facebook. Yahoo! and Facebook will also work together to bring Yahoo!'s large media event coverage to Facebook users by collaborating on social integrations on the Yahoo! site.
"We are excited to develop a deeper partnership with Facebook, and I'm grateful to Sheryl and her team for working hard together with our team to develop this dynamic agreement. We are looking forward to building on the success we have already seen to provide innovative new products and experiences for both consumers and sponsors," said Ross Levinsohn, interim CEO of Yahoo!. "Combining the premium content and reach of Yahoo! as the world's leading digital media company with Facebook provides branded advertisers with unmatched opportunity."
"I'm pleased that we were able to resolve this in a positive manner and look forward to partnering closely with Ross and the leadership at Yahoo!," said Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. "Yahoo!'s new leaders are driven by a renewed focus on innovation and providing great products to users. Together, we can provide users with engaging social experiences while creating value for marketers."
Since the launch of the original multi-year partnership between Yahoo! and Facebook that allows users to discover and connect news and information on Yahoo! sites and share them with their Facebook friends, Yahoo! has integrated the feature called "Social Bar" on more than 100 of its properties globally, and more than 90 million users have implemented it. As a result, Yahoo! has the largest active user base among all news sites that have integrated with Facebook's Open Graph platform, making Social Bar the world's leading social news application.
Going forward, Yahoo! and Facebook have agreed to work more closely and collaborate together on multiple tent-pole and anchor events annually over the next several years to provide unparalleled experiences for consumers and world-class sponsorship opportunities for advertisers.
In brief we shouldn't expect a conglomeration of the the two sites. Rather the agreement will mean you'll see more Facebook integration into Yahoo' services, more advertising sharing and possibly some collaboration down the road on new projects.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Yahoo Launches New Visual Browser
Yahoo, yes Yahoo of all people, has announced the launch of a new browser or well browser add-on, that takes the text out of your web and makes searching a visual experience. Yahoo Axis as it has been dubbed comes in full versions for the iPad and iPhone, and as plug-ins for the desktop browsers Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Safari.
Axis is a visual search browser extension which overlays search results right in your browser window. Instead of the traditional text-based search results you'd see on Google, Bing or even Yahoo you see visual representations of pages in a carousel or window panes. You see thumbnail representations of the page, or site, and a brief spinet of the content.
Yahoo Axis also allows for device syncing. Meaning searches and results can be synced between multiple devices on the user same account. For example, a search that begin on an iPhone can be continued on a Windows computer with the Axis browser extension installed. Additionally devices on the same account also share favorites, bookmarks and items to be read later.
Yahoo offers three ways to sign into Axis. Users can choose between a Yahoo account, Facebook, or Google+.
My thoughts:
I'm testing it now and have to say this is one browser extension I'll be passing on. The window panes are a nice thought but the pop-up tool bar and the search button that is added to pages was distracting and annoying. I will say I did like the carousel for image searches, the only problem is when you click the link you are taken to the associated page and not the image itself so you then have to track down the image you wanted to view.
If you try it out we'd like to hear your thought. Do you love it or hate it?
Related Articles:
Axis is a visual search browser extension which overlays search results right in your browser window. Instead of the traditional text-based search results you'd see on Google, Bing or even Yahoo you see visual representations of pages in a carousel or window panes. You see thumbnail representations of the page, or site, and a brief spinet of the content.
Yahoo Axis also allows for device syncing. Meaning searches and results can be synced between multiple devices on the user same account. For example, a search that begin on an iPhone can be continued on a Windows computer with the Axis browser extension installed. Additionally devices on the same account also share favorites, bookmarks and items to be read later.
Yahoo offers three ways to sign into Axis. Users can choose between a Yahoo account, Facebook, or Google+.
My thoughts:
I'm testing it now and have to say this is one browser extension I'll be passing on. The window panes are a nice thought but the pop-up tool bar and the search button that is added to pages was distracting and annoying. I will say I did like the carousel for image searches, the only problem is when you click the link you are taken to the associated page and not the image itself so you then have to track down the image you wanted to view.
If you try it out we'd like to hear your thought. Do you love it or hate it?
Related Articles:
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Top Searches, Tweets And Trends Of 2011
Every year some of our favorite sites release a list of their top searches, hashtags or mentions. Giving us a glance at what has been the most popular items through the year. Most of the time we see celebrities, hot news topics or pop-culture items topping the list. This year however we are surprised to see a few geeky items perched in the top ten for most sites.
Google Zeitgeist 2011: How the World Searched
This is the 11th year that Google has published the Google Zeitgeist list. With Zeitgeist, Google looks at the most popular and the fastest rising terms—the terms with the highest growth in 2011—in many categories across many countries around the world. This year they've incorporated several changes including improved visualizations, added detailed infographics and even adding in a few extra lists featuring sports, entertainment, people and news.
Google's Top Searches
For us geeks Google also released a list of the fastest growing searches for consumer electronics. Amazon's Kindle Fire topped that list, followed by Apple's iPhone 4s, the Sidekick 4g Android phone, the HP Touchpad and the Android app Spb Shell 3D.
Yahoo's 2011 Year In Review
This year Yahoo has also expanded their list. Not only does it included the top 10 search terms but also some culture items which includes top scandals, heroic acts and extreme weather.
Yahoo Top 10 Searches
Top 2011 Searches from Bing: A Year of Breakthroughs and Heartbreaks
Instead of a traditional top ten list like Google and Yahoo have provided. The fine folks over at Microsoft have chosen to give us several lists of their top search terms broke down into the following categories:
Wonder what people are talking about on your favorite social media sites?
On Facebook the death of Osama bin Laden was the most talked about topic in 2011, with nearly 10 percent of English-speaking Facebookers posting about it on May 1. Facebook refers to the tracking of these trends as "memology," which they have detailed in an extensive blog post.
Facebook says, "Memology takes the pulse of this global community by comparing this year's status updates to last year's, unearthing the most popular topics and cultural trends - or memes - emerging on Facebook. Whether it's hmu, lms or tbh, each year brings a new set of three letter acronyms that go viral."
For you tweeters out there Twitter has released a list of the top hashtags of 2011. The post is part of the sites year in review series which highlights the leading topics and hashtags of the year.
"The list of Hot Topics and Top Hashtags charts the keywords that rose the fastest in conversation over the course of the year," Twitter wrote in a blog post. "This reveals what grabbed our attention most dramatically in 2011, and which events, inventions, changes, and ideas made the deepest impression on us."
Popular question and answer site Ask.com released its list of top 10 questions for 2011 by category.
Top celebrity search terms and questions include:
Top news search terms and questions include:
Top political searches and questions include:
Top predictions for 2012:
Google Zeitgeist 2011: How the World Searched
This is the 11th year that Google has published the Google Zeitgeist list. With Zeitgeist, Google looks at the most popular and the fastest rising terms—the terms with the highest growth in 2011—in many categories across many countries around the world. This year they've incorporated several changes including improved visualizations, added detailed infographics and even adding in a few extra lists featuring sports, entertainment, people and news.
Google's Top Searches
- Rebecca Black
- Google +
- Ryan Dunn
- Casey Anthony
- Battlefield 3
- iPhone 5
- Adele
- 東京 電力 (TEPCO) Fukushima I Plant
- Steve Jobs
- iPad 2
For us geeks Google also released a list of the fastest growing searches for consumer electronics. Amazon's Kindle Fire topped that list, followed by Apple's iPhone 4s, the Sidekick 4g Android phone, the HP Touchpad and the Android app Spb Shell 3D.
Yahoo's 2011 Year In Review
This year Yahoo has also expanded their list. Not only does it included the top 10 search terms but also some culture items which includes top scandals, heroic acts and extreme weather.
Yahoo Top 10 Searches
- iPhone
- Casey Anthony
- Kim Kardashian
- Katy Perry
- Jennifer Lopez
- Lindsay Lohan
- “American Idol”
- Jennifer Aniston
- Japan Earthquake
- Osama bin Laden
Top 2011 Searches from Bing: A Year of Breakthroughs and Heartbreaks
Instead of a traditional top ten list like Google and Yahoo have provided. The fine folks over at Microsoft have chosen to give us several lists of their top search terms broke down into the following categories:
- People
- News Stories
- Sports Stars
- Musicians
- Consumer Electronics
- TV Shows
- Movies
- Celebrity Events
- Destinations
- Other Interesting Searches
Wonder what people are talking about on your favorite social media sites?
On Facebook the death of Osama bin Laden was the most talked about topic in 2011, with nearly 10 percent of English-speaking Facebookers posting about it on May 1. Facebook refers to the tracking of these trends as "memology," which they have detailed in an extensive blog post.
Facebook says, "Memology takes the pulse of this global community by comparing this year's status updates to last year's, unearthing the most popular topics and cultural trends - or memes - emerging on Facebook. Whether it's hmu, lms or tbh, each year brings a new set of three letter acronyms that go viral."
For you tweeters out there Twitter has released a list of the top hashtags of 2011. The post is part of the sites year in review series which highlights the leading topics and hashtags of the year.
"The list of Hot Topics and Top Hashtags charts the keywords that rose the fastest in conversation over the course of the year," Twitter wrote in a blog post. "This reveals what grabbed our attention most dramatically in 2011, and which events, inventions, changes, and ideas made the deepest impression on us."
Popular question and answer site Ask.com released its list of top 10 questions for 2011 by category.
Top celebrity search terms and questions include:
- Kim Kardashian: Was Kim Kardashian's wedding fake?
- Justin Bieber: Is Justin Bieber going to be a dad?
- Lady Gaga: Are Lady Gaga's face implants real?
- Beyonce: Did Beyonce fake a baby bump?
- Kate Middleton: Who made Kate Middleton's wedding dress?
- Ashton Kutcher: Did Ashton cheat?
- Michael Jackson: Was Michael Jackson murdered?
- Selena Gomez: Is Selena Gomez pregnant?
- Lindsay Lohan: Is Lindsay Lohan going to jail?
- Charlie Sheen: What happened to Charlie Sheen's teeth?
Top news search terms and questions include:
- Earthquake in Japan: How big was the earthquake in Japan?
- Hurricane Irene: What caused Hurricane Irene?
- Steve Jobs: How much was Steve Jobs worth?
- Royal Wedding: What did William whisper to Kate on the balcony?
- Occupy Wall Street: Who started Occupy Wall Street?
- iPhone: When will Apple release the iPhone 5?
- Osama Bin Laden: Who killed Bin Laden?
- Casey Anthony: Where is Casey Anthony hiding?
- 10th Anniversary of September 11: What is happening on the 10th anniversary of 9/11?
- Amy Winehouse: How did Amy Winehouse die?
Top political searches and questions include:
- Barack Obama: Will Obama get re-elected?
- Mitt Romney: What is Mitt Romney's religion?
- Sarah Palin: Is Sarah Palin running for president?
- Michele Bachmann: Is Michele Bachmann crazy?
- Anthony Weiner: Where can I find Anthony Weiner's Twitter pics?
- Arnold Schwarzenegger: Who was Arnold's mistress?
- Gay Marriage: Which states allow gay marriage?
- Withdrawl from Iraq: When will the troops come home?
- Iowa Caucus: When is the Iowa caucus?
- Muammar Ghadafi: Who will lead Libya after Ghadafi?
Top predictions for 2012:
- George Clooney wins his second AND third Academy Award
- Dr. Oz surpasses Dr. Phil in ratings in a post-Oprah world
- Green Bay Packers wins Super Bowl second year in a row
- McDonald's adds the McRib to its permanent menu
- New York reclaims its spot as top the US travel destination from 2011 leader Orlando
- Breakout star of 2011, Nicki Minaj, leapfrogs pop icon Katy Perry in album sales
- Pippa jumps onto the list of top ten baby names of the year
- Facebook goes public with world's largest IPO
- Tiger Woods retires from golf
- And, finally…will the world end in 2012? Spoiler alert! IT WON'T
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Google Gives The Gift Of Free WiFi At Participating Airports For The Holidays
The holiday season Google is making lift a little easier for holiday travelers by offering free airport WiFi at more than 47 participating airports across the country.
A few weeks ago, Google announced that they'll be working with Virgin America to give free WiFi to all passengers on Virgin flights this holiday season. Not only will they be offering free WiFi on Virgin Flights but starting today and lasting through January 15th, Google has announced that the will be teaming with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others to offer free WiFi in 47 airports across the country.
The gift currently includes Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. Additionally, as a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely. You can see the full list of airports here.
Not to be outdone by Google's free WiFi offer Yahoo has joined the bandwagon and has announced that starting today and running through an entire year they will be offering free Wi-Fi at Times Square in New York City.
As for Microsoft they have been the leaders in this bandwagon race to give away freebies. Originally launched in September at thousands of locations, Microsoft has teamed with mobile ad network JiWire to provide their free WiFi. Micrsoft's WiFi comes with a bit of a twisted added, users must agree to make at least one search on Bing.
The campaign aims to make more people aware of Bing and allow them to try the search engine, according to David Blumenfeld, senior vice president of strategy and business development at JiWire. "We're all creatures of habit, so giving away free Internet access in exchange for one search on Bing is a great way to change user behavior," he says.
No specifics have been released as to where these Microsoft/JiWire hot spots are located just that they are in "thousands of locations" which are mainly airports and hotels.
A few weeks ago, Google announced that they'll be working with Virgin America to give free WiFi to all passengers on Virgin flights this holiday season. Not only will they be offering free WiFi on Virgin Flights but starting today and lasting through January 15th, Google has announced that the will be teaming with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others to offer free WiFi in 47 airports across the country.
The gift currently includes Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. Additionally, as a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely. You can see the full list of airports here.Not to be outdone by Google's free WiFi offer Yahoo has joined the bandwagon and has announced that starting today and running through an entire year they will be offering free Wi-Fi at Times Square in New York City.
As for Microsoft they have been the leaders in this bandwagon race to give away freebies. Originally launched in September at thousands of locations, Microsoft has teamed with mobile ad network JiWire to provide their free WiFi. Micrsoft's WiFi comes with a bit of a twisted added, users must agree to make at least one search on Bing.
The campaign aims to make more people aware of Bing and allow them to try the search engine, according to David Blumenfeld, senior vice president of strategy and business development at JiWire. "We're all creatures of habit, so giving away free Internet access in exchange for one search on Bing is a great way to change user behavior," he says.
No specifics have been released as to where these Microsoft/JiWire hot spots are located just that they are in "thousands of locations" which are mainly airports and hotels.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Yahoo Goes Social
On Monday Yahoo took the lid off Yahoo Open Strategy (or Y!OS for short) with a major retooling of Yahoo Mail, My Yahoo start page, and new a Yahoo Toolbar.
Originally introduced in April, Yahoo! Open Strategy is the companies plan turn itself into an open social platform. The goal behind Y!OS is to "deliver open, industry-leading platforms that attract the most publishers and developers."
Yahoo's updates for Y!OS, included:
Originally introduced in April, Yahoo! Open Strategy is the companies plan turn itself into an open social platform. The goal behind Y!OS is to "deliver open, industry-leading platforms that attract the most publishers and developers."
Yahoo's updates for Y!OS, included:
- Yahoo! Mail - Announced separately today,Yahoo! Mail's smarter inbox focuses on streamlining access to a user's most relevant and useful information. The new Welcome Page surfaces email messages, information and activity from people users care about most, and the integration of relevant third party applications will allow users to be more productive, all from within their inbox. The Yahoo! Mail smarter inbox is the company's largest-scale implementation of the Y!OS initiative to-date.
- My Yahoo! - Beginning today, My Yahoo! users can enhance their personal start pages by adding applications created by third-party developers. Built using the Yahoo! Application Platform, these interactive "apps" will range from productivity tools to games, and will infuse My Yahoo! with new social relevance. Also being launched today, a new My Yahoo! Theme API lets third-party designers create and share their own look and feel for My Yahoo! pages, giving users access to an even wider range of creative backgrounds and styles.
- Yahoo! Toolbar - Available for a sneak preview later this week at toolbar.yahoo.com, the new Yahoo! Toolbar will provide constant access to essential online tasks and up-to-the-minute news from the sources that matter most. Features of the new Toolbar that will rollout to users next year include:
- Apps for checking new emails from Yahoo! and other popular Web-based email providers, monitoring or searching for items on eBay, and finding local movie showtimes.
- Alerts that notify a user about Updates from their personal connections - including their friends' recent activity across the Yahoo! network and eventually, elsewhere on the Web.
- Personal search suggestions that surface the sites a user has visited and provide vertical search results directly from the Toolbar.
- Yahoo! Updates - In addition to surfacing friend updates in the new Yahoo! Toolbar and Mail, Yahoo! will begin sharing relevant updates within Yahoo! Music and Yahoo! TV. Yahoo! Updates enable Yahoo! users to have visibility into the online activities of their connections across the Yahoo! network, such as a recently Buzzed article, a hotel review in Yahoo! Travel, adding a new app to My Yahoo!, or a rating on Yahoo! TV. Earlier this fall, Yahoo! began displaying activity updates in Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Buzz, and will include activity updates from other social sites across the Web in the coming months. The Yahoo! Updates platform is also available as an open API, allowing any site on the Web to submit activities into it.
"Yahoo Mail is what we consider a key starting point on the Web. It’s got 275 million monthly global users," said John Kremer, vice president of Yahoo Mail. "We really believe opening up Yahoo Mail will have a game-changing influence on the industry," Kremer said. Developers with Monday's rollout gain access to documentation and guidelines for building applications that run on the new mail canvas, according to Yahoo.
A limited beta testing program has started for bringing in third-party applications into Yahoo Mail. Users will be able to access these applications from within the Yahoo Mail interface. Initial applications include Family Journal, for building a family tree; Flickr, for photo-sharing; Flixster, for sharing movie show times; WordPress, for posting photos and links to a WordPress blog; Xoopit, for sharing photos stored in e-mail, and Yahoo Greetings, to send e-cards.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Adobe, Google and Yahoo Team Up For Easier Flash Search
Adobe has agreed to work with Google and Yahoo to make it easier for search engines to index more content built with its Flash software. Previously, Google and Yahoo could only index text and links in Flash animations and applications. Now, with some "optimized Adobe Flash Player technology," they'll be able to "uncover information" in Flash files "that is currently undiscoverable by search engines."
The project will enable searches on Flash content to return text and links, which can then be indexed, and hence available in search results for the users. Content from a Flash application or even a game or advertisement will be available to search engines, reports InfoWorld. Pages containing a Flash .SWF file will be returned in a search.
As for images and videos we are still out of luck. From Google's own description: "If your Flash files only include images, we will not recognize or index any text that may appear in those images. Similarly, we do not generate any anchor text for Flash buttons which target some URL, but which have no associated text. Also note that we do not index FLV files, such as the videos that play on YouTube, because these files contain no text elements."
So far Adobe has decided to provide the optimized Adobe Flash Player technology only for Google and Yahoo, which means that other organizations that are providing search services such as Microsoft’s Live Search or Ask.com won’t be able to index the dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications (RIAs).
Speculation around the web is that Microsoft, the number three search engine in the world, was snubbed due to their Silverlight technology. Silverlight has been viewed as a competitor to Adobe's flash.
Source: Adobe Press Room
“Until now it has been extremely challenging to search the millions of RIAs and dynamic content on the Web, so we are leading the charge in improving search of content that runs in Adobe Flash Player,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are initially working with Google and Yahoo! to significantly improve search of this rich content on the Web, and we intend to broaden the availability of this capability to benefit all content publishers, developers and end users.”
The project will enable searches on Flash content to return text and links, which can then be indexed, and hence available in search results for the users. Content from a Flash application or even a game or advertisement will be available to search engines, reports InfoWorld. Pages containing a Flash .SWF file will be returned in a search.As for images and videos we are still out of luck. From Google's own description: "If your Flash files only include images, we will not recognize or index any text that may appear in those images. Similarly, we do not generate any anchor text for Flash buttons which target some URL, but which have no associated text. Also note that we do not index FLV files, such as the videos that play on YouTube, because these files contain no text elements."
So far Adobe has decided to provide the optimized Adobe Flash Player technology only for Google and Yahoo, which means that other organizations that are providing search services such as Microsoft’s Live Search or Ask.com won’t be able to index the dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications (RIAs).
Speculation around the web is that Microsoft, the number three search engine in the world, was snubbed due to their Silverlight technology. Silverlight has been viewed as a competitor to Adobe's flash.
Source: Adobe Press Room
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Yahoo Teaming Up With AOL? Microsoft to Team With News Corp?
Yahoo Inc appears to be running out of alternatives to accepting Microsoft's takeover offer, or is it. According to Reuters Yahoo is closing in on a deal with Time Warner's AOL unit. In the mean time News Corp is reportedly considering joining Microsoft in a bid for Yahoo a combination which would bring together three of the biggest Web site publishers on the Internet: Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and News Corp's MySpace
Reports on any plans from the Microsoft were sketchy to say the least, so its on exactly how any of the deals might be structured. However the article says the Yahoo's talks with Time Warner are nearing an agreement. The deal would see Time Warner adding AOL's business, excluding its legacy dial-up Internet access operations, into a combined Yahoo company. Yahoo would receive cash from Time Warner in exchange for 20 percent of a combined Yahoo-AOL, the source said.
The Wall Street Journal cited sources saying Yahoo would use the Time Warner cash and other funds to buy back several billion dollars worth of Yahoo stock at a price somewhere in the middle of the range between $30 and $40 a share.
To add yet another wrinkle to the equation Reuters also reports Yahoo is going to begin testing the use of Google search ads. A move which Microsoft claims is anti-competitive. In a statement, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said "Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search advertising market in Google's hands" thus creating a virtual stranglehold on the advertising market.
Reports on any plans from the Microsoft were sketchy to say the least, so its on exactly how any of the deals might be structured. However the article says the Yahoo's talks with Time Warner are nearing an agreement. The deal would see Time Warner adding AOL's business, excluding its legacy dial-up Internet access operations, into a combined Yahoo company. Yahoo would receive cash from Time Warner in exchange for 20 percent of a combined Yahoo-AOL, the source said.
The Wall Street Journal cited sources saying Yahoo would use the Time Warner cash and other funds to buy back several billion dollars worth of Yahoo stock at a price somewhere in the middle of the range between $30 and $40 a share.
To add yet another wrinkle to the equation Reuters also reports Yahoo is going to begin testing the use of Google search ads. A move which Microsoft claims is anti-competitive. In a statement, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said "Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search advertising market in Google's hands" thus creating a virtual stranglehold on the advertising market.
Monday, March 10, 2008
News Corp Not Interested In Yahoo
According to Reuters media mogul Rupert Murdoch has said News Corp would not get into a fight with Microsoft Corp over Yahoo Inc.
"We're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, which has a lot more money than us," Murdoch told investors at the annual Bear Stearns media conference.
It looks as though Yahoo will have to look elsewhere for salvation. Yahoo has been seeking to block Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid and possible hostile take over attempts.
"We're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, which has a lot more money than us," Murdoch told investors at the annual Bear Stearns media conference.
It looks as though Yahoo will have to look elsewhere for salvation. Yahoo has been seeking to block Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid and possible hostile take over attempts.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
FireFox add-ons may open doors to hackers
The majority of Firefox extensions are hosted and updated from Mozilla's own SSL-secured site and are not vulnerable to this attack. However a number of broadly used third-party extensions, including Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, Del.icio.us Extension, Facebook Toolbar, AOL Toolbar, Ask.com Toolbar, Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar and PhishTank SiteChecker are among the at-risk add-ons that update from their own unsecured servers.
Christopher Soghoian, a Ph.D. student at Indiana University, outlined how "man in the middle" attackers, especially in public wireless networks, could disguise malware as a Firefox extension and surreptitiously plant their code in lieu of a normal update to one of the vulnerable extensions.
"It's sort of a compounding of errors," Soghoian said. "Mozilla didn't tell developers that they should update from a secure link; they erred in assuming everyone would know to do that. But the add-on developers are at fault for not using a secure server."
"It was really frustrating. Firefox was fantastic, but some of the other firms, they either ignored my e-mails or didn't reply," Soghoian said. He fingered Google Inc. as especially uncooperative. Between April 16 and May 24, he sent Google's security team five e-mails but received only one reply, on May 25, that said the group was working on a fix that was to be deployed before today. As of today, however, Google Toolbar was being served from an unsecured URL.
"This was really eye-opening," said Soghoian, who interned with Google's Application Security Team last summer.
"Vendors should be doing everything possible to encourage researchers," he said. "They should be encouraging us to come to them rather than sell the vulnerabilities to iDefense or Tipping Point. Ignoring researchers isn't the best way to encourage an open dialog."
Soghoian recommended that until affected extension vendors release secure updates, users should either remove or disable all Firefox extensions and toolbars that have not been downloaded from the official Mozilla Add-Ons site.
In an e-mail today, Mozilla's director of ecosystem development, Mike Shaver, acknowledged the danger that insecurely hosted and updated add-ons pose, and he urged extension developers to fix the problem.
"We strongly encourage the providers of such add-ons to remedy their hosting situation promptly to minimize the exposure to the users of their software," Shaver said. "Users of add-ons hosted on AMO, including all of the ones we've been working on, are not at risk here."
On another note Mozilla released 6 new patches for FireFox today. The updates bring the current browser to Version 2.0.0.4, and the 2005 edition to 1.5.0.12. Firefox 2.0.0.4 can be downloaded from the Mozilla Web site for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux; Firefox 1.5.0.12, meanwhile, is available from a different page. Current users can also update using the Check for Updates command in the help menu.
Christopher Soghoian, a Ph.D. student at Indiana University, outlined how "man in the middle" attackers, especially in public wireless networks, could disguise malware as a Firefox extension and surreptitiously plant their code in lieu of a normal update to one of the vulnerable extensions.
"It's sort of a compounding of errors," Soghoian said. "Mozilla didn't tell developers that they should update from a secure link; they erred in assuming everyone would know to do that. But the add-on developers are at fault for not using a secure server."
"It was really frustrating. Firefox was fantastic, but some of the other firms, they either ignored my e-mails or didn't reply," Soghoian said. He fingered Google Inc. as especially uncooperative. Between April 16 and May 24, he sent Google's security team five e-mails but received only one reply, on May 25, that said the group was working on a fix that was to be deployed before today. As of today, however, Google Toolbar was being served from an unsecured URL.
"This was really eye-opening," said Soghoian, who interned with Google's Application Security Team last summer.
"Vendors should be doing everything possible to encourage researchers," he said. "They should be encouraging us to come to them rather than sell the vulnerabilities to iDefense or Tipping Point. Ignoring researchers isn't the best way to encourage an open dialog."
Soghoian recommended that until affected extension vendors release secure updates, users should either remove or disable all Firefox extensions and toolbars that have not been downloaded from the official Mozilla Add-Ons site.
In an e-mail today, Mozilla's director of ecosystem development, Mike Shaver, acknowledged the danger that insecurely hosted and updated add-ons pose, and he urged extension developers to fix the problem.
"We strongly encourage the providers of such add-ons to remedy their hosting situation promptly to minimize the exposure to the users of their software," Shaver said. "Users of add-ons hosted on AMO, including all of the ones we've been working on, are not at risk here."
On another note Mozilla released 6 new patches for FireFox today. The updates bring the current browser to Version 2.0.0.4, and the 2005 edition to 1.5.0.12. Firefox 2.0.0.4 can be downloaded from the Mozilla Web site for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux; Firefox 1.5.0.12, meanwhile, is available from a different page. Current users can also update using the Check for Updates command in the help menu.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Yahoo shuting down popular services
Yahoo Inc. has told users it will shut down its North American Web auction site. Just last week they announced plans to shut down Yahoo Photos in June, asking users to move to Yahoo's Web 2.0 photo sharing site, Flickr.
According to a message posted on the Yahoo Auctions site at auctions.yahoo.com, the service will no longer accept new auction lists from June 3. The last day to bid or buy goods and services on the auction site is June 16.
The latest closure applies to Yahoo's U.S. and Canadian auction sites. Yahoo auction sites in three Asian markets—Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan will remain open.
"After careful consideration, we have decided to close down our Yahoo US and Canada Auction sites to better serve our valued customers through other Yahoo properties," the U.S. auctions site told visitors on Tuesday.
Yahoo continues to offering a range of U.S. e-commerce sites, including ones for shopping, auto sales, classified advertising and small business.
On Friday, Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo's Network Division, said in a company statement: "We are making great strides in our ongoing efforts to align Yahoo's resources and focus on core strategic priorities."
According to audience measurement firm comScore Inc., online auction leader eBay Inc. accounted for more than 94 percent of online auctions activity among U.S. Web users last week. Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc.'s U.S. auction site accounted for one-third of a percentage point, while Yahoo's auctions held only an 0.2 percent share.
"It comes with little surprise given Yahoo's advertising relationship with eBay, and eBay's massive dominance of the auction category," Hitwise research director LeeAnn Prescott wrote in a blog post.
A year ago, eBay and Yahoo announced a strategic alliance to cooperate on a range of services in their core U.S markets.
As of Friday, May 4, 2007 certain Yahoo auction features were discontinued. A limited set of customer service features and account tools will be available through October 29.
According to a message posted on the Yahoo Auctions site at auctions.yahoo.com, the service will no longer accept new auction lists from June 3. The last day to bid or buy goods and services on the auction site is June 16.
The latest closure applies to Yahoo's U.S. and Canadian auction sites. Yahoo auction sites in three Asian markets—Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan will remain open.
"After careful consideration, we have decided to close down our Yahoo US and Canada Auction sites to better serve our valued customers through other Yahoo properties," the U.S. auctions site told visitors on Tuesday.
Yahoo continues to offering a range of U.S. e-commerce sites, including ones for shopping, auto sales, classified advertising and small business.
On Friday, Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo's Network Division, said in a company statement: "We are making great strides in our ongoing efforts to align Yahoo's resources and focus on core strategic priorities."
According to audience measurement firm comScore Inc., online auction leader eBay Inc. accounted for more than 94 percent of online auctions activity among U.S. Web users last week. Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc.'s U.S. auction site accounted for one-third of a percentage point, while Yahoo's auctions held only an 0.2 percent share.
"It comes with little surprise given Yahoo's advertising relationship with eBay, and eBay's massive dominance of the auction category," Hitwise research director LeeAnn Prescott wrote in a blog post.
A year ago, eBay and Yahoo announced a strategic alliance to cooperate on a range of services in their core U.S markets.
As of Friday, May 4, 2007 certain Yahoo auction features were discontinued. A limited set of customer service features and account tools will be available through October 29.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
A More Personalized Internet?
Yahoo Pipes lets people make highly customized feeds that combine information from multiple sources and weed out the junk.
By Kate Greene
Last week, Yahoo announced the release of an early version of a tool designed to help users personalize the Internet. The tool, called Pipes, lets people combine all sorts of oft-updated Internet information, known as feeds. Pipes could, for instance, enable a feed that includes New York Times articles featuring the phrase "plasma TV," Flickr-posted pictures taken in a specific neighborhood, and traffic updates along a commute. So, instead of drowning in headlines from standard feed aggregators, the user gets information that is winnowed down and personal.
There are some early examples of Pipes on Yahoo's site. One allows a person to search for an apartment near "something," such as a park, library, or school. Another Pipe extracts keywords, such as "snow," from the New York Times news feed and displays Flickr photos that have a matching tag.
The basic idea behind Pipes, says Yahoo, is to give software developers and motivated nondevelopers a simple programming tool to mix and match collections of data on the Web, says Pasha Sadri, principal software engineer at Yahoo and developer of Pipes. "The goal of Pipes," he says, "is to significantly lower the barrier to writing simple applications by eliminating the need to write code and by hosting the application for you."
In fact, no knowledge of a programming language such as C++ or Java is needed to build a Pipe. When you begin to build a new Pipe, you select a set of programming instructions that are premade and packaged as an icon, called a module. A Pipe is made by dragging and dropping these modules, stringing them together, and adding a few extra instructions. A similar approach is employed to program Lego Mindstorm robots. "This simplifies the process and means that more people will be able to write programs for very specific tasks," says Sadri.
The tool consists of two major components: an interface, called an editor, where a Pipe is put together; and an execution engine that runs the Pipe instructions. Once a project is saved in the editor, the instructions are saved as a special kind of document on the engine. To run the Pipe, the engine reads the document and then accesses anywhere from dozens to hundreds of Web services--from feeds supplied by Craigslist to geography data on Yahoo Maps. To optimize the response time, says Sadri, the engine parallelizes as much of the execution as possible, breaking up the instructions into chunks that run simultaneously.
Almost immediately after its release, Pipes garnered a lot of attention from bloggers, software developers, and experts on Web-based applications. Perhaps the most glowing endorsement it received was from Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media, a computer-book, magazine, and online publisher. On his blog O'Reilly wrote that the tool is a "milestone in the history of the Internet." He added that while it's still a bit "rough around the edges," Pipes has "enormous potential to turn the Web into a programmable environment for everyone."
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By Kate Greene
Last week, Yahoo announced the release of an early version of a tool designed to help users personalize the Internet. The tool, called Pipes, lets people combine all sorts of oft-updated Internet information, known as feeds. Pipes could, for instance, enable a feed that includes New York Times articles featuring the phrase "plasma TV," Flickr-posted pictures taken in a specific neighborhood, and traffic updates along a commute. So, instead of drowning in headlines from standard feed aggregators, the user gets information that is winnowed down and personal.
There are some early examples of Pipes on Yahoo's site. One allows a person to search for an apartment near "something," such as a park, library, or school. Another Pipe extracts keywords, such as "snow," from the New York Times news feed and displays Flickr photos that have a matching tag.
The basic idea behind Pipes, says Yahoo, is to give software developers and motivated nondevelopers a simple programming tool to mix and match collections of data on the Web, says Pasha Sadri, principal software engineer at Yahoo and developer of Pipes. "The goal of Pipes," he says, "is to significantly lower the barrier to writing simple applications by eliminating the need to write code and by hosting the application for you."
In fact, no knowledge of a programming language such as C++ or Java is needed to build a Pipe. When you begin to build a new Pipe, you select a set of programming instructions that are premade and packaged as an icon, called a module. A Pipe is made by dragging and dropping these modules, stringing them together, and adding a few extra instructions. A similar approach is employed to program Lego Mindstorm robots. "This simplifies the process and means that more people will be able to write programs for very specific tasks," says Sadri.
The tool consists of two major components: an interface, called an editor, where a Pipe is put together; and an execution engine that runs the Pipe instructions. Once a project is saved in the editor, the instructions are saved as a special kind of document on the engine. To run the Pipe, the engine reads the document and then accesses anywhere from dozens to hundreds of Web services--from feeds supplied by Craigslist to geography data on Yahoo Maps. To optimize the response time, says Sadri, the engine parallelizes as much of the execution as possible, breaking up the instructions into chunks that run simultaneously.
Almost immediately after its release, Pipes garnered a lot of attention from bloggers, software developers, and experts on Web-based applications. Perhaps the most glowing endorsement it received was from Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media, a computer-book, magazine, and online publisher. On his blog O'Reilly wrote that the tool is a "milestone in the history of the Internet." He added that while it's still a bit "rough around the edges," Pipes has "enormous potential to turn the Web into a programmable environment for everyone."
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