My Yahoo! Blog

New on My Yahoo! for November

The leaves’ color transforms to an autumn palette as the brisk cool breeze sweeps through Silicon Valley… change is in the air and My Yahoo! is no exception. Below are some recent changes on My Yahoo!… and yes, preview on the Mail Preview app is back!

First off, we’ve improved the speed of the page by about 500 milliseconds (1/2 a second). This performance improvement may not seem like much, but if you are coming back to the site a few times a day and so is everyone else that uses My Yahoo!, we are literally saving all our visitors over 300,000 minutes every day!

We have a new comics App by GoComics that will give you easy access to dozens of comics. Save a few of your favorites and check them out every day.

There is now an updated design for the Mail app that mimics the layout found on the Yahoo! homepage. We originally had removed the hover preview feature (hover your mouse over an email and get a preview of the message) but have now put it back. Thanks for all the feedback letting us know how important that feature is to you. We actually have several new features coming soon that should make this even better… but that is a secret for now.

If you have ever saved multiple locations on the Yahoo! network used to get weather data, they were not all recognized by My Yahoo!. We have merged all of these so that you now have one saved weather location repository. You can check it out on the Weather app.

We’ve also fixed several bugs and minor issues… the link in the TV Listings App for changing your time zone is fixed. Just click on “Options” and select “Settings” then click on the “change” link. The local news feeds that started showing stale data should be fixed now. The Fantasy Sports App should be more reliable and stable.

Lastly, we’ve been shutting down some old content delivery mechanisms. We have replaced the old feeds with news ones. As a side effect, you may see a duplicate of a feed on your page. If this happens, simply click on the “Options” menu and select “Remove” to delete the duplicate.

Apps showcased in this post:
- Add GoComics
- Add Mail Preview
- Add Weather
- Add TV Listings
- Add Fantasy Sports

That’s it for now. I’ll leave you with me singing and dancing about Yahoo! with Kimberly Caldwell of American Idol.

Michael
- My Yahoo! Team Lead

It’s Y!ou

Your comments and suggestions make My Yahoo! better. We read your comments here on the blog and find some really great ideas! Here is a list of some new features launching in October on My Yahoo! all designed for you:

• Email preview apps will show more of the sender and subject lines
• Weather locations you saved on other Yahoo! sites will merge into one Weather app
• The Fantasy Sports app will be improved
• An updated version of Comics app will be available
• Your page will be faster and more responsive

For those of you that have been with My Yahoo! for awhile know how it gradually becomes a reflection of you. By adding your favorite content, you construct the ultimate morning paper…the personalized daily digest…a comfortable controlled environment…it’s the Web by you, for you

Here at My Yahoo!, we have one goal: to help you get the most from the Web. We’re constantly working to build new ways that allow you to find what you want and bring together your world and the world around you. With all the modules and content that exists in My Yahoo!, we want to help you manage this world of information, resources, and communities in a simple, easy to use page.

In the spirit of a Yahoo! that is built for you, by you, Yahoo! is launching a global marketing campaign all about…you! You can see how it’s all coming together on our campaign website. Be sure to check out the new features across Yahoo! that make the internet yours.

We take pride in our mission and have you, our loyal My Yahoo! fans, to thank for making our job so enjoyable.

- My Yahoo! Team

A sneaky, fun way to learn something new.

I’m one of those people who gets excited by the idea of a new experience (like growing giant pumpkins, learning Mandarin, or knitting a cardigan) but who completely ignores how busy my life is already. My Yahoo! offers a wonderfully simple an effective way to slowly but surely learn a new skill with dozens of “A day” feeds.

One of the coolest and easiest examples of this is Spanish Word a Day which just gives you the word in both Spanish and English. Something about the pace of one word a day is both slow enough to actually retain the vocabulary and powerful that in a month or so you can actually accumulate some real knowledge.

Along similar lines but with a creative twist is 10 Random Words a Day which is exactly what the name describes. You won’t remember all the words, but if you just remember the meaning of exauthorize then your glance at the daily list is worthwhile.

Want book reviews daily from one of the greatest bookstores in the U.S.? How about a gardening question every 24 hours? How about the crazy things that happened in history today?

If what you need are dumb and geeky jokes, you can always check out Star Wars Joke-a-Day.

To add all of the above suggestions, simply click here. Or, to find more feeds like these, go to the “Add Content” bar at the top of your My Yahoo! page, and type “a day” into the search box. The possibilities are as numerous as the days ahead.

Modules showcased in this post:
- Add Spanish Word a Day
- Add 10 Words a Day
- Add Book Reviews Daily
- Add Gardening Question of the Days
- Add This Day in History
- Add Star Wars Joke-A-Day

- Jay
My Yahoo! Editorial

How green are you?

My awareness of green initiatives and eco-friendly lifestyles has grown significantly in the last few years. One of the most effective education tools I’ve seen for this topic is surfacing interesting facts and familiar ratios. For example, a coffee mug with “60.5 billion liters” printed on one side, and “Water saved in one year if everyone in the U.S. stopped using paper coffee cups*” printed on the other. Cool huh? Well, now you can have tips and information like this on your My Yahoo! page.

With the Green Lifestyle App, you’ll get daily “Green Facts.” These tidbits will make you the enviro-expert amongst your friends. Also, enjoy the “Daily Quiz” and challenge your friends; mine are just starting so I’m off to an early lead!

My favorite feature is you can actually plant a tree right from the App! This App was created through a partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme and Mokugift, allowing you to plant trees for friends or for a cause. You get to select how many trees you want (they’re $1 each) and where the tree will be planted. Chose from a list of 11 countries in Africa, Central America, and Asia. When you select a location, the App will give you information about your area: number of trees needed, number planted, etc.

So what are you waiting for?! Add the Green Lifestyle App to your page and make a difference with My Yahoo!…your friends will be green with envy, so to speak .

Adam
- My Yahoo! Marketing

*Figure from www.papercalculator.org

What’s new on My Yahoo!?

We’ve launched the new version of the Today App that we told you about a few days ago. This App updates constantly throughout the day so check back often to stay on top of what’s going on in the world. Add it to your page now.

The new Today App changes the number of stories it displays based on the column width the App is in. Remember, you can adjust the column width with column sliders.

We have also added a “My Yahoo! Updates” link into the header of the page. This will help you stay informed about new My Yahoo! features, blog updates, and more!

For those of you with Yahoo! email accounts, your Yahoo! Mail Preview App has a handy new link on it: Compose (you’ve been asking for this one for awhile). Add it now!

That’s it for now. More new features coming soon!

Michael
- My Yahoo! Team Lead