Yahoo releases the next big update to their popular instant messenger application. This new Yahoo! Messenger 9 comes with some great new features and a brand new look. This of course is a beta so some bugs are expected, I have just downloaded my copy and I will be putting it through the ringer over the next couple weeks. I have listed some of the new features according to the Yahoo! Messenger blog.
It has come to my attention that there is a new Yahoo! Chat exploit in the wild, this exploit consists of injecting YMSG protocol bits into the location section of a yahoo profile.There are a few variations currently circulating, one which would add an aditional name to the room, and another that would remove the chat text completely.
Yahoo! has been notified, and I would expect a patch soon (within 72 hours)
Co-founder Jerry Yang made a blog post on Yahoo! official blog basically stating that Yahoo! will start to move in a new direction. And with this direction it appears that Yahoo! will be merging the not so popular 360 platform to a more integrated profile. In my opinion it is seriously about time,they started to merge the other various Yahoo! properties together, especially those concerning the Yahoo! community.
I would love to see them expand their profile to encompass Answers and even their new social networking platform Mash which is still in private beta. Although I do have a Mash account I have not really used it, the idea of letting other people mess with your page is the only real drawback for me on it (although I believe you can stop that.)
This is what was posted on the 360 blog:
I have just finished updating the Display Image Grabber I made a year or so ago. This program will allow you to download and view anyones Display Image. You do not need to have them on your buddy list, open an instant message or anything. You can now download, view and save anyones display image.
The Yahoo! Messenger Vista team have been listening to your feedback and have responded with a blog entry. Josh the senior product manager of the Vista team has given a bit of a weather report regarding some of the features they have been working on. And as always they are encouraging more feedback and ideas.
There was apparently a mishap with the folks over at Yahoo! and our status messages were only allowed to have 40 characters. They are currently fixing the problem and we will have the full 250 characters back shortly.