Bye bye Beta – Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 launches

Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 has officially launched as our newest version for Windows XP and Vista. If you’ve been following along and trying our Beta versions, here’s a quick list of what’s new in this final release:

- Pingbox™: Introducing Yahoo! Messenger Pingbox, a new application that once embedded into your blog, website or social network page, lets visitors IM you anonymously (or they can identify themselves) without needing to download or even sign into Yahoo! Messenger. The good news is you’re anonymous too; visitors to your page never see your Yahoo! ID. Pingbox is great for giving your site/page/profile visitors a quick way to chat with you. I’ll do a full post on Pingbox later but in the meantime, go create your own custom Pingbox.

- New skins: Three new skins (Silver, Ruby Red, Mystic Black) bring the total count to twelve.

- Return of the (original) emoticons: Based on a ton of feedback from users, we politely escorted the larger emoticons from the premises and brought back the smaller, original designs.

- Ignore list enhancements: This feature had become a litte buggy, so we fixed it in this release. The “ignore anyone not on my Messenger List” option won’t affect messages when you’re in a chat room, but it continues to apply to IMs.

If you’re brand new to Yahoo! Messenger 9.0, here’s a list of all the other great features it offers:

- Inline video & picture viewer: When a friend sends you a video link from a site like YouTube or a link to an online photo, they will show up right in your IM conversation. For videos, a full player appears; just click the play button to watch it right it in your IM window.

- New emoticons inspired by our users: Last summer we held a contest inviting our users to submit ideas for new emoticons. Six of them made the cut: thumbs up, thumbs down, “It wasn’t me!”, hurry up, rock on!, and “Don’t want to see!!”.

- Import Contacts wizard: Add friends to your Yahoo! Messenger contact list from address books you have on other online services like Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Orkut…over twenty services in all.

- Yahoo! Updates: Keep up with your friends by checking their updates alongside their names in your contact list. If they Buzz up a story, update their profile on MyBlogLog or change their Avatar, you’ll know about it.

- Call forwarding & new voicemail delivery: Now you can forward incoming calls from Yahoo! Messenger to your mobile or regular phone (Phone Out account required). We’ve reworked voicemail too; new voicemails are delivered as MP3 attachments to the email address you specify.

- Yahoo! Games are back: Just click the “Activities” button in the IM window to choose a game to play with a friend. Toki Toki Boom anyone?

- Changes to the look and feel: In addition to new features, we also reworked the status message menu, making it easier to share custom messages and web links. We also added two views for your contact list – detailed (larger display images, full status with updates) or compact (smaller images, one-line name and status). To change the contact list view, click the menu button to the right of the contact search bar.

Thanks to all the users who participated in the 9.0 Beta program. Your feedback was invaluable in helping us fix bugs and improve the product. But don’t stop now – we still want to hear your feedback! Stop by our feedback form anytime to let us know your thoughts on this final version of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.

Download Yahoo! Messenger 9.0

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager “

Source: http://www.ymessengerblog.com/

Reaction Post (Chapter 8)

In the 8_th Chapter of the Getting Real E-Book, it tells readers how to do Staffing. The readers which is mostly web developers needs to understand how to pick someone who will be on their team.

It is said in the E-Book that web developers should Hire less and hire later which means that they should keep their teams as small as possible. Having a compact and agile team will help the web developers organize their work much easier and it will also make them flexible which is a great advantage.

Then web developers should kick the tires or in other words they should test the capabilities of the person they want to hire first before actually hiring them officially. Testing the applicants will let the employers know what are the capabilities of the applicant have because due in time the applicant will work with the team which will make or break the performance of the team.

It is then said that web developers should gauge the person they will employ through their passion about working in the team and finishing the project. A passionate employee will be a great asset because the performance that person will imply will help out the team due in time. Employees who perform actions, not words are just some of the characteristics of a great web developer.

Then it is said that in staffing, people should choose the person with flexibility or get well rounded individuals. Web developers who are flexible can change different works in the internet. A programmer with design experience, a designer with development experience, and the like are just some of the examples of people having the flexibility to work in different jobs.

After this, it is then said that you can’t fake enthusiasm which means that an enthusiastic employee is someone who is very interested about the projects or works that needs to be done. An employee which keeps asking questions about the job is a great example of an enthusiastic employee that web developers should hire.

Finally, it is said that web developers should hire wordsmiths. Wordsmiths are people who are good in writing. A good wordsmith has an organized mind, and having an organized mind is a great asset in making projects.

Reaction Post (Chapter 7)

The 7_th Chapter of the Getting Real E-Book talks about The Organization, it tells the readers that when developing web applications, people shouldn’t split into groups because it will only cause mayhem and disorganization. Web developers should have unity which will help them have an organized plan or layout for the project.

Then it is said that web developers should have a time alone for them to get into the so called Zone. This alone zone is where people concentrate fiercely losing track of everything around them, The focus that people get in the ‘flow’ is the most productive time for web developers.

Then web developers should avoid meetings because it is said in the E-Book that “Meetings are toxic“. It is said toxic because it poisons the time that web developers have. Instead of having a time for making real work, they are forced to listen to some people which sometimes doesn’t make any sense which is time consuming and useless.

It is also said that web developers should “Seek and celebrate small victories“. It basically means that motivation runs the entire project. Without motivation, web developers wouldn’t produce a great product that will have a huge impact on the end users. They might produce a project that will suck and be an equal to trash.

Reaction Post (Chapter 6)

In the 6_th Chapter of the Getting Real E-Book it discusses about Process, through this I have learned that when making a web application we should rush things up and make something real. Getting something real up and running quickly is one of the things that the writer of the book wants web application developers to do.

Racing to running software is usually much effective rather than taking it slow and missing deadlines. It is much advisable to skip the details and other flashy ideas when making a web application to develop a web app because minding those things would just slow down the development process.

It is said in the book that web developers should rinse and repeat, which means that developers shouldn’t worry about making mistakes because almost all projects have mistakes. Mistakes are things that people worry so much about but they shouldn’t because from mistakes comes a solution and from solution comes innovation. Through mistakes a much better idea would come out and can revolutionize the project.

After this, developers should base their projects from ideas to implementation. They should brainstorm first to have a base knowledge about the project, then those knowledge or ideas are then placed on paper sketches to have an organize plan. Having this plan, they can then create HTML Screens to put their ideas on the computer and up and running in the web. Then finally, they should code it. Coding it will put the dot in the so called sentence of the project.

With the project running, the developers should avoid preferences to give the customers an easy time using the web application. Adding preferences on a project is giving the customers the decision on what they want which some customers doesn’t like because it it much time consuming. Developers should just make a firm decision and let the customers comment or suggest on it and then make the changes if possible.

Finishing a part of the project is such a great thing, hearing the word “Done!” is such a relief. Developers should always strive to hear this word and not worry too much about the mistakes that might popout. Mistakes and changes are always a part of a project.

Testing the web application in the wild is advisable because it lets developers know what the customers think about the project. The comments and suggestions that the customers might give would give the developers an idea on how to improve the project.

And finally, when making a web application project, developers should shrink their time. It means that when developing web applications, developers should always think that they only have no more time to work. They should rush things up and make a running application right away and worry about the details and features later on.

Reaction Post (Chapter 5)

When i read the 5_th Chapter of the Getting Real Book called Feature Selection, i understood how a product should be made. It shouldn’t be just great ideas linked together because doing so will only produce a product which is not needed by the clients. When making a web application, we should stick to what’s essential and list which are the things really needed in the web application. A simple web application can grow in time and soon can be updated with newer features. As it is said on the book, when building a web application it is better to build a “half a product, not a half-assed product“.

Then on the next topic, it is said that It just doesn’t matter meaning that we should only leave out the essentials only when doing web applications. We shouldn’t think of the things that are not essential at first because it is said that it just won’t matter at all. Putting additional flashy features wouldn’t make anything great when starting up a web application. Flashy things and features aren’t essential on a new born web application. The time allocated at placing the flashy features would just be a waste of time rather than just putting the essential ones which is time efficient.

Then the book says that we should Start with no, which means that everytime a feature comes along and presents itself, web application developers should not always agree to it because it is flashy. It should take some time or let the feature prove itself first before it even gets the chance to even be placed in the web application. This is also essential because saying yes to a feature means that that feature should be placed in a lot of stages and will cost time and effort. It would undergo design, implementation, tests, managements, development, and the like which may just waste time and money. Only the most crucial features must be placed in the web application.

After this, it is said that we should know the hidden costs of a new feature. Which means that we should see if the product poses a feature loop or in other words, the feature would have the opportunity to lead to other features. Deep evaluation should be performed first to determine the importance or effectiveness of a new feature.

Then we should ask ourselves Can we handle it?, we should ask ourselves this question when implementing a feature. We should know if we can manage the things that we put in our web application before implementing it. Sustaining and managing the features is very essential for a successful web application.

We should then believe in Human Solutions, which means that we should give the users the chance to let their ideas run wild and let them fix the problems themselves. It is much effective to let the users solve their problems rather than helping them and take some time doing it without any improvements.

Web application developers should Forget feature requests because customers requests additional features all the time. If a web application developer would consider even one, it would overwhelm them and might create a new problem for the web developer. The requests of the customers would just pop out again and again if it is really essential and then the web developer should reconsider the feature. Web developers shouldn’t give out to the overwhelming requests of features of the customers.

Then finally, it said that web application developers should Hold the mayo, which means that we should also ask the customers what they don’t want. We should query them about what are the things that are bothering them the most and do something about it. We should also count in the customer’s ideas sometimes because after all, the web application that would be developed would be for them too.

Reaction Post (Chapter 4)

The 4_th Chapter of Getting Real is Priorities, it was said that when making an application we should focus on our vision or target. As stated on the book “What’s the big idea?”, we should know why we did the application and what it is for. We should have a vision on what will happen to our application and what we want the customers to think and do to it.

Then while we are developing the application, we should then Ignore details early on to avoid difficulties that would may cause a lot of disasters in the coming future. Details can be made at the end of the application and making the application up and running is much important compared to the flashy details and features.

Then we should not fix any problems as long as it doesn’t pose a threat to the application. It’s a problem when it’s a problem as the author of the book says. We shouldn’t waste any time to fix premature problems because we should put our focus to those which presents danger or risk on the present.

Then it was said that we should Hire the right customers. When making an application, we should know the core market for the project that is being done and focus on pleasing them rather than pleasing everyone. Pleasing everyone is almost impossible because there would always be someone to criticize and say something bad about something. Nasty little bastards. But these criticism would help us see what we can do to improve our application.

Then it is said that we should Scale later which means we shouldn’t worry about having too much clients that it will pose a threat due to mass trafficking. It wouldn’t be a problem at first because starting an application doesn’t mean that everyone in the world would know about it and everyone would just look on the application all at the same time. That is why we should choose the core markets and let only them at first know about the new application. Having these core markets would help build a foundation for the application.

Then finally, it was said that Make opinionated software which means we should have a vision and let that vision be the basis or foundation of the application. We should careless about those people who wouldn’t share our vision, we should only worry about those who share our vision. We should not please someone who we know we couldn’t please or is difficult to please because we shouldn’t waste our time doing so. All we have to do is to stick to our vision and let anyone who wants to follow, follow.

Reaction Post (Chapter 3)

The 3_rd chapter, Stay Lean, discusses how to maintain the application easily. It is said that we should have Less mass. In other words, the leaner the application is, the easier it is for us to change it.

Then we should Lower the cost of change because we should stay flexible by reducing the obstacles to change the application. Having a smaller application will produce less cost compared to a bigger application in terms of change.

It is then said that we should have The Three Musketeers, or we should have a good developer, designer, and a sweeper.

We should then Embrace the constraints for us to let the limitations guide us to a creative solution for a problem. A constraint shouldn’t be something to be scared of or to be run away from but it should be something we should use as an inspiration to resolve the problem.

Then finally, it is said the we should Be ourselves. We should be friendly and personal compared to a bigger company to have greater relations to the customer. The customers should be prioritized because they are one of the causes of the company or application.

Shopify: paulshop.myshopify.com

The website shopify helps us understand how E-Commerce work and how to properly manage it. We had created our own shopify account and placed different kinds of products. You can access my personal shopify through this link (paulshop.myshopify.com). This is also a way for us to be creative in designing and managing our own shopify account.

Through this, we can really understand what E-Commerce is really about. With also the help of our Professor David Quitoriano, we can really be consistent and productive in E-Commerce.

Reaction Post (Chapter 1 & 2)

I have read the E-Book called Getting Real, on the 1_st Chapter, it is said that Getting Real is about building a faster and smaller software. One of the objectives of Getting Real is to build a small but agile software which in other words is easy to maintain and is direct to the point. There is a small team which is called 37signals which creates simple and focused software. The software they had created is very helpful to people who are under E-Commerce and other technological jobs. The software that they had produced are called Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List, and the Ruby on Rails. These software has revolutionized the way people manage their jobs.

The 2_nd chapter, The Starting Line, discusses how to create a manageable and easy to understand web application. It is said that we should Build Less, which means that we should do less than the other competitors. We shouldn’t follow the leader but we should create something unique. We should then know What our problems are, which means we should know the things which poses as a threat to the web application and try to fix it personally and passionately. Then we should Fund ourselves, we shouldn’t acquire money from investors because as a starter, our income cannot cope up with the money we borrowed from the investors. That is why we should fund the application personally to avoid problems. We then should Fix the time and budget, Flex the scope. This means that we should launch on time and on budget because it is much better to make a half a product than a half-assed product. In other words, quality is much important than production. Then we should have an enemy or have a competitor to assess our own product quality by comparing it to theirs. We should then make the application as easy as possible and to avoid it being a chore. We should keep it small and manageable for convenience.

First Bloog!

What the Blog!

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