a blog by Ian Kennedy
So if Microsoft and Yahoo are cross-linking their two IM networks and now AOL and Microsoft are set to announce a link up on Monday, does that mean that someone with Microsoft Messenger may be able to see both the AOL and Yahoo IM networks?
We’ll have to wait for the conference call on Monday.
If you’re interested in reading up on what Yahoo! is thinking about, I encourage you to read these three pieces,
I know it’s a bit rah, rah about my employer but I hope, after reading these, you get a sense of how exciting it is to be in the thick of things. As I talk to people around this company, the energy level and optimism of what can be built to improve the user experience is palpable.
Via the New York Times, Yahoo and TiVo announce that TiVo users will soon be able to access Yahoo information (Weather, Traffic) and Yahoo users will have shortcut to their TiVo from their personalized Yahoo television listings.. (I just checked and the link to add to your TiVo’s To Do recording list is already there!) I’ve been playing around with watching video clips that come through an RSS feed running off of Yahoo Video Search – it’d be cool to get this feed’s content piped into my TiVo. The TiVo’s remote is so much better suited for watching video than my laptop’s trackpad!
I really should go to bed as I’ve got an early commute tomorrow but I can’t stop playing with Think Tank.
As a publicity stunt, Yahoo! Australia has put a few ad execs in a box and pointed a bunch of web cams at them as they scrum their way through ad campaign ideas for products submitted by users. It’s especially good fun because you can type messages and post pictures that will flash on a wall in Sydney seconds later. The real challenge is to then tune into the sound-enabled webcam to listen and see if you can get a reaction from two people in the room, on the other side of the world. I know what I’m doing with my son this weekend!
From the site:
Yahoo! Think Tank puts some of Australia and New Zealand’s leading creative minds under your control. Between the 3rd and 17th of November 2005, put this resource to work on any brief you can imagine, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Submit a brief online, control their working environment, judge their creative output and watch every minute of it live online.
Need an idea for a pitch? Submit an idea.
It’s out in the wild! I was floored when I first saw this and now I’m totally psyched to announce that Yahoo Maps is in beta with a spanking new interface. Be sure to check out the multi-point driving directions (useful when you’re picking up friends on the way to the mountains) and integration with local (type “pizza” in your home town and write a review of your favorite). As before, traffic conditions are just a click away (which is vital with my new commute) but Flash ads it in as a nice overlay.
APIs you ask? But of course, not only AJAX but Flash! Chad Dickerson & Co. has already hacked together an innovative interface which uses Yahoo Maps and Yahoo Local APIs to “browse” events in a whole new way. Inspirational.
More on Yahoo Search Blog, Jeremy Zawodny’s blog & Techcrunch.
One week at Yahoo and what a week it’s been! Monday was employee orientation – got myself badged up and they handed me my laptop. They have this new employee thing down to a science. We had over 80 people in the room and the HR person said they bring in about 50 new people every Monday!
I was very impressed with how quickly they ran us through the paperwork and getting us familiar with how things work at the company. Highlights included a rousing speech by Heidi Burgett on the history and exciting future of Yahoo (“when in doubt, focus on what the user wants and the rest will fall in place”) and a totally hilarous presentation on campus security delivered in a dry, deadpan voice by the head of security who has arms as big as my neck.
I really like the fact that “fun” is one of the core values. It’s the little things that make you laugh like the fact that Security staff are called “Paranoids” and that even the sprinkler heads are corporate purple. Did you know that Yahoo stands for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”
As an internet company, all the information you’d ever need is on the web and help tickets manage everything from ordering a power strip to requesting someone shell into your PC to install some software. Unlike most large corporations, Yahoo is cool with you customizing your PC with your own mix of software, the IT staff are sharp and on top of it. In our orientation, there were three different operating systems represented and the instructor walked us through VPN and Mailbox setup on all three without even looking at a screen. I could go on about the free Espresso and massage chair I discovered in the snack lounge on my floor but I fear I’m drifting off topic.
I’m working with a group that is working with all the various Yahoo properties to track their plans to connect up and out their services in a way that is useful in this new “web as a platform” world. This past week I spent time getting to know all the different Yahoo properties – there are over 120 of them. Yahoo Lottery? The mind just boggles.
Hoping to make it to a few sessions at Web 2.0 next week and will also be going to BlogOn in NYC in mid-October. If you’re going to be at either, drop me a line!
Friday was my last day at Six Apart. On the 26th, I’ll be driving down to Sunnyvale for the first day of work at Yahoo (they even sent me a t-shirt & hat just to remind me!). Turn another page.
It’s been 13 months since I pulled the ripcord at Factiva and moved out to California to join 6A. Life in a start up is like running through strobe lights, the time has been super-sharp-focused but also fleeting. The company has come a long way and looking back on where we’ve been is like turning around after climbing a mountain, “Wow, look at the view!” We started in what used to be a dentist’s office in San Mateo. We shared a single phone line and our mail server used to be in the supply cabinet next to the pencils. Now there are leather couches, a receptionist and even a sign. The crowd at the weekly all-hands meetings is beginning to overflow the room in which it’s held.
The devotion of people at Six Apart is inspirational; I’m humbled by the talent of the engineers and feel lucky to have had a chance to put my shoulder into the yoke for a time. It’s sad to leave such a great crew of people but they’ll manage and opportunity knocks. The roar of innovation and buzz of excitment down in the Valley was just too loud to ignore and Yahoo is very much in the thick of it. More details on exactly what I’m doing later, give me a few weeks to get settled.
Yahoo is in an excellent position to take advantage of the various content and services that are connecting themselves across the web. Their open and well-documented APIs give independent developers the chance to to extend and innovate on top and around Yahoo content. Furthermore, their install base of over 200 million members allows them to provide a very compelling and highly contextual personalized experience. They’ve been around ten years so they’ve matured and have got a good business sense about them.
Lots of folks that I respect have made the move over to Yahoo and when you read their posts on why they’re moving, you can see why I too am excited about joining them.
Danah Boyd
Neil Budde
Chad Dickerson
Christian Lindholm
Jeffrey McManus
I’m really looking forward to it, we can build some useful things. It’s going to be lots of fun.
Remember CP Snow’s book, The Two Cultures? CNet staff writer Stephanie Olsen compares Yahoo & Google and makes a bet that Yahoo’s corporate culture is better suited for the long haul.