yahoo
Latest
Yahoo must explain how it got a drug trafficker's deleted email
Were you wondering how Yahoo managed to recover deleted email that was supposedly impossible to retrieve? You're not the only one. A judge has partially granted a motion that orders Yahoo to explain how it recovered deleted email from UK drug trafficking convict Russell Knaggs. It won't have to detail more than how it dealt with the email account in question, but that still means having to say just how it grabbed six months of message drafts when its own policies suggest this should have been impossible. The company has to provide both documents and a relevant witness by August 31st.
Verizon is reportedly close to buying Yahoo for $5 billion (updated)
Remember when Verizon bought out AOL (Engadget's parent brand) last year? Then get ready for deja vu: the communications giant is reportedly in closing talks to purchase Yahoo later this year. Sources familiar with the deal have told Bloomberg and Recode that Verizon is offering almost $5 billion to take over Yahoo's core business and real estate holdings. The deal still isn't finalized, but sources say it's close. That's good news for Tim Armstrong, who's been hoping to use the buyout to expand the AOL userbase from 700 million to almost two billion.
Drug trafficker gets 20 years thanks to emails he never sent
A UK man has been convicted of 20 years for drug trafficking conspiracy thanks to Yahoo emails in draft he thought were deleted, according to Motherboard. While already in jail, Russell Knaggs devised a scheme to have an accomplice write a draft email and save, but not send it. Another partner located in Colombia would then read the draft, delete it, and write another in reply. The idea was to avoid sending emails that could be seen by cops, but the traffickers didn't realize that Yahoo keeps the deleted drafts for a long period of time.
Yahoo's latest mobile app is a conversational travel planner
Yahoo's latest mobile app wants to help you browse more than just the internet. Radar, which launched today for iOS, acts as your "virtual travel guide" by using machine learning and artificial intelligence (not to mention the travel confirmations in your email) to offer additional recommendations, reviews and activities around your next destination.
Tumblr officially joins the live video party
It's official: today, Tumblr joins Facebook, Twitter and Amazon as the latest platform to add live video streaming. In a post on Live Video dot Tumblr dot com, Yahoo's quirky social network laid out the crucial details.
Say goodbye to the old Yahoo Messenger on August 5th
After more than 18 years of service, faithfully shuttling your messages, emojis and A/S/L requests back and forth across the internet, Yahoo has announced they will be signing off and closing its old Messenger app for good on August 5th. The app launched in 1998 under the incredibly dated name "Yahoo Pager," but is heading off into the software sunset after the company introduced a more modern version last year.
Yahoo releases content of three FBI data requests to public
Today, Yahoo made minor history by becoming the first company to publicly confirm that it has been issued National Security Letters (NSLs) from the FBI. It sounds like a simple story, but it's actually a huge win for transparency: until recently, gag orders kept companies like Yahoo from acknowledging NSLs in all but the vaguest of terms. Now, thanks to the USA Freedom Act, the company is able to divulge the contents of three FBI data requests made since 2013.
Yahoo Mail mobile apps get extra sharing and sync features
Yahoo continues to improve its Mail app for mobile devices. After adding support for Google Drive files and GIFs last month, the company is bringing more sharing and sync features to iOS and Android users. If you're on Apple's platform, Yahoo Mail now lets you show links in emails as previews, with a quick snapshot of information from any site. Additionally, you can start sharing pictures directly to Yahoo Mail, thanks to a new iOS share button for the app.
Russian provider casts doubt on email hacking claims
Yesterday, Reuters reported that tens of millions of email addresses and account passwords were stolen in an apparent data breach -- but as is often the case, there's more to this story than meets the eye. According to Motherboard, which spoke with both Hold Security (the company that received the data in question) and security expert Troy Hunt, it's not at all clear that the email providers were hacked. It's even possible this data isn't legitimate.
Drop Google Drive files and GIFs into your Yahoo emails
Yahoo's been busy bulking up its Mail app and its latest feature follows their strategy to play nice with other email and service providers. Now you can include files from Google Drive and even drop in Tumblr GIFs.
Yahoo expands sports streaming with daily MLB games
Opening Day is like Christmas for baseball fans, and Yahoo is giving them another reason to celebrate. 180, to be exact. Yahoo Sports announced today that it will stream one Major League Baseball game per day throughout the 2016 season. That's right, you'll be able to tune in free of charge to a daily matchup until the postseason begins. Each game will have commercials and, unfortunately, will remain blacked out in local markets as is typically the case with MLB broadcasts. There will also be plenty of analysis with Yahoo's Big League Stew baseball blog.
AOL chief wants to turn the company into an ad empire
Verizon bought Engadget's parent company AOL for its ad tech, that much we knew. And the man behind that deal was none other than AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong, who The Wall Street Journal reports has an eye on building the company into a massive mobile ad empire. By 2020 Armstrong aims for AOL to jump from its current 700 million users to two billion, and generate between $10 billion and $20 billion in revenue. With that, Armstrong says AOL will be the top global media company.
Yahoo asks potential buyers to bid before April 11: WSJ
Despite Marissa Mayer's best efforts, Yahoo is struggling to stay relevant. The company is still worth a lot of money, but most of that can be attributed to its stake in Alibaba, an enormously successful e-commerce firm in China. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the ageing technology giant has put itself up for auction. A letter sent to possible buyers, and seen by the broadsheet newspaper, states that Yahoo has asked for preliminary bids by April 11th. These could be for some or all of its business, including Yahoo Japan and web services like Tumblr and Flickr.
Tumblr revives Replies to restore the art of conversation
Were you miffed when Tumblr replaced its longstanding Replies feature with instant messaging, effectively forcing you to have private chats about a funny GIF? The social service heard your gripes -- it's not only bringing back Replies, but making them more useful. Authors can finally reply to their own posts, and you can reply to a post multiple times if you're embroiled in a conversation. To prevent chaos, Tumblr will let you limit replies to service regulars or only those you follow.
Activist investor wants to replace all Yahoo's directors
In many ways, Yahoo is the internet's metaphorical grandparent. We don't visit nearly enough, and we're all avoiding thinking about what might happen to it. Well, it looks like an equally metaphorical rich Aunt is stepping in and taking care of that for us. The WSJ reports that "activist investor" Starboard Value LP is coming good on an earlier threat of getting rid of Yahoo's existing directors, and putting forward nine new ones, of its choosing, in their place.
Yahoo stops daily fantasy sports contests in New York
Yahoo is following the lead of DraftKings and FanDuel and stopping its paid daily fantasy sports operations in New York. Reuters reports that this shutdown won't affect other states, however.
Big tech companies want to make email more secure
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Comcast and LinkedIn have joined forces to create a new email mechanism that makes sure the messages you send are encrypted. In the proposal they've submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force, these tech titans called their creation SMTP Strict Transport Security (SMTP STS). See, the underlying technology behind email has remained largely unchanged since it first became available. An encryption system was introduced some time ago -- and big email providers like Gmail do use it -- but it's susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Yahoo Mail upgrades link previews with playable video
Yahoo Mail just made its link previews on desktop richer and more informative. When you paste a URL into the body of your email, you'll now get a preview card that contains not only a snapshot of the website, but also the author's name, if applicable. In case the link points to a hotel website, you'll see prices in the card. Even better, if it's a link to a video or an audio clip on YouTube, SoundCloud, Tumblr or Vimeo (among other services), you can play it within the email itself. Not to mention, you can post the links to Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter through the new Share button at the top right corner of the image.
Yahoo Games is shutting down in May
Yahoo Games, part of many people's early online gaming experience, has been on its deathbed since 2014 when the company started killing old titles. Now, Yahoo has decided on when it plans to lay the old casual gaming portal to rest, a month after it first announced that it's shuttering the website along with other products. On May 13th, 2016, Yahoo Games is going the way of the dodo. Those who want to experience it one last time for nostalgia's sake can still play, but note that it stopped accepting in-game purchases on March 14th.
Yahoo streaming deal nets weekly NHL hockey games
Yahoo is no stranger to streaming live sports, and starting this week it's adding hockey coverage. The company struck a deal with the National Hockey League (NHL) to offer live action from up to four out-of-market games in the US through the 2016-2017 season. The NHL "Game of the Day" will be available to stream free of charge (no cable subscription required), complete with in-game highlights for each matchup. Yahoo will also show "Best of the Day" and "Best of the Week" highlights alongside condensed games under the terms of the deal. What's more, Yahoo Sports will still be the NHL's official fantasy hockey partner.
