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WSJ: Yahoo may sell itself off
Yahoo's attempt at turning around its fortunes hasn't gone that well: on top of sagging profits and departing execs, it's still heavily dependent on both its Japanese business as well as its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba. And now, it sounds like the company might want to hand over the reins to someone else. Sources for the Wall Street Journal understand that Yahoo is holding a "marathon" number of board meetings where the possibility of selling the company's core business is on the table. It's not certain how serious the web pioneer might be, but private equity firms are reportedly taking a peek.
Yahoo restricting Mail accounts if it detects ad-blockers (updated)
Yahoo is reportedly preventing some of its users with ad blockers installed on their computers from accessing their email accounts. Digiday has spotted a thread on the Adblock Plus forums with complaints from a couple of people who couldn't access Yahoo Mail on both Chrome and Firefox. One of them posted a screenshot of the message he got asking him to "disable Ad Blocker to continue using" the service, which you can see below the fold. If you take a close look at the URL, you'll see that it says "reason=ADBLK_TRAP." Update: A spokesperson told us: "At Yahoo, we are continually developing and testing new product experiences. This is a test we're running for a small number of Yahoo Mail users in the US."
Daily fantasy sports to stay in Massachusetts with new regulations
As the likes of DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo fight to keep their daily fantasy sites open in New York, they'll be able to do so in Massachusetts. Attorney General Maura Healey announced the first set of guidelines for a state to regulate the fantasy sports games rather than outright banning them. According to the new rules, players in Massachusetts must be 21 years of age and companies who run the games are prohibited from advertising on school or college campuses. What's more, professional athletes or folks with ties to a professional sport (agents, employees, etc.) won't be able to play games that focus on that particular sport. For example, an NFL player couldn't participate in pro football daily fantasy games, but could do so for NBA or basketball-related activities. The regulations won't go into effect immediately, though, as Healey asked for a public comment period and a court hearing before making the new rules official. However, daily fantasy companies could be proactive in establishing the new rules, which Healey said she hopes they would do. [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
NY Attorney General targets Yahoo's daily fantasy sports next
Yahoo is no stranger to fantasy sports, and its foray into daily fantasy games grabbed the attention of regulators in New York. The internet company is being included in the inquiry into daily fantasy sports by the New York Attorney General's office. Yahoo was subpoenaed alongside DraftKings and FanDuel as Attorney General Eric Schneiderman looks to ban the games in his state. A distant third in the world of daily fantasy, Yahoo launched its version in July and continues to accept payments in the state of New York. However, the company shut down its daily fantasy option in Florida last month after an investigation of the industry began by a federal grand jury. With Schneiderman looking into other operators besides the two top names, it seems his goal is to rid New York of daily fantasy sports entirely and classify the games as gambling. And if he's successful, it'll be interesting to see if other states follow suit. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Yahoo highlights image and video search results for Firefox users
Yahoo is adding more colors and visuals to its search results page, but only if you're using Firefox on a computer. Now, when you search for a public figure's name or a movie, you'll see a banner made of images and videos across the top of the page. Desktop search in general has taken other features from the mobile version: it now surfaces the most important information first, such as movie details from IMDB, theater tickets (which you can buy) from Fandango, and even Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews. The search engine has recently started returning Flickr photos, including your own (see image above), when you do an image search, as well. The new image and video banner's live for Windows, Mac and Linux users -- if you've never changed your default search option, simply type what you want to look up in Firefox's URL box -- though you'd have to be in the US to be able to enjoy it.
Flickr takes advantage of iOS 9 and your iPhone 6s
The pressure-sensitive touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus was practically tailor-made for quickly glancing at photos, so wouldn't it make sense that major photography apps let you do just that? Flickr sure thinks so. It's launching an updated iOS app that takes full advantage of iOS 9, including 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s line. You can peek at photos, people and notifications with a firm push. It'll even flip through your camera roll if you swipe at the same time, giving you a quick way to share the right snapshot. As you might've guessed, that extra dimension also gives you home screen icon shortcuts that help you post photos that much sooner.
The After Math: You've got to see this
What a week it's been for entertainment news on the internet! Netflix's first theatrical release, Beasts of No Nation, is racking up views; the NFL's first live-streamed game, which debuted on Yahoo!, was reasonably well-received; and we learned something new about our friend, the chameleon. And now for some numbers.
Yahoo's live NFL stream was popular, but no match for TV
Wondering how well Yahoo's grand experiment with a free NFL game stream fared? Quite well, actually... although your TV provider probably isn't sweating bullets. The league has revealed that about 15.2 million unique visitors watched the Bills/Jaguars game on Yahoo, which stacks up well against conventional broadcasts (between 13.5 million to 17.6 million). However, the stream only managed an average of 2.36 million viewers per minute -- that pales in comparison to the 10 million to 20 million plus that TV gets. In other words, many fans only watched some of the match before heading elsewhere.
Google will provide some of Yahoo's search results
Yahoo clearly isn't wasting time now that it's free to partner with search firms besides Microsoft. The internet pioneer has revealed a partnership that will have Google providing some search results (including images) and search-based ads. It's not certain just how many queries the crew in Mountain View will handle, but the deal is "non-exclusive." If it wants, Yahoo can draw on Microsoft's Bing or any other provider. The pact lasts until the end of 2018, too, so the company isn't committed on the same level as it was when it struck the Bing deal in 2009.
Yahoo Mail drops passwords and adds third-party email support for new apps
It's Yahoo Mail's 18th birthday this month and to mark the occasion, Yahoo is pulling out all the stops with three major announcements: a brand new mobile app for Android and iOS, the support for multiple third-party email accounts and, perhaps most significantly, the introduction of a completely password-free sign-in experience called Yahoo Account Key.
Easily plug your last tweet into Yahoo email signatures
Yahoo has unveiled a new feature for its email app that allows users to include their most recent tweet as part of their outgoing signature. To enable it, go to Settings -> Accounts -> Primary Yahoo and select "Include your latest Tweet from Twitter". Users can also manually delete any included tweet if it's not appropriate. Or, more likely, accidentally include it on a Reply All to the entire company.
Yahoo Mail helps you track packages and remember events
A couple of new, useful features are coming to Yahoo's web email client. For starters, the company has announced that Mail will now send notifications when packages are due to be delivered -- you can also track them from there. The same goes for event reminders, which is going to make it easier for you to access information like an address, or get directions to a place. Yahoo says it'll be rolling this out to users in the US over the next few days, adding that it plans to bring more of these type of notifications to Mail later on. And yes, while Gmail's had similar features for years, it's still great news for people who use Yahoo Mail on the regular.
Yahoo Weather warns you about rain in time to find an umbrella
Weather apps are quite handy, and now Yahoo's mobile software is even more helpful. The app will send you an alert 15 minutes before rain or snow is expected to start so you have enough time to prepare. The new feature offers warnings similar to Dark Sky's weather info. That app takes readings from the barometric sensors in users' iPhones, though. What's more, Yahoo says its Weather software is more accurate too, with the ability to zoom in on small areas should the need arise. Of course, you want to take a slightly different approach to getting your forecast, you could always go the route of an aspiring meteorologist.
Yahoo revives its signature San Francisco billboard
Have you missed seeing Yahoo's distinctive billboard while driving along San Francisco's piece of Interstate 80? So has Yahoo. After a 4-year hiatus, the internet giant is bringing back its iconic signage to "surprise and delight" (read: advertise to) commuters heading toward the Bay Bridge. Unfortunately, though, it's not going to maintain the same 1960s motel charm that you remember. The whimsical design you see above has been replaced by the slightly lifeless billboard pictured below, at least for now. Still, this is both a good way to mark Yahoo's 20th anniversary and remind locals that Google isn't the only '90s-era web pioneer in town. [Image credit: AP Photo/Russel A. Daniels]
Huge malware campaign used Yahoo's ad network
You've probably heard of malware-laden ads causing havoc on the web, but rarely on this scale. Malwarebytes has discovered a malware campaign that was using Yahoo's ad network to target legions upon legions of visitors -- Yahoo's main site racks up 6.9 billion visits per month. While it's not clear what would happen if you fell victim to an attack, the Flash-based exploit kit linked to the campaign typically includes both ad fraud and ransomware. In short, there's a real chance that you could have been locked out of your PC simply by checking on your fantasy sports league.
Yahoo's latest purchase is digital fashion community Polyvore
Marissa Mayer opened up the Yahoo warchest once again, and this time it was to buy the "leading social shopping site," Polyvore. Yahoo's purchasing the whole kit and caboodle from the sounds of it too with Mayer writing on her Tumblr page that it's acquiring not just the service, but the team that built it as well. She says the purchase will work to bolster Yahoo's digital content growth and that current CEO Jess Lee (apparently a Polyvore community member prior to joining the company proper) will report directly to her. And if you're a current Polyvore enthusiast yourself, it doesn't sound like too much should change aside from where current employees report for work -- we'll let you know if those turn out to be offices for ants. [Image credit: Pink Cow Photography/Flickr]
Yahoo's Livetext is a messaging app for the Snapchat generation
Yahoo's Livetext video-messaging app popped up in Hong Kong's iTunes store a few days ago, and now it's rolling out to more locales. The app is the company's effort to provide software similar to its popular Messenger app that's appropriate for how people are chatting these days. This means offering a an option that's similar to Snapchat and the like, but with a focus on one-on-one conversations. With Livetext, you can let the person (no group chats yet) you're chatting with via text get a look at where you are and what you're doing. While the app does provide a video stream, it doesn't include sound. Why? The folks at Yahoo found that enabling sound caused folks to think twice about answering a message and instead wanted to offer "a way to connect that's quick and non-intrusive." It might keep you out of trouble in the office, but we'd surmise most folks would prefer it offer at least the option of some audio.
Flickr's revived Pro tier gives you ad-free photos and better stats
When Flickr rolled out its big redesign a couple of years ago, it also did away with Pro accounts. Unless you were a legacy user, your only real paid options for the photo service were to kill ads or up the storage -- not so hot if you were a serious shutterbug. However, you'll be glad to hear that Flickr just brought Pro back. The new tier is more expensive than before (the same $50 per year as the ad-free version, or $6 per month), but promises to one-up some of the features you've seen in all of Flickr's previous premium offerings. It removes ads for your own browsing as well as for anyone who visits your images, and there are improved stats that help you understand which photos are drawing eyeballs. If you pay for a yearly membership, you also get a 20 percent first-year discount on Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography subscription (no small amount if you regularly edit pictures) and lower-cost shipping for Flickr merchandise like Wall Art.
Yahoo and Beme take on Snapchat with video sharing apps
There's no shortage of apps that can take short video clips you can blast to friends. But if you're willing to branch out and try new things, Yahoo and YouTube celebrity Casey Neistat have released alternatives with different takes on video sharing. Neistat's iPhone app called Beme, for instance, starts recording four-second videos when you cover the sensor above the device's earpiece. In his demo below the fold, he shows how you can cover the sensor by placing the phone against your chest. The idea is that you get to experience life and see events with your own eyes instead of through a screen, even while recording what's in front of you.
Yahoo wants you to gamble on fantasy sports
You already use Yahoo Sports to track your fantasy leagues, meticulously crafting winning line-ups each week for the sheer thrill of bragging rights--but what if you want to make it, well, interesting? Now you can: Yahoo just updated its fantasy sports app with daily, real-money tournaments.
