Bridge to Nova

I come back from vacation only to find BtoN has got a lot of comments (some are spammy). Please excuse me if there's any delayed in reply. There's a little drip in traffic (trust me I'll make it up). For my email inbox? Yes, there are many (really many) emails that I need to read or delete.


Meanwhile, Yahoo! has released long-awaited Yahoo! Messenger for Vista. I've just installed now and will follow up a full review later. As of now, Yahoo! Messenger for Vista looks really really buggy and omit a lot of features(such as voice call, video call, phone out/in, etc). If Yahoo! can't iron out those bugs, they should drop the whole project.

If you want to see Yahoo! UI intended for Vista, you should download Yahoo! messenger for Vista Preview version and install it as you can still use your old messenger also.

I've always been a big fan of Yahoo! Messenger in IM world. I've tried AIM, MSN, Gtalk, Skype, but nothing can beat Yahoo! Messenger.

Even though Skype and Gtalk are much better in VOIP call, Yahoo! messenger smiley and audible, their amazing interfaces make me stick to it.

Now Yahoo! announce on their blog that they are releasing Yahoo! Messenger 9 Beta version. Actually, I'm waiting for Yahoo! Messenger for Vista (Yahoo! did promise on their blog that this will release soon too).

Here is the screenshot of new amazing Yahoo! messenger 9 Beta.



New features in version 9 are:

• A whole new look for your contact list.
• Brand new skins and emoticons!
• New Flickr integration in the photo sharing feature.
• A new in-line media player that makes it easy to view maps, photos and videos from sites like Yahoo! Video and YouTube right in the IM window.
• New features for voice calls. (Like forwarding to your mobile and voicemail)
  

I've already installed on my PC and it is quite lovable. If you wanna enjoy new interfaces, you can download Yahoo! Messenger Beta.

You should install only if you want to experience new interfaces and features. Remember Beta versions are not as good as final version. Here I quote from Yahoo! blog

As with any new Beta software, Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 is not perfect but we think we got most of the major bugs out.

May be I'm pretty late to blog about this. But you know what? I've got IMAP access in my Gmail. See the picture below:



According to Gmail blog announcement of IMAP, they've started rolling out this feature since 24-Oct. But I've got the news late and when I check it out, it's already there.

So now you can access Gmail using POP client, or IMAP for free. Now I'm wondering who would pay $19.99 per year for Yahoo! Mail Plus.

I'm always wondered why Yahoo! can't defeat Google yet? I know that Yahoo! acquire many many companies and tried to be in front of Google in the search war.

But except simple search terms, Yahoo! search results are far far behind Google. Yahoo! results usually look spammy and irrelevant. Anyone with one week experience of both search engines can tell you that Google is a clear winner.

Why? why?
Well, the answer actually lies within Yahoo! itself. After you've built a new website, if you want your site to get indexed by Google, everyone can submit for free. Even though Google have adwords program with sponsored search results, Google clearly states that no one can buy search results.

For Yahoo!, even though there are free search submission available, they also accept paid submission. For Yahoo! free submission, it took ages for your site to come up.
There are two types of paid submission for search results.

For Yahoo! Search submit basic

When you initiate your Search Submit Basic subscription, a nonrefundable annual fee of $49 per URL is charged. This annual fee also includes account setup and a basic quality review of your pages. You can submit a maximum of 5 URLs per domain into the program.*

For Yahoo! Search Submit Pro

Pricing is based on cost per click - customers are charged each time a user clicks on one of the customer's search listings. The specific cost is based on the type and category of content provided for inclusion in the algorithmic search results.

See? Despite having Sponsored search results program like Google, Yahoo! also have paid submission to include in their search results. So Yahoo! search results are clearly biased.

My advice is that you shouldn't rely on Yahoo! as long as they have their biased programs, their search results will be their sponsored less relevant webpage presented to you to increase Yahoo! revenue rather than the best relevant results to your keywords.

I don't want you to miss the chance to get free $100 Yahoo! advertising coupons. Now YPN maybe facing system glitches or intentionally let you get these coupons, I am not sure.

These news are spread all over the internet and I've tried it myself already. It actually works!



You should grab it now while it is still available. Just your $5, and you'll get $105 for ads on Yahoo!. Do the math!

Since I've bought bridgetonova.com domain, I haven't setup up any email addresses yet. Of course, my domain registrar provide Forward Email for free of charge, but I want POP3 access. So I am shopping for email services.

Yahoo! provide these email services.



But when I checked for Gmail, it's free! (Link) Not only Google provide this services for free, but also far more better than Yahoo! Services.



While Yahoo! provide only 1 or 10 email addresses for either $34.95/year or $9.95/mo, Google provide 100 email addresses for free. Yes! that's right 100 email addresses for your domain.

Without any hesitation, I've already signed up with Google. Now you can contact me at jason at mydomain name.

I'm really wondered is there anyone who would buy Yahoo! email services.

Another boring tip again!

I have already told you guys about "How to run multiple Gtalk clients?". But, most of my friends are hardcore Yahoo! fans. They keep asking me about how's about Yahoo? Can't we do it in simple way? They can find tweaking program, but that's very version sensitie.

Okay! now I've found very easy workaround. Just add this registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\yahoo\pager\Test
"Plural"=dword:00000001

After that, all you have to do is just click and click at Yahoo messenger icon to run as much as you want.