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Yahoo IM hit with critical security flaws

A number of highly critical security flaws have been found in the latest version of Yahoo Messenger, which could allow attackers to gain remote access to users systems, according to a security advisory issued by eEye Digital Security.

The vulnerabilities affect Yahoo Messenger versions 8.1 and 8.0, running on Windows, eEye stated in its "upcoming advisories."

Although eEye does not disclose extensive details about vulnerabilities until the respective vendor develops a patch, the security researcher did note the Yahoo IM flaws requires little user interaction for an attacker to exploit the vulnerabilities.

"It's the … Read more

Look out 2D search, you're one dimension behind

SpaceTime is a new tool for searching the Web in three dimensions. You can search using Google and Yahoo, or dig deeper into niche services like eBay and Flickr. Results show up in a swirling sky-like environment where you can sort through rendered pages in stacks, similar to Windows Vista's Flip 3D window-shuffling effect and the upcoming Time Machine in OSX Leopard. You can maneuver around any page, and zoom back and forth. To see any result up close, just double-click on it and it will revert to a customized browser window that's running a shelled version of … Read more

Yahoo releases new ad pricing structure

Yahoo trotted out a new pricing structure this week and the motto is quality, over quantity.

Advertisers will pay Yahoo based on the quality of their distribution partners' Web sites where their ads appear, rather than a one-size fits all rate for traffic, according to a Yahoo blog posting.

"As part of the evolution of the Yahoo Search Marketing advertising system, we now include an assessment of the quality of our publisher's traffic when you are charged for a click from that source," Yahoo stated in its FAQ. "Depending on the quality of the traffic from … Read more

News roundup: MMORPG economies, resignations, and music videos

BBC to broadcast in 'Second Life'. BBC's show The Money Programme will broadcast on Friday both on regular television and in the MMORPG Second Life. This episode of The Money Programme deals with with the economies that have sprung up as a result of these micropayment-filled virtual currency markets, including World of Warcraft, Lord of the RingsOnline, and Second Life. The social network has played host to several other real-life events in the past, including concerts and business meetings.

Warner to put ad-supported video archive online. Warner music is putting together a platform to deliver music videos and other … Read more

When Web 2.0 (Yahoo Maps) attacks

I'll start by confessing my curmudgeon-ness. I can't stand the new "broadband" Yahoo Maps interface. I find it totally clunky, hard to use, and overly graphical--the vast majority of the time I'm using a mapping site, it's to get driving directions that I plan to either print out or send to my phone, and it's usually just to double-check my GPS directions. I'm fine with simple text directions and a nice little map. So it's been fine for me to just click back to the Classic Yahoo Maps interface (since Yahoo … Read more

Latest Skype worm infects ICQ, MSN, and other IM services

Heard the one about the Skype worm? Actually, users of the popular VoIP service Skype have been contending with misleading and dangerous URLs for some time. Like worms spread by MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, various Skype worms have been known to include a message such as "Give me your opinion" followed by a URL. Clicking the link then installs several malicious files including versions of the Warezov/Stration Trojan horse. Stration has been known to open remote access on infected machines.

Now, Chris Boyd, Director of Malware Research at Facetime Security Labs, has found a recent Skype … Read more

Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0: A review

When it comes to mobile browsing, most cell phone users are stuck with the Web portals provided by their carriers. Not only that, but accessing Web mail and conducting online searches on most cell phones can take a painfully long time. If you're a fan of Yahoo's services, then the new Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 may be the solution to your mobile-surfing woes. Compatible with more than 175 handsets, the Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 software provides instant access to Yahoo services and information sources like Web mail, local directories, maps, news, and even Flickr, … Read more

New York taxi fleet to go all-hybrid

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped by the Today show Tuesday morning to talk about cleaning up his city. No, it wasn't time for a get-tough-on-crime talk. Instead, he wants to make the urban air a little less noxious, and maybe give the fight against global warming a little more street-level cred.

Hizzoner used the morning news-and-lighter-fare show to say that by 2012, all of the city's taxis would be hybrid vehicles. "There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City, obviously"--13,000 licensed yellow cabs, 90 percent of them … Read more

Rumor from across the pond: Yahoo wants Bebo

Acquisition gossip season rolls on. The U.K.-based newspaper The Telegraph reported Sunday that Yahoo is rumored to be eyeing social networking site Bebo for as much as $1 billion. (Compare that to the $580 million that News. Corp forked over for MySpace in 2005.)

Bebo's huge in the U.K., but here in the States it's still dwarfed by MySpace, despite seemingly constant predictions that it's the next big thing.

Yahoo offered up a similar offer for Facebook last year, which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg famously turned down. The longtime Web presence already has a … Read more

Yahoo says 'Been there, done that' to Google redesign

Google grabbed the Web search headlines on Wednesday with splashy news that it was revamping its main page and blending results for all kinds of media indexed into one place -- not just text on Web pages, but video content, images and local map-related results. Previously, searchers had to conduct separate searches on Google's video, image and other search sites.

But Yahoo representatives say big deal -- they already do that. "We are blending that information already," Eckart Walther, vice president of product search at Yahoo, said on Thursday. "For a lot of the queries we have the same multimedia content, we just don't make it as quick to access."