Yahoo! Mail Blog, UK and Ireland

In my last post, I think I suggested that summer had finally arrived. I think I need to re-examine that suggestion, as we’ve been having what I would consider very autumnal weather this week.

Looking at the weather module on my Mail homepage it looks like it’s shaping up to be a nice weekend – at least in London where I live. Which brings up a question that my colleague Tim and I are arguing (well sort of) about: What’s considered hot.

I would argue that with the exception of April, and a smattering of days, this summer has been down right chilly. While I’m always putting on an extra jumper, Tim is always complaining about how hot it is and walking around in t-shirts and flip-flops.

I’d like to get your opinion and test out a new polling feature for the blog… Hot or Not? (c’mon, I mean the temperature) Vote below.

Have a great bank holiday weekend.
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Beta Team

Sun, sand and surf. How on earth are you going to check your email when on holiday? I figure you probably fall into one of 2 categories:

You are either:

1. No work, no computers, no technology. You want to get away from it all and not be contactable. But if you’re going to be off globe-trotting around the world or just lazing on the beach for two to three weeks, why don’t you let your friends and family know that you’re away. Just use the “Holiday Response” in the Options menu of Yahoo Mail and respond to everyone when you get back. And now that you have unlimited storage, you don’t have to worry about pesky limits again.

or…

2. An email junkie. You’re so connected that you check your mail everyday whether from your laptop, your friends’ laptop, a cyber-café or the hotel lobby. You just can’t go a day without checking your email.

Mail just got mobile
If you fall into the #2 camp, why don’t you take your mail with you? Use your mobile phone to check your mail. It’s easy and free (of course your provider might charge you for internet access). You can check it out if you have a WAP compatible mobile phone. Just type http://uk.m.yahoo.com into your phone’s browser and you can get your email, contacts, and even Yahoo! Messenger.

For a more enhanced experience, why not try Yahoo! Go. It’s a feature rich java application that makes it easy and fun to access the Internet. If you’re a true email junkie, then Yahoo! Go is for you. Check it out. All your emails are there when you want them. Email is automatically pushed to your phone and syncs with your Web account (for example: delete a message on your mobile and it is reflected on Webmail).

Believe it or not, I’m a #1 kind of guy.
Have a great summer!!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Beta Team

Reading through the feedback that you send us here on the Yahoo! Mail Beta team, I see a lot of comments/questions about how best to send photos through Mail. One suggestion that I can offer is – in fact – not to send Photos through mail. A much easier, robust and fun alternative exists, and it’s right at your fingertips. It’s called Flickr – the award winning photos sharing site – that just happens to be another great Yahoo! site.

So how does it work?
Simple really. Just log into Flickr with your Yahoo! ID. (If it’s your first time logging into Flickr you get to choose a screen name which can be different from your user ID). At this point you can upload a photo, or if you have a whole bunch of photos you can use one of the Flickr uploading tools. When you’re finished uploading, you can change the title, enter a description or add a tag.

Once you’re finished uploading, find the link on the bottom-right side of the page called “Send to a friend”. Enter an email address, or two, or three. Write a witty message. Then click send. That’s all there is to it.

So why is this good?
This way is an excellent way to share photos for so many reasons it’s going to be hard to list them all here. But what the heck, I’ll give it a go:

• Your photos aren’t constrained by size
• You don’t overstuff your friends’ inboxes (hey, we know not everyone uses Yahoo! with unlimited storage – but you’ll change that right? )
• One link gives them access to all of your photos
• Create groups in Flickr for your friends and family and when you upload new pictures they can be alerted right away.
• Your friends and family can leave comments and everyone can see the comments (sure beats reply-all)
• You can place your photos on a map (how addictive is that?!?!)
• And so much more

A fun way to get started with Flickr is by just exploring. It’s fun, addictive and a great way to share photos with friends, family and a world-wide photo community.

Happy snapping!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Beta Team