Yahoo! Mail Blog, UK and Ireland

Originally uploaded by squirrelmonkey

If you’ve been walking around central London lately, you may have already seen this pictured here. The Yahoo! bus is driving around the major sites of London for the next couple of weeks. We’re trying to get the word out that there are millions of new email addresses out there and they are yours for the taking.

My colleagues and I had a chance to ride around on the bus, and I saw a number of people taking snaps like this one from my Flickr colleague Fiona. I posted some pictures to my Flickr account too.

Have you seen the bus recently? Maybe you were one of the ones that took a picture? Why not post it to Flickr with the tag “yahoo bus”?

Happy snapping.
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Team

I don’t know about you, but I have this funny feeling that this summer is shaping up to be a repeat of last summer (not in a good way). Well, at least here in London, things have been grey as all get out. So to brighten your day, I thought I’d share with you, a new feature that’s recently launched in the all-new version of Yahoo Mail.

If you use the all-new version of Yahoo! Mail, and if you email a lot of photos, you probably have already seen this feature, but just in case you haven’t come across it, there is a new feature that was added that allows you to view the photos that are attached to your yahoo mail directly from your Inbox.

Here’s how it works (easy as 1-2-3):
For this example, I’m working with an email that includes three photos, but the same applies whether there are 2 or 200 photos attached. When I open up the message that has photos attached to it, the bottom of the message is going to look like this (without those crazy red boxes and numbers):

1. If you click ‘1’ you will be able to view the image directly from within the all-new Yahoo! Mail interface.
2. If you click ‘2’ you’ll start a slideshow that will allow you to scroll through all the images attached, which is very similar behavior to number ‘1’. (For more detail on ‘1’ and ‘2’, have a look further down this post to the next image where I’ll talk about the image viewer.)
3. But, after all the oohs and ahhs have worn off, this is what I REALLY like about this new feature… If you liked the download all feature, you’re really going to love this. ‘3’ allows you select from the attached pictures and only download the ones that you choose. All you have to do is put a check in the box of the pictures you want to download and then click the “download selected”. Of course you can still download all, but let’s face it I’m not that good of a photographer.

So what’s this image viewer all about?
If you’re still reading, let’s take a look at what happens when you click ‘1’ or ‘2’ from above. A sort of window pops up (it’s really an overlay) with the image you just clicked:

So here’s what you can do with the photo-viewer when it pops up (staying with the easy as 1-2-3 theme):

1. Whether you click on a picture or the slideshow link, you can scroll through the pictures that are attached to the image. So what’s the difference? Well if you click the slideshow link, then it starts with the first image, and if you click a specific image, you’ll then go to the next image.
2. Clicking ‘2’ will stop and start the slide show. If the slideshow is playing the text in the red box above will say “pause” instead of “play”.
3. Clicking ‘3’ does exactly what it says on the tin. To close your photo-preview or slideshow, just click the “close” button.

So that’s it. The beauty is in the simplicity, and I still think the ability to download selected photos is fantastic!! Unfortunately, this feature is only available to users of the all-new mail, so if you’re a classic mail user, feel free to switch.

Happy Photo Viewing!
Andrew – Yahoo Mail! 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

For a change of pace today, I wanted to take a minute to let you know what’s happening with another great Yahoo! site – Flickr*. If you haven’t seen it before, Flickr* is an award winning photo sharing site that has been called “completely addictive”. And for the amount of time that I spend on it, I believe every word of it. Check it out.

How We Are NowOriginally uploaded by
Tate Gallery.

For the very first time, the Tate gallery is inviting members of the public to contribute to the content of an exhibition. How We Are: Photographing Britain (Tate Britain, 22 May — 2 September 2007) takes a unique look at the journey of British photography, from the pioneers of the early medium to today’s photographers who use new technology to make and display their imagery.

If you join this Flickr group* your picture could be on display at the Tate and also on their website. Your photograph can be submitted anytime until 25 July 2007. You can add up to 4 photos to the group.

But before you add your photograph
Please make sure your photograph:
• was taken in the United Kingdom
• illustrates and is tagged with one of the four themes of the exhibition: portrait, landscape, still life, documentary.

Check out the Flickr group for full details and the Tate’s slideshow to see the pictures which are on display so far.

And if you get one of your photos selected, please come back and let us know.

Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Beta Team

*Disclaimer:
Please note that Flickr is a US website and its contents and activities are subject to US law which may be different from the laws of the United Kingdom. The Terms of Service of Yahoo! Inc applies to material on the Flickr site.