On Tuesday, Yahoo Inc came up with a new version  it email services, wherein, it has added new features,  faster performance,  and even more of social networking features.

Yahoo Mail Updated

As per initial tests, Yahoo boasts of a speed that is  twice as fast as the previous version,  And an improved search feature that makes it easier to refine your inbox.And interestingly, Yahoo Mail will also alert you to read unread mails and will also determine the importance by deciding important contacts from your address book. Moreover, now you can directly upload the Flicker and Picasa photos that are from your friends from Yahoo mail, rather than clicking on the link that opens a separate page to view the photos.

The revamped email also provides for a testing version of sending and providing Facebook and Twitter  updates directly in the inbox.

Although Yahoo’s new vogue looks exciting, many analysts wonder if users really want to see changes in their email services. Yahoo itself has claimed that 40 percent of  its users do not really use the new features that Yahoo has come up in the past, so if this new version will work on not is something that only time will tell.

The dipping user base has given some chills to the think tanks of Yahoo. And here’s what the doctors have recommended to regain its lost luster. Yahoo has made huge investments in redesigning its home page, making the site engine robust and building more data centers to improve overall performance so that it can win its users back.

On Sept. 20, Yahoo will be unveiling its latest state-of-the-art data center, outside Buffalo in New York City. Besides that, it will also provide free Wi-Fi services to Star Bucks Coffee. This is a good move since the users will be directly turned to Yahoo.

Blake Irving, Yahoo’s product strategy chief said that the search engine, currently running behind Google, the world’s number one search engine, is now providing larger search results as they are connecting with more sites.

In the coming few weeks, users will get updates on their Yahoo home page about their Twitter, Facebook, and Zynga accounts.

Yahoo Groups have gone the Facebook way by facilitating users to create groups wherein users can share their updates, photos, videos, event listings, polls, and other features.

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On Facebook, if you have hundreds of friends, you have to be careful about posting something that might be offensive or just not relevant to somebody. With Yahoo Groups, you can start up a neighborhood page with a smaller group, for example, that would be of interest only to those neighbors living in the neighborhood

“, Greg Rosenberg, Yahoo’s director of user experience said.

Yahoo would be investing in mobile applications for the iPad and Android devices, which will have news, alarm, weather forecast and much other content. They are also coming up with a speedier E-mail service that will help in reducing spam.

Maybe its time to propose a toast to all the social media networks and say cheers to the new beginning!

In July 2010, the ‘numero uno’ in search engines had 65.8% of the market share. This however, was a slight 0.4% drop from its 66.2% in June. Courtesy – Yahoo!

The second ranking search engine upped its share by snatching away from Google thus rising from 16.7% to 17.1%. On the other hand, Microsoft Bing maintained its consistent 3rd place position with a share of 11% in the market.

Bing reportedly too had a relatively better result in the share market in comparison to search engine ruler, Google. Having being launched a little over a year, Bing witnessed a shoot up from 12.1% to 12.7% between the months of May and June this year. Google’ search share witnessed a downfall from 63.7% right up to 62.6% in the same months.

Although it would take awhile for search engine companies like Yahoo and Bing to catch up with Google, I would not yet shun out the odds of it happening in future.

Dear SpotM User,
SpotM was a communications product that we were experimenting within India. As of September 1st, 2009, we will be closing the site and it will no longer be accessible. We sincerely thank you for your participation and your valuable feedback. -The SpotM Team
That’s what the mortuary sign on yahoo’s social networking site SpotM spells out.  SpotM was always in a spot of bother since its experimental launch in India in the year 2008. I wonder why Yahoo has time and again mentioned “experimental”, it was most definitely an experiment with the social networking site in India as there was no official launch.

And although the site was expected to gain success due to popularity of social networks in India, SpotM wasn’t able to keep up the pace with already established social networks like Orkut and Facebook. In short, an experiment gone wrong, this went on for 11 months until now, which they finally decided to put to rest.

Like all social networking sites have a USP to pull in crowd, Spot M too had an array of features which allowed users to make friends with other users and make them private in case they do not want to disclose their relationship and also allow them to correspond through SMS without revealing their phone numbers.

Though SpotM was open to the public in these 11 months (you could sign in with your Yahoo ID), the team handing the site had been dismantled quite a while ago. And quite a contrary that it is, Yahoo has claimed that they want to make a buy in the social networking space! Infact, Yahoo has shut down at least three networking sites since the past year- to name, Yahoo360, Yahoo Mash and SpotM which all fell pray to the already established social networks in India. Okay, they have a reason. And it is that they believe in cutting down non-core or non performing products from their artillery.

None the less this leaves a mark on the credibility of Yahoo, whether they would be able to penetrate into the social networking world with their products. Though Yahoo! India has not given up on with the social networking concept and will now replace SpotM with Guru, however no information has been disclosed. Drawing from the experiences of Facebook, Yahoo might look to make a common theme in its social networking sites with minor adjustments. This leaves us with nothing but to wish Farewell to SpotM which will never be spotted on the social network category again.

Yes, you read it right! Yahoo Inc. is sprucing up the websites home page with a massive makeover in a bid to start afresh. The makeover was long-awaited and will debut in the United States, United Kingdom, India and France. The rest of the world will be acquainted with the new look by next year.

So what is the “New” Look all about?
Revamped ‘My Favorites’ Section- From eBay to Facebook, you can access third-party sites and services. Plus you can access Yahoo Mail, Messenger, and other service. This has been an important change in the entire homepage.

Application Maker – Now you can lace more than 65 widgets on the new homepage. But the highlight is the fact that you could even create your own apps.

The Trend Setter – If you are acquainted with Twitter’s Trending Topics this should be easy for you. The Trend Setter box located on the top left features top ten favorite searches.

Local News Dispenser – The section is powered by local news and has been moved down. You simply need U.S. City or Zip to access local news.

Apparently the Yahoo mobile page will be in sync with the edits made on the user’s desktop version.

But Why the Sudden Change Now?
With over 600 million visiting the website every month Yahoo still remains one of the busiest domains on the net. It looks like Yahoo is banking on its new look to lift its image and profits plus counter competition from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. In the end the ulterior motive is to increase traffic and in turn sell more ads (their prime revenue generator). It looks like Yahoo spent a lot of time in redesigning instead of concentrating on steadfast services or apps.

Recently DigiMouth reported about Rediff.com’s minimal new look. It looks like makeovers are the flavour of the season.

But Yahoo and Google have taken an unusual step of sharing excerpts of their contract. Critics and market gurus believe the deal to be a threat to online advertising which runs parallel to web search. The revenue split on the Google-Yahoo deal remains undisclosed.

Microsoft Corp protested against the deal as Google currently dominates 70% of the Web Search industry, and the Yahoo deal would make them a domineering force with control over 90% of the market. But execs of both the giants announced that they would be looking at expanding other areas than solely concentrating on online advertising.

Yahoo struck the mega deal in June with Google though it faced pressure of the merger from Microsoft. Yahoo aims at boosting its online advertising business through this deal.

The agreement covers only US and Canada and not international markets.