Starting on Monday, Yahoo! Mail Beta began giving some users the opportunity to use an integrated version of Yahoo! Messenger right from their e-mail window, similar to how users can log on and use Google Talk directly from their e-mail interface.
This means that users will not have to download or open Yahoo! Messenger, but can just sign in and chat away right from their Yahoo! Mail interface.
A subtle benefit here is for Yahoo! Messenger users whose companies do not allow personal IM clients to be used during the workday. Now, all they have to do is sign in to check their Yahoo! Mail inboxes in order to chat. Of course, for those whose companies do not allow the checking of personal e-mail, the problem still remains.
Though Google integrated Google Talk with Gmail about a year ago, Yahoo! claims that it is not as tightly knit as Yahoo!’s new offering will be.
Most users will have to wait to be able to utilize this new feature, as developers are unveiling this to the wider public in stages.
In other semi-related news, MySpace announced on Monday that it launched a pilot program to prevent unauthorized videos from being uploaded onto its site.
The social networking giant has licensed technology from Audible Magic Corp., which has the rights to a system that can scan video clips, look for digital fingerprints and compare them to those in its database. If a user uploads a video whose digital fingerprint matches one in the database, it will be blocked.
Initially, this technology will protect Universal Music Group’s music videos and clips containing its music from showing up on MySpace pages, and will be available to other content owners for free.
"MySpace is dedicated to ensuring that content owners, whether large or small, can both promote and protect their content in our community," said CEO and co-founder of MySpace, Chris DeWolfe.
YouTube hinted at a similar technology being implemented on its site before it was acquired by Google, but neither company has unveiled anything that allows content owners to block their content yet.
This has been a sore point for content owners who were expecting YouTube to have released this type of technology by now.
Google-doomsday adherents may see these two events as signs of the search giant’s impending demise, but that is a long shot. Instead, it is more interesting to see the company being imitated by another Web giant, while it is slightly overtaken by another.
Sources:
http://news.com.com/2110-1032_3-6158571.html?part=
rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20070212/tc_zd/201000;_
ylt=Ar88CMamVHXT8elRJKxwNpH6VbIF
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21247
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070212/ap_on_hi_te/
myspace_video_screening;_ylt=AjCs.oE0AsgILatlHlZT0lH6VbIF
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