Product Pulse – October 3, 2008

Posted October 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm by Nicki Dugan, Blog Editor

 3 Comments / Filed in: Product Pulse

Bless the pocket protector — it’s National Techies Day! A time to thank your favorite geeks for everything they do for you — whether it’s ridding your laptop of foul vectors, building super cool products you couldn’t live without, or helping you find the “any” key. You’d be staring at the blue screen of death without them. Here’s what our beloved nerds contributed to the world this week:

• Searching for a president: With just 32 days to go until the next POTUS is decided, there’s no time to mess around. That’s why Yahoo! Search has launched a series of elections shortcuts. Want the latest on a particular candidate? Type in “Obama” or “McCain” and you’ll find links to the latest news, videos, photos, discussions, and poll results. Or type in “presidential election” for general updates as well as a link to register to vote. Curious about the contest from a state’s perspective? Type in “Iowa presidential election” and get the latest headlines and polling info for that state. More here.
• Mad dash to the finish line: Speaking of election polls and whatnot, Yahoo! News just updated its political dashboard. Just in time for the election’s home stretch, you can now see how the average poll numbers have trended over time, on a national and state-by-state basis. How has Obama fared in Ohio to date? Is McCain tracking up or down in Florida? Check it out and see if this race will be a photo finish.
• Cut to the chase: If there’s one thing we can thank the Internet for, it’s a short attention span. That’s why the new Yahoo! News beta, launched as an opt-in today, gives you just the first five paragraphs of a news story. Want more? It’s just a click away, although most people seem to drive on — proving the value of the news pyramid. (NB: If you’re a newshound getting your fix via news.yahoo.com, you’ll always get the full article.) You’ll also find relevant links to other stories and videos much higher on the page. And Yahoo! News is getting more and more open, providing links to outside sources like local newspapers, other news providers and bloggers through the Buzztracker tool. Was that short enough for you?
• Flickr’s mobile makeover: Attention iPhone-toting photographers: The new and improved mobile Flickr site (http://m.flickr.com) is now especially gorgeous for you too-cool-for-skool types. The site’s been refreshed with clearer navigation controls and puts your recent activity front and center. You can also browse sets more efficiently, thanks to arrow-topped thumbnails that help you move back and forth between photos. Trust me — it’s worth making room to your home screen.

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Tagged: elections, Flickr, Product Pulse, yahoo! news, yahoo! search

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3 Comments Add your own

pankaj | October 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm

I am so happy about flickr’s mobile makeover. Awesome!! Being a pro user, i have been waiting for this to happen for a long time. Thanks for making the website a great place on my iPhone. There can be still some more features added like slide shows but its a great start. Thanks Yahoo Flickr.

niqh | October 7th, 2008 at 4:22 am

Using BOSS can someone please create a search engine around media ads. Ex: I see a television ad and then search for the same at BOSS, then i get everything related to the ad like actors, media company, company and other products they have, past ads, related ads.

Bernard Ryan | October 29th, 2008 at 7:26 pm

About your political dashboard: interesting of note is how the poll numbers change and yet only next to McCain’s percentage do you insert a “down arrow” and the percentage down. Evidently this is there to indicate that McCain’s percentage has fallen. Yet so has Obama’s, who according to your poll was at one point above 50%. Why then no red “down arrow” next to Obama’s current %?

No wonder Yahoo is down the tubes. Your news editors are still popping zits and don’t know the first thing about objectivity in journalism.

I’m so over Yahoo. Goodbye.