For many women, life is divided into two parts: before kids and after kids. From the moment you cross that line into motherhood, nothing is ever the same.

It’s a revelation you can see in the face of Brenda Law, Shine’s beloved Community Manager, in a photo taken just after delivering her twin boys.

Here’s how Brenda remembers feeling in that instant: “This photo is the first time I held my boys together as one was whisked away after birth because of his low body temperature. That moment you realize you’re a mom is truly overwhelming. It’s pure joy, intense love, relief, and a bit of fear because they are such tiny perfect beings and you just want to do your very, very best for them.”

Yahoo! Shine wants to know what your first moment of motherhood looked like — whether it’s your first pregnancy photo or your first face-to-face in the hospital, we want to see it.

It may be hard to explain what it feels like to hold your baby for the first time, but that’s what photos are for. Upload your own first mommy photo to Shine’s First Mom Photo Flickr Pool and share the love!

Moms have already started to submit their photos – check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1946650@N20/

We will be featuring entries in a gallery on Yahoo! Shine next month – just in time for Mother’s Day.

Yahoo! is committed to being an environmentally responsible company, and we make constant improvements to our operations to work smarter and more efficiently.

In the past year, we made great progress in increasing our number of Green office buildings around the globe, continuing to push the industry standards for energy-efficiency in data centers, providing meaningful content to our users, and spreading grass-roots impacts through the Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YEF) and the Yahoo! Green Team.

Here is a summary of some great green things that have been happening at Yahoo!:

GREEN ON THE NETWORK
We don’t keep sustainability to ourselves!  We serve the Yahoo! community with smart lifestyle tips every day at Yahoo! Shine Green .  And, we’ve just announced an exciting partnership to promote the launch of America’s most fuel-efficient five-seat car, the Focus Electric, with “Plugged In,” Yahoo!’s first reality competition series on Yahoo! Screen.  Read more about this electrifying programming on Yodel Anecdotal.

Search Trends:

• Searches on Yahoo! for “electric vehicles” are up 2168% this month.
• Hybrid car searches are up 259% this month on Yahoo!, 59% of searches come from males
• Earth Day searches are spiking 226% this month on Yahoo! – searches for Earth Day activities are also spiking.  72% of searches come from females.

GREEN AT WORK
On the data center front, we’re proud to have the best Clean Energy Index score in Greenpeace’s report on the IT industry for the second year in a row. Our Lockport data center also won a Finalist spot in Uptime Institute’s highly competitive Green Enterprise IT annual awards.

And, last year, Yahoo! offices received LEED® Green Building Certification for our Sunnyvale, New York, and Bangalore, offices and our Omaha Data Center.  Additional third party Green Building designations have been awarded to our offices in Dublin, Milan, and Singapore.   As of today, 35% of Yahoos work in designated “green” buildings, up from 0% in 2010, and climbing quickly towards our 2014 sustainability goal of having 60% of Yahoos working in green certified offices. 

GREEN IN THE COMMUNITY
Yahoos contribute their time, talents, and treasure to environmental causes all over the globe.  Through fundraising and grant championships with the Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF), Yahoos have contributed their own money and efforts to deliver nearly $400,000 in grants for environmental organizations. 

YAHOO! GREEN TEAM
The Yahoo! Green Team is taking action with events around the globe, including Tree-Plantings (Bangalore), E-waste Recycling (Atlanta), Free is Good Re-Use Fairs (Barcelona, Ho Chi Minh City & others) Trashcan Retirement Parties (Sunnyvale,  Beijing & others), Stair Climbing Celebrations(Taipei), Mugstock events (Omaha),  Green Speakers Breakfast (Dublin), Lights-Off Hours (Manila, Singapore, Seoul, etc.) and many more.

Happy Earth Day, from the Yahoo! Green Team!

The Power of Yahoo! Finance for IntoNow

Business and economic news fans – this may be for you! This month Yahoo! launched a new feature in IntoNow that makes it simple for you to see news stories related to the companies being discussed on various business television programs and uses the power of Yahoo! Finance to give you up to the minute stock prices on those companies too. As you’re watching a program with IntoNow, whenever we detect a company being mentioned we now also show you the stock view. Keep an eye for more examples of where we can bring the scale and scope of Yahoo! right into your living room with IntoNow. Download IntoNow from the iTunes Store:

App Search UK – Taking the Guesswork out of Searching for Apps

Yahoo! has just announced the launch of App Search in the UK, the first desktop search engine for both iPhone and Android apps. With hundreds of thousands of apps in the Apple App Store and Android Market, finding what you want can be both exhausting and challenging. There are times you don’t know the specific name of the app, so you’re leaving it up to chance that you’re actually downloading the app you really want.  Just like when you’re searching for websites, Yahoo! helps you find apps that match the keyword or search term that you’ve entered. The App Search results page lists matching app titles with a comprehensive description, price, overall star rating from users, and screenshots all in one place to help you with your decision: to download or not to download. You can filter search results by device (Android or iPhone), price (free or paid) and category. Yahoo! App Search also helps you discover new apps via featured lists such as Top Trending, Top Free, Top Paid and Most Reviewed apps. You can also leave your own feedback and rating to help other users find apps. Discover App Search for here

Yahoo! Toolbar Update

We have released an update to the Yahoo! Toolbar available for Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. The new toolbar is the easiest way to check the latest news, weather and email while browsing. It also includes a redesigned Facebook app offering a quick view of status updates, news feeds and wall posts and the toolbar update for Internet Explorer features a coupon app — bringing a vast array of relevant coupons for each user to search or browse for coupons by category or popularity. The installation size has also been reduced, with the added functionality. It is available for download now at toolbar.yahoo.com

Product Searches Made Easy Through Shine

Shine from Yahoo, the leading website for women’s lifestyle content, has released the Get it Guide, an online destination for the must-have products that everyday women are searching for and talking about. The Get it Guide offers insights from real women into the latest products and trends, allowing customers to make more informed purchasing decisions. The Get it Guide also features a team of gurus to review, discuss and share their views on the products, inviting Shine users to vote for their favorites online. Published every few weeks, each guide will focus on a different product category, from fragrances to workout dvd’s, offering an ultimate one-stop shop for the products that savvy shoppers are looking for. Be sure to check regularly for favorite products and reviews.

KIM KARDASHIAN DIVORCE

The web is obsessed this week with Kim Kardashian and word of her impending divorce. Kim K. was already on target to lead the top searches of the year but news of her split from Kris Humphries has lit a new fire under her fans. They are hungry for all the details about the break up. Searches for Kim are up more than 4,200% this week – 3/4 of those queries coming from women. And while the reasons behind the divorce are still unclear, we are seeing lots of other questions about Kim including how much the wedding extravaganza actually cost, who was Kim’s first husband and why are the Kardashians famous?

HERMAIN CAIN

This week Herman Cain is fending off tough questions and drumming up lots of buzz online. Now that three women have come forward to accuse Cain of sexual harassment, Yahoo! users want the scoop on his background, especially his time heading the National Restaurant Association. As Cain denies the allegations and accuses opponent governor Rick Perry of a smear campaign, his search numbers are spiking. People are also very interested in his wife of forty-three years. They are looking up info on Gloria Cain, including her bio.

TOP PERFUMES & GET IT GUIDE LAUNCH ON SHINE FROM YAHOO!

Finally, with Black Friday on the horizon, people are starting to look for gift ideas – especially perfume. This week Shine from Yahoo! launched a new guide to help women find the must-have products. The first Get It Guide

took a look at the top searched celebrity fragrances – here’s the rundown – topping the list is Jennifer Aniston, followed by Beyonce’s Heat, Justin Bieber’s Someday and Cosmic Radiance by Britney Spears.

Check out Shine from Yahoo!’s Get It Guide to find out which celebrity fragrance you must get this fall.

-Yahoo! Search Trends Team

President Hu Jintao’s Visit
China is getting a ton of buzz this week on Yahoo!.  People are curious about President Hu Jintao’s bio and of course, what’s on his itinerary while he’s in town.  But what is everyone most interested in? They really wanted to find out what Michelle Obama would wear to the formal state dinner  – the first in 13 years for China — and what would be served.  We saw searches for “state dinner menu spike” 250% this week on Yahoo!

Celebrity Wrap Up
It was a big week in Hollywood for celebrity babies – especially those born to stars who hired surrogates to expand their families, including Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.  People searched for images of the babies and information on the parents. We also saw people searching on Yahoo! for “how does one become a surrogate” and how much it pays to be one. Searches spiked more than 350%. Also Regis Philbin’s announcement that he’ll step down from “Live with Regis and Kelly” after this season sent people searching.  They want to know who will replace the 79-year-old broadcaster.  And word of Anne Hathaway’s upcoming cameo on Glee sparked a frenzy of searches for the Oscar nominated actress up 3,692%. Hathaway will play a role she reportedly suggested to the show – the lesbian aunt of the character “Kurt.”

Yahoo! Maxim Survey
If you’re really into video games, you may be in luck if you’re looking for a date. According to a new Yahoo! survey with Maxim magazine, nearly 40% of women said they’d find it a turn on if a man listed video games as a personal interest.

Some more of the findings:
With 38 percent of the adult population surveyed looking to date or hook up at any one time, at virtually every stage of a budding romance, social media plays a role and what you put on your profile could be the difference between a date and no date:

• 25 percent of those surveyed admitted to using social networking sites to aide their dating life.
• 40 percent of people judge a potential date’s social networking profile as important and 41percent of people will “friend” someone they are interested in dating as a way to get to know that person.
• The vast majority, 70 percent, want in-person interaction as the first point of contact with a potential date.
• For more results and commentary, please visit http://www.maxim.com and http://shine.yahoo.com

Check out the video for more trends spiking this week.

More on Heather Cabot:
Heather Cabot serves as Yahoo! Web Life Editor. She combines her reporting background with an every woman approach to spot web trends and advocate for consumers. She’s a former network news anchor and lifestyle blogger who provides practical tips and perspective on how technology is reshaping our day to day lives. Heather has appeared on “The Today Show,” “The Martha Stewart Show,” “The Rachael Ray Show,” “The Early Show,” “Fox & Friends” and more. Heather is also the founder and editor-in-chief of The Well Mom www.thewellmom.com a new weekly e-zine that empowers and inspires moms to better care for themselves.

The fight against the disease is different for anyone who’s ever been diagnosed.  And in my case, one of the reasons I was able to beat my cancer into remission was due to early detection.

Yet not everyone is so lucky. But we can start to change that with your help. That’s why for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which is going on right now) we’re partnering with the National Breast Cancer Foundation to provide free mammograms for uninsured women.

For each person who updates their pink ribbon status on Yahoo! Shine and Yahoo! Pulse this month, Yahoo! will donate $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation up to $50,000.  So please join us in the fight against breast cancer by updating your Yahoo! status to let us know why you’re turning pink.  And then visit Yahoo! Shine, where we’ll put our Yahoo! technology to work and show how people who have updated their status are connected to breast cancer in similar ways.

I have my reason for turning pink – what’s yours?

Carol

Lady Gaga is up for 13 Moonman trophies, while Eminem has eight nods. Late night Goddess Chelsea Handler is hosting, and Kanye will return, one year after interrupting Taylor Swift’s best female video acceptance speech.

Yahoo!’s comprehensive reporting will include several insider perspectives. Editors from Music and Shine will man the red carpet for celebrity arrival interviews. OMG will host the fashion photo galleries. Music’s Managing Editor Lyndsey Parker will be enjoying the show from inside of the Nokia Theater, rubbing elbows with the stars, and Tweeting via the Yahoo_Music account. Yahoo! FP Entertainment Editor Lawrence Yee and Entertainment Blogs’s M.E. Courtney Reimer will host a live VMA Chat. We’ll be talking to the winners and nominees in the press room. Plus, expect VMA recaps from Day Time In No Time personality Nikki Boyer and Yahoo! News’s Pamela Woon.

Consider Yahoo! your one stop shop for VMA coverage.
If not is not impressive enough, two lucky Yahoo! users will be attending the celebrated event. Eva Sanchez of Ventura, California and Chanel Oliver of Hartsdale, New York are the winners of our Party Like A Rock Star! Sweepstakes.

Below, see some of our pre-coverage.

Yahoo! Music
Demand A Recount! These Videos Got Shafted At The 2010 VMAs
We Got Your Crazy: The Wackiest VMA Moments Ever
Listen All Y’all, It’s A Sabotage: These Classic Videos Bizarrely Never Won VMA Trophies

omg!
Most Memorable MTV VMA Moments

BAD VMA Fashions Looks

– Billy Johnson, Jr., Yahoo! Music editor

What do women want? Um, we’re not going to touch that one. But if the question is, “What do women want online?” then we have a study that answers that.

Our researchers in Yahoo! Insights surveyed thousands of women to create The Women Connectonomics study. It’s a definitive and unique look at the needs the Internet fulfills for women, why they turn to certain online channels and how receptive they are to advertising messages on various sites. The study found that:

• The top needs for women revolve around personal growth and their interdependencies on others.
• Women’s lifestyle sites like Yahoo! Shine and special interest sites fulfill the most needs for women.
• Women are three times more receptive to marketing messages on lifestyle, specialty and review sites.

Watch the video and find out what women are looking for online!

• Classic Mail gets chatty: If you’re a Yahoo! Mail Classic diehard but long for some of the less retro features of the new Yahoo! Mail, the product team has your compromise. They’ve just unveiled two chatty features that will be rolled out to mailboxes over the next few months. You’ll be able to send instant messages and SMS messages to your Yahoo! contacts right from the mail interface. Your contact list will highlight who’s online and who’s mobile so you can get to them faster than email (remember when we thought faxes were fast?). Read more on the Mail and Messenger blogs.
• Bye-bye Briefcase: We’ve decided to discontinue Yahoo! Briefcase, effective March 30th. When it was born nearly ten years ago, it saw great usage, but that’s been declining over the years as people turned to places like Yahoo! Mail (unlimited storage, yeah!) and Flickr, both of which make it easier to share things. We know that’s disappointing to those of you who still rely on it, but discontinuing Yahoo! Briefcase lets us focus on the products that are more broadly used. Please, please remove your files before March 30th as you won’t be able to access them thereafter — we wouldn’t want you to lose anything.
• Year of the ox: There’s nothing quite like the guilty pleasure of checking a horoscope. And this week, you need to make that a Chinese horoscope. In honor of the Lunar New Year, the team at Yahoo! Shine has pulled together this overview of what the year of the ox will bring to oxen (as well as goats, pigs, rats, monkeys, etc.). Gong hei fat choi!

Subscribe to the RSS feed (or add it to My Yahoo!) to get this Product Pulse every week.

When our editorial team — which includes editors that hail from Lucky to Jane to the Wall Street Journal — sat down to conceive it, we wanted to avoid all of the buckets that advertisers or marketers tend to put us in. We didn’t want to be a site just for moms or just for single or working women, or any specific demo- or psychographic. We wanted to create a smart, dynamic place for women to gather, get info, and connect with each other and the world around them. The important thing wasn’t how to talk to a 32.5 year-old with 2.2 kids but how to inspire you laugh, think, get mad, empathize, and be surprised and entertained.

Shine melds content from the best writers and bloggers in women publishing (Glamour, Self, Bon Appetit, Redbook, Cosmo, InStyle, Women’s Health… to name just a few) with editorial from popular Yahoo! properties like Yahoo! Health, Yahoo! Tech, Yahoo! Food, and Yahoo! Green with content created by you. That’s right — we want you to be a part of it, not just a bystander. This isn’t a magazine or a TV show where you are an inactive participant — you help create the site. We want you to blog (go here to start your own, it’s pretty easy… and your post could be featured as prominently as partner content), comment on articles, vote in our daily polls, join in the harangue as we discuss daily events.

What you won’t find on Shine: Advice on how to please your man and diets that urge you to “lose 10 pound fast!” What you will find on Shine: Why buying an expensive “It Bag” is a waste of money; how to make a meal in 30 minutes and how to make a face mask out of last night’s 30-minute meal (okay not really, but you get the idea); how to de-stress at your desk; sharp, opinionated takes on the news; and finally, that you aren’t alone in your “Dancing with the Stars” obsession.

We women are experiencing something very cool happening in our culture today and Shine plans to be right in the middle of it. We’ve got a woman campaigning for the top job in the country, female bloggers now outnumber men, and we’ve got Tina Fey writing a hit network show, for goodness sakes. We no longer need to stand by passively as the media portrays us as fashion-obsessed diet victims. With the Internet as our megaphone, we can now portray ourselves as funny, opinionated women who are in charge of our incomes, careers, families, and happiness.

And isn’t that all we’ve ever wanted?

Brandon Holley
Editor-in-Chief, Yahoo! Shine