Hot off the press, the new issue of Dataquest, India’s No. 1 tech publication, lists Prabhakar Raghavan, Yahoo!’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head, Yahoo! Labs, as one of the 20 Most Influential Global Indians in Technology. The cover story of the issue titled The Most Influential Global Indians in Technology, features “global Indians who are in a position to influence how technology and the technology business will shape up in the next few years.”
Joining Prabhakar in this exclusive club are other IT influencers who are uniquely positioned to impact how the technology business evolves globally. As the Dataquest team reiterates, this list is not a celebration of “Indian success,” but one that zeroes in on the “20 Indian technology greats who are influencing how the technology business globally, and technology itself, is shaping up. These are the people who need to be watched for their action.”
 
Profiling Prabhakar, Dataquest  writes, “The company (Yahoo!) is betting big on veterans like Prabhakar to challenge and compete with the folks at Mountain View. Prabhakar took over as head of Yahoo! Labs, created in 2005, with the mandate to redefine search in many different ways, to create new opportunities for Yahoo!, and to take competition head on. Under the leadership of Prabhakar, Yahoo! has launched many significant initiatives.” 
In his role as Chief Strategy Officer at Yahoo!, Prabhakar Raghavan is responsible for developing the long-term corporate strategy and technical vision for Yahoo!. As Head of Yahoo! Labs, Prabhakar oversees one of the world’s premier industrial research labs and works to extend Yahoo!’s scientific leadership in several disciplines critical to innovation in consumer Web experiences and online advertising. At Yahoo! Labs he has overseen the growth of the research, applied science and academic relations functions globally, with major Yahoo! Labs centers of excellence in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. 
Raghavan is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the ACM and of the IEEE, and consulting professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. Prior to joining Yahoo!, he was senior vice president and chief technology officer at Verity, before which he held various technical and managerial positions at IBM Research. Raghavan holds a Ph.D. from Berkeley and has been awarded the Laurea honoris causa by the University of Bologna. He is the author of textbooks on algorithms and on information retrieval, along with numerous papers and patents.

Quoted from the SF Chronicle article:

Two years ago, Blake Irving had more time to spend mornings surfing on the Malibu coast. That was before Yahoo's then-Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz lured him back into the corporate world, as chief product officer of the Sunnyvale company.

Now the industry veteran stands at the center of the efforts to turn around the struggling Internet pioneer.

For months, the public chatter surrounding Yahoo has focused on executive turnover and exploration of its "strategic options." Those themes continued last week with the departure of four more board members - following Bartz and co-founder Jerry Yang out the door - and the emergence of details about how the company might unload its lucrative stakes in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan.

But the real war in the technology space begins and ends with products. Without new ways of drawing users and advertisers, the rest won't add up to much.

That's where Irving comes in. He helped Microsoft build its vast online operations as vice president of the software giant's Windows Live Platform group, before becoming a business professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

In an interview with The Chronicle, he laid out his vision for creating "deeply personal digital experiences" that deliver on five points: personal relevance through science and data; premium user experiences; a mobile-first mind-set; social features that better resemble how we interact in the real world; and an "ecosystem" that allows other companies to work within Yahoo's tools...

To read the entire article click here.
To hear what Blake has to say about Livestand and Living Ads click here.

What a way to start 2012! After an intensive four-month search, Yahoo! has named Scott Thompson as chief executive officer. Thompson comes to Yahoo! from eBay’s PayPal unit, where he served as president of the leading online-payment site since 2008. The tech guru has also served as the chief information officer for Barclays Global Investors and Visa Inc.’s Inovant. He plans to apply his dedication to innovation, speed, and discipline to carry Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, into the new year. In Thompson’s own words: “I cannot wait to get started.”

Here are six fun facts to keep you up to speed on the new CEO.
-    The 54-year-old New Englander hails from the small town of Raynham, near the south shore of Massachusetts. He’s a die-hard fan of all things related to Boston sports. Listen closely for his distinct Boston accent, which the Wall Street Journal calls “the best New England accent in corporate America since Jack Welch.”

-    Thompson’s father was a small-business owner, which inspired Thompson’s own professional path. He remembers, “What [my father] did and how he did it is why my brothers and sisters and I are where we are today.”
-    Thompson is a proud graduate of Stonehill College, a small private Catholic school in Easton, Massachusetts, where he holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science. “A lot of things form the basis of who you are,” Thompson said in an interview, “and I give Stonehill the appropriate amount of credit for helping shape me along the way.”
-    The left-handed Silicon Valley resident is married with two sons and a daughter.
-    Thompson was the recipient of the 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
-    During his time at PayPal, Thompson helped to more than double the payment service’s revenue, boosting it from $1.8 billion to $4 billion.

Quick Quotes From Thompson
-    “Pretty religiously, I start [my day] on some Yahoo! site in the morning.” – On his longtime loyalty to Yahoo!.-    “I’m from Boston; [we’ve been] the underdogs since the beginning of time. Hopefully that spirit has held through. I like doing complicated, very difficult, very challenging things.” – On his ability to step up to the challenge of becoming Yahoo!’s CEO.
-    “I want to return this business to being one of the great iconic brands. I have a core belief that what happens in the next five years — and the next ten — is almost impossible to imagine.” – On his vision for the future of Yahoo!.
Quick Quotes About Thompson
-    “When he took over PayPal it was far smaller, much more like an emerging startup that eBay absorbed a couple years earlier.” – Gil B. Luria, Wedbush analyst, on Thompson’s success at PayPal (via Wall Street Journal).
-    “Scott brings to Yahoo! a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth — precisely the formula we need at Yahoo!.” – Roy Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman of the board, on the decision to appoint Thompson as CEO.
-    “Thompson is a seasoned executive and a smart operator with particular depth in technology.” – Wells Fargo analyst Jason Maynard in a report to clients (via San Jose Mercury News).

What's a Chief Yahoo? It's a guy who dreams, inspires, and rolls up his sleeves while working side-by-side with teams in the trenches. We're talking of course about Jerry Yang, Yahoo!'s co-founder.

Before the wired world was neatly organized and so readily accessible, we actually had to browse page after page of Boolean look-ups to find stuff. But Jerry Yang and David Filo changed all that. The year was 1994, and in a trailer at Stanford, these two guys began creating a guide that eventually became a directory of sites dubbed "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," or Yahoo!. Yahoo! is now a brand known around the globe, and the world's premier digital media company, but only because of the vision and hard work of its two founders.
A few days ago it was announced that Jerry has decided to move on from Yahoo!, leaving it in the capable hands of our new CEO Scott Thompson, Jerry's old pal "Filo," and the 13,000 + Yahoo! employees worldwide.
Jerry, whatever trailer you choose to take your talents to next, we know you'll rock the world with your vision. This yodel's for you.

-- All of Us at Yahoo!

Reposted from Yahoo! Advertising Blog.

What moment in 2011 stands out in your mind? The space shuttle launching into space one final time? An earthquake and tsunami that, in a matter of minutes, devastated a country? A royal wedding destined to be talked about for decades? As we wrap up the year, Flickr has pulled together a Year in Photos 2011 Gallery that covers several of the moving, emotionally charged, and surprising images that captivated us this year. Some of these images were captured using the most sophisticated digital cameras to date, while others were taken using the latest smartphones. Regardless, each photo captures a moment perfectly. Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the help of our Flickr community, who helped us reach new heights in 2011, including more than 6 billion photos now stored on Flickr and more than 200 million images now available through our Creative Commons  service. Many thanks to all of the Flickr members who provided photos for this collection, and here’s to 2012 and capturing even more memorable moments.

See the Year in Photos 2011 on Flickr.

Imagine an event centered around people with disabilities that has absolutely nothing to do with charity! Imagine that same event being completely fun, engaging, enlightening (And did we mention fun?). Such was Independence 2011 (http://y.ahoo.it/independence), an event created specifically for the Yahoo! community (including family members and friends). Independence 2011 had one primary goal: to open your eyes to the reality of disability...which is likely different from the stereotypes many of us carry around.

For more disability related content: Visit the Yahoo! Accessibility Blog: http://accessibility.yahoo.comLike Yahoo! Accessibility on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YahooAccessibilityFollow Yahoo! Accessibility on Twitter: http://twitter.com/YahooAccess

Hello, world! We’d like to give a big welcome to our new Yahoo! Mail markets and languages around the world.
Yes, that’s right – today we’re announcing the international expansion of Yahoo! Mail to 27 new markets and 22 new languages. 700 million of you have already come to know and love Yahoo!, Yahoo! Mail and all of the different experiences we have to offer, but we have been focused on extending Yahoo! to even more of you worldwide.
With today’s news, Yahoo! Mail is now in more than 70 markets and 46 languages worldwide. Moreover, by adding these languages and markets today, we’re now able to reach a potential 226 million new people across every single continent.  Or to put it another way, with a push of a button (or two) approximately 90% of the world’s Internet population can now use Yahoo! Mail in their native language.
Some of the new languages and markets coming on board:

• Ten new languages in Asia, including eight new languages in India alone.
• Twelve new languages in Europe, including Serbian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Croatian.
• Several new markets around the globe, including South Africa, Belgium, Austria and Portugal.

Since launching Yahoo! Mail earlier this year in May, we’ve been continuously focused on delivering a faster, safer and easier online communications experience, expanding into markets like Arabic with our Maktoob launch, and now we’re delighted to offer it to all these new countries. Check it out, have fun, and let us know what you think!

James Carroll, SVP Global Products Development

Yahoo!’s EVP of the Americas named one of world’s leading media strategists 

Just twelve months after joining Yahoo! as the Executive Vice President of the Americas region, Ross Levinsohn has been recognized by Ad Age as a 2011 Media Maven. The annual Media Mavens awards fete the world's leading media strategists for their creative thinking, leadership and innovation. At an event in New York today honoring the award winners, Levinsohn was in very good company with honorees from brands like Apple, P&G and Warner Bros.

During his year-long tenure, Levinsohn has created a strong track record for championing unique content experiences and new partnerships that benefit Yahoo!’s consumers and advertisers. He’s committed to pushing the boundaries and ensuring Yahoo!’s continued leadership position as the premiere digital media company. Here’s a look back at some of the company’s key accomplishments under Levinsohn: 

• Yahoo! remains the top-ranked site in an amazing 13 U.S. categories, including sports, mail, news, finance, entertainment-news, shopping, TV, real estate, autos, instant messaging, and photos. 

• The Royal Wedding was the largest video event in Yahoo!’s history, surpassing the funeral of pop star Michael Jackson by 21 percent, and totaling 27 million video streams and 2.6 million live video streams over the 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday. 

• The death of Osama bin Laden marked new traffic records on Yahoo! News, surpassed only by March’s earthquake in Japan. More than 45 million pages on Yahoo! were viewed about bin Laden’s death those two days—more page views than these Websites got for the entire month: NPR, Salon, TechCrunch, The Atlantic, or Google Reader. 

• Yahoo! had all the top 10 original shows on the Web in August. Calling Yahoo! "the broadcast network of the digital age," Yahoo! Media Network senior VP Mickie Rosen announced a slate of eight new video series aimed at the 13 million women who watch Yahoo! video.

• To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Yahoo! partnered with National September 11 Memorial & Museum (9/11 Memorial) and co-produced a memorial microsite which included tools for users to tell their own stories.

• Yahoo! and ABC announce a new partnership that will bring both consumers and advertisers a treasure trove of premium video content.
• Yahoo! is named the official, and only broadcast destination for “A Decade of Difference” –a concert celebrating the philanthropic work of President Clinton and The William J. Clinton Foundation, featuring an all-star group of the most influential and socially responsible artists, including Bono and Lady Gaga. Yahoo!’s Decade of Difference microsite received more than 200 million page views. 
•Yahoo! announced a partnership with Microsoft and AOL to offer each other’s premium non-reserved online display inventory to their respective advertising customers. 
• Yahoo! was the official live-streaming partner of the premier of “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”, churning out wall-to-wall coverage of the scene at L.A. Live’s Nokia Theater, including star arrivals and fan reaction. The live stream was syndicated internationally, ensuring that fans all over the world could get a glimpse of the event. An exclusive “Breaking Dawn” trailer on Yahoo! shattered records with 2.9 million streams in a single day.

In an interview earlier this fall, Levinsohn told Ad Age, "I don't want to look back and say, 'Gosh, we had a chance to be innovative and bold, but we just felt comfortable and scared to do something different.'"Today’s award and the list of accomplishments above indicate he doesn’t need to worry about that. 

Senior Director, User Experience Design for India and Middle East

We are responsible for innovating and designing products that are meaningful for our end users and ones that engage and delight them. We focus on creating that “wow” experience that actually touches a user’s heart. 
My team works on products that span from media sites like Yahoo! Cricket, OMG to business applications that are used by consumers and advertisers. Some of these products are targeted at the global audiences while some are unique to the India and Middle East markets.

This space is becoming exciting as our products are consumed on multiple devices like PC, mobile , tablets and connected TV’s. Designing a holistic experience that is device agnostic is truly challenging and rewarding. Good designs that are relevant, meaningful, engaging and entertaining contribute to our product metrics and also help build customer loyalty. This in turn helps build a better brand that people trust, love and follow.

In my group we also take care of accessibility requirements that help users with disabilities use our products.

Its been a little over 3 years at Yahoo and I am delighted to work with a whole bunch of talented people. Every day I learn something new and this is extremely rewarding. My role has taken me to other Yahoo! offices in Jordan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore as we design products for these markets. Learning about these diverse cultures and markets and interacting with brilliant Yahoos in different parts of the world has kept me on a consistent high!

The rich product development ecosystem at the Bangalore development center, gave me an opportunity to work closely with Product Managers. This has immensely helped me understand the business perspective of designing and building products. This again has been a huge learning.

Creativity at Yahoo! goes beyond designs or products – we try to weave that into our lives too. For me, that comes with being an applauded (okay, lets settle for appreciated ) barista.  Be it the espresso machine, an Italian mocha pot, a French press, an American drip coffee maker, the Vietnamese coffee filter and or the desi south indian coffee filter – brewing that well-deserved cuppa at the end of an interesting day is my idea of nirvana!

Livestand is now available! A personalized living magazine, Livestand weaves together content from leading third-party publishers and Yahoo!'s global media network to create a visually stunning and deeply personalized digital experience tailored to each people's interests and passions.

Visit Livestand on Facebook! 
Hear from one of the Livestand Engineers
Like most engineers, Daivak Shah likes building things from the ground up. So naturally, when presented with the opportunity to help create Livestand for Yahoo!, Daivak jumped at the chance. The Senior Engineering Manager for Livestand describes the initiative a “content eco-system,” weaving together the vast amount of content that Yahoo! has at its disposal into a rich, custom-tailored experience for consumers, advertisers and publishers. Being able to take an active role in building this game-changing user experience has kept Daivak invested in Yahoo! “I feel passionate about what I’m building and I’m enjoying what I’m working on.”

As the regional director of public policy in APAC, I have many conversations with regulators on best practices in the Internet space. During these conversations, I am always proud to profile the leadership that Yahoo! plays in the area of Internet safety and the websites we have launched around the world.  As a team, there are many of us working hard on this and the results in APAC are world-class.
One of the most important projects that has happened this year was the launch of Yahoo! Safely in Vietnam, to promote online safety among children and young people in Vietnam. The launch roped in Vietnamese celebrity Ha Anh (also Unicef’s local Ambassador) and up-and-coming local boy-band “365” as Yahoo! Ambassadors to help spread the word. Leveraging the Yahoo! Safely website and plans to extend to offline activities such as a “train-the-trainer” programme, road shows and school visits, the initiative is the first of its kind in Vietnam.
Yahoo! is the first Internet company to establish a presence in Vietnam when it entered the market in 2007 and enjoys a very positive brand image. The launch of Safely in Vietnam, to me, was testament to Yahoo!’s commitment and responsibility to the market. Vietnam is a burgeoning new-to-net market brimming with huge potential and business opportunities – and everyone wants a slice.  31% of the population is currently online, and Vietnam has experienced the fastest growth in Internet in the region in the last 10 years. Yet, online safety is largely overlooked.
While online safety is important all across the world, it is critical in emerging markets in Asia as the majority of new users are youth aged 15 and above, where the Internet is an uncharted landscape, not just to them, but to their parents and educators.
Yahoo! has robust online safety programs in every major market. Above Yahoo! Safely which has been launched is in most markets, there are also online safety initiatives in the region outside the umbrella that push strong similarly strong agendas.
In India, the online safety programme led by colleagues from Yahoo! India comes under Learn with Yahoo!, an initiative to educate users about the Internet, and like Vietnam, targets new-to-net users. In Taiwan, a mature market where Yahoo! enjoys a 98% reach, the Internet Security Program for Children aims to educate users as early as elementary school.
Reaching out in India
India’s online safety program kicked into high gear when its school program, upon travelling to 27 schools in Delhi last year, found that while 98% of this school’s growing audience knew about the Internet and considered it a destination for learning, fun and entertainment, net safety was not a feature on the kids’ radar. Awareness about Internet safety was virtually non-existent.
This insight shaped a new focus for the team, who took the safety message outside of the original program framework. Harnessing the reach and popularity of animated cartoon characters, Yahoo! India aired vignettes on Internet safety on kids’ channels such as Cartoon Network and Pogo, with the characters sharing tips, along with an interactive quiz on TV through SMS, to effectively get the message across to kids and parents.
Now, Yahoo! India reaches 82% of the Internet audience in India and is a market where users are growing exponentially. Today, above leveraging kids channels and school programs, Internet safety tips are shared across 2,500 Internet cafés in 50+ Indian cities, helping a brand new audience make smarter, safer choices online.
Keeping Kids Safe Online in Taiwan
In Taiwan, Yahoo!Kimo’s partnership with the government and academy brought to bear its Internet Safety Program for Children in 2009. It is estimated that 1.6 million Taiwanese children under 12 use the Internet. The project addressed kids aged 12-14 and touched on three main areas: managing time spent online, befriending strangers on the Internet and giving out too much personal information.
The campaign started in Taipei with camps, blogs, online material and an ambassador programme, and extended islandwide the following year. Materials were developed for classroom use, and Yahoo!Kimo travelled to 2,650 elementary schools across the country to spread the message. This year, teen idols were invited to speak on the program together with the launch of fun videos and competition. And the kids noticed – making over 100,000 downloads of the material. Yahoo! Kimo’s efforts have seen them win the Taiwan PR Awards- Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign of the Year, and  the Outstanding Award – Education, in the annual CSR awards presented by Global Views, a leading current affairs publication in Taiwan.
And the online safety push isn’t over in Vietnam. In July, the PC for Life campaign, in partnership with Dell and Intel, saw 2,000 youth journeying across the country on foot to spread the word on internet safety, and educating villagers along the way on how to use the Internet. The Yahoo! Safely partnership with Unicef also saw an MOU signed, partnering on various children issues.
To say the least, I’m very proud to be working for a company which understands the need to better the community it serves.
Kuek Yu-Chuang, Yahoo! APAC’s regional director of public policy


Yahoo! Safely around the world - click the link for your region to learn more:
Argentina : Asia : Australia : Brasil : Canada : Chile : Colombia : Deutschland : España : France : 香港 : India : Indonesia : Italia : Malaysia : México : الشرق الأوسط وإفريقيا : New Zealand : Perú : Philippines : Québec : Singapore : 한국 : 台灣 : ประเทศไทย : United Kingdom : United States : en Español : Venezuela : Việt Nam

Director, Program management & Business Operations, Cloud Platforms Group 

 I run the program management and business operations for the Cloud Platform Group (CPG) at Bangalore. At CPG, we deliver the powerful infrastructure and platforms that help developers innovate and add new features rapidly and efficiently.
Leading a team of program managers, I track strategic initiatives in this Group by monitoring progress towards meeting goals and achieving benchmarks, analyzing data, ensuring follow-through on the part of key players, and sustaining momentum needed to drive these initiatives. We take accountability for planning, structuring, leading and executing the largest projects or programmes, which are often of great complexity and high risk.

Sounds complex, well that’s what the world of Platforms is all about. But actually, that’s not all – we do have our “fun” moments too.

I remember an instance, when the team pulled a fast one on our boss (who had been newly promoted) to come to a nearby restaurant - on the pretext of conducting an interview. An unsuspecting boss was shocked to see a table full of his team members waiting eagerly for him to sponsor a lunch treat! Since then he has been very cautious about our interview invites especially when it is at some fancy restaurant!

I have been with Yahoo for about 3 and half years and it has been one great ride! One of the most compelling reasons to work at Yahoo! is the culture of the organization - we live life with an exclamation mark!  In the unpredictable internet world, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the demanding and dynamic nature of the work. What I love about Yahoo! is that here everyone gets the opportunity to make a difference.  You are a part of a diverse and inclusive work culture, and surrounded by some of the most brilliant, innovative and creative minds in the business. We exemplify work-hard-and-play-hard.  It is exciting, energetic, passionate and fun! Truly, a great place to be.

What does "amazingly ordinary" mean? Yahoo Alan Brightman explains the idea behind Independence-2011.

In this article, we meet Alan Brightman. As a leader in the Global Accessibility Team, Alan opens our eyes to what a Yahoo! user with disabilities may feel, and how we can all learn about the humanity of accessibility during Yahoo!'s Independence-2011.

Be honest. If you were able to picture our hundreds of millions of users, how often do you think that picture would include individuals with disabilities?
Never? Yes, that’s pretty much the average. And understandably so. After all, most of us have almost no direct experience with disabled people so if we ever do think about kids or adults with disabilities, we usually think about them as being somehow “special” - as being very different from who we usually think of as Yahoo! users.

Just Plain Ordinary

Many years ago, a friend of mine told me from his wheelchair that the toughest thing about being disabled is, “I’m never perceived as just plain ordinary. I’m either noticed too much or noticed not at all.” That’s a strange place to be, not being able to simply blend in—to be invisible—whenever you want.

And that is how the idea for Yahoo!’s Independence-2011 came about.

The Humanity of Accessibility

More than a thousand Yahoos have toured our Accessibility Labs in Sunnyvale and Bangalore and, as a result, have learned a lot about the technology of accessibility. What we haven’t been able to teach well enough, though, is the humanity of accessibility or what I think of as the ordinariness of disability. So we’re bringing that amazing ordinariness to the Yahoo! campus. We’re giving Yahoos the opportunity to better understand the disabled experience in a comfortable, engaging, and non-threatening setting.

Independence-2011 Activities

There will be a lot going on during Independence-2011. A nationally known chef, who happens to be blind, will display his culinary talents in an activity called “Cooking Without Looking.” An organization known as the AbleGamers Foundation will show how kids and adults with profound disabilities use various assistive technologies to play the same video games on the same consoles as everyone else. The National Center for Accessible Media will be on hand demonstrating a variety of technologies, including one that they invented, which enables people who are deaf to watch captioned versions of first-run movies while sitting right next to someone—in a mainstream movie theater—who isn’t seeing any captions at all.

Other activities and demos will be arrayed across the Yahoo! campus, including what many Yahoos see as a rare opportunity to show off their basketball prowess. They’ll be playing in wheelchairs on our courts against a professional wheelchair basketball team from Berkeley.

Las Vegas odds have yet to be posted for the wheelchair basketball competitions, but I think it’s safe to say that the guys in the purple shirts will be humbled. And trounced.

Alan Brightman
VP, Global Accessibility Team