Tumblr. Flickr. Now Hulu? If a new rumor is to be believed, Yahoo has placed a bid on the TV/movie platform. The rumor originates from a source speaking to AllThingD, and claims that Yahoo officially submitted the bid to Hulu earlier this morning.

Currently how much Yahoo is offering and other specifics are unknown. Beyond Yahoo, there are also other interested parties in Hulu such as DirecTV, KKR, the Chemin Group, Guggenheim Digital, Willaim Morris Endeavor, Time Warner Cable and Silverlake.

The source further asserts that all interested companies were told by Hulu to have their bids in by this coming Wednesday. In other words, Hulu seems pretty intent on selling – or at least that’s the word on the web.

Hulu has quickly become a go-to alternative for many folks looking to cut the cord on cable, or a supplement for those looking to augment their existing programming. Under new hands, it is hard to say what will happen to Hulu and how its service model might change.

IF Hulu really is planning to sell soon, who do you hope gets the winning bid? Would you be concerned if Yahoo did add Hulu to their growing arsenal of services?

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The post Yahoo Reportedly Puts Bid in For Hulu appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr is certainly big news, but they have promised that the blogging site will remain the same as it is now. But much needed changes have arrived for Flickr, which was acquired by Yahoo back in 2005 (and then neglected until now).

The changes that have arrived include updates to the Flickr web experience, a new Android app, and a new business model which is meant to attract new users to the site.

Via the new look, the focus is on the photos. Users will now be able to enjoy big thumbnails, full-screen pictures by default, and an image’s metadata is below the fold. Your photostream will display a big tiled view of your pictures, and there’s an easy share button for sharing pictures to the social network of your choice. The Android app is also making photos the focus. The screenshot of the app below shows photostream on the left hand side and Explore section on the right hand side.

So, big changes to how the site looks. But even bigger is what’s available to free account holders. From now on, free users have access to 1TB of storage. Earlier it was limited to 300MB of photos and two videos per month. And back then there was just one paid version: unlimited photos and videos per month, no ads, and detailed statistics for $24.95 a year. From now on, there are two paid options: $49.99 a year with no ads but everything else is the same as the free version, and for $499.99 you will get 2TB of storage. Only those who are having paid accounts at the moment can renew subscriptions. This pricing strategy has just one goal, which is attracting new users to its free service and discouraging subscriptions.

According to Adam Cahan, SVP of Mobile and Emerging products at Yahoo, Flickr has 89 million users at present who have uploaded more than 8 billion photos. But that’s nothing compared to Facebook’s more than 1 billion users and 240 billion pictures. Maybe Yahoo is a bit too late with this Flickr update, though it’s better late than never.

But the new look is not being accepted by Flickr’s current users, although we think that it’s a good update. The site certainly looks and feels way better and could attract many new users with their new strategy. The current users will certainly adapt, at least Yahoo could be hoping so. And everything appears to have come at the right time; an awesome update and an acquisition of one of the biggest blogging platforms.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer says, “We have a nice set of the creator brands. Photographers and writers. With that, there is natural set of opportunities that arise between Flickr and Tumblr and we’ll deal with that as it comes”.

Maybe things are starting to get better for Yahoo. What do you think? Do you have plans to start using Flickr? Do let us know in the box below.

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The post Yahoo Finally Giving Flickr The Love It Needs appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This weekend, the net was abuzz with rumors that Yahoo was buying Tumblr. The news is now official. According to New York Times, Yahoo will pay the sum of $1.1 billion in cash in order to get their hands on Tumblr.

As we all know, Yahoo is a fallen former search giant that has attempted to keep things together in recent years through its other services, but continues to lose ground rapidly. Having Tumblr under its control could be exactly what the company needs. The problem is that Yahoo as a brand doesn’t instill much confidence, which is why Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer has since come forward to promise they won’t screw everything up:

Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going. We will operate Tumblr independently. David Karp will remain CEO. The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve.

For Tumblr users this is probably at least somewhat reassuring, because it means Yahoo has no plans to come in and change everything from the get-go. David Karp also had a few things to say about the change:

Our headquarters isn’t moving. Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing.

So that’s that. For any Tumblr users reading this, how (if at all) does this change your opinion of Tumblr? Conversely, do you feel the buyout won’t really make much of a difference?

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The post Yahoo Buying Tumblr for $1.1 Billion appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Today Yahoo has announced a fresh new look, which Yahoo’s CEO Marrisa Mayer says is more “intuitive and personal”.

The layout isn’t that different at first glance but is optimized across a variety of mobile devices, alongside newly design apps that make it easy to tap into your Facebook profile to broadcast friends birthdays and other key social information on the customized Yahoo homepage.

According to Mayer, the redesign coming is just one of many changes to Yahoo’s services and will roll out to browsers over the course of the next few days.

The bigger question is whether or not a more “social” approach to Yahoo will be their saving grace or if they will continue to lose relevance in a world that is dominated by bigger players like Bing, Google and Facebook. What do you think?

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The post Yahoo Announces Homepage Redesign with More ‘Social’ Focus appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Flickr Pro accounts can upload an unlimited number of images and videos every month and get unlimited bandwidth/storage. Photos can be in up to 60 groups, and users can browse ad free.

If you’re a serious photographer and/or videographer, Flickr has some very useful features to offer. With the 3 month extension/trial good for a limited time (the holiday season), it would be silly not to take up Flickr on their offer. It’s also not very nice to turn down a holiday gift.

Is this a last resort move by Yahoo and Flickr to bring more users to their photo/video platform? Does Flickr stand a chance against the might Instagram/Facebook duo? Let us know in the comments below.

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The post Flickr Gives Everyone 3 Months of Free Pro Service for the Holidays appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This morning, Yahoo! Inc. reported that “the 49th Civil Court of the Federal District of Mexico City has entered a non-final judgment of U.S. $2.7 billion against Yahoo! Inc.” Furthermore, the lawsuit was filed by Worldwide Directories S.A. de C.V. and Ideas Interactivas, S.A. de C.V against the internet giant.

The plaintiffs claim that Yahoo breached contract, breached promise, and caused a loss of profits from contracts related to a yellow pages listings service. Due to the fact that this case is not finished yet, we are unsure if $2.7 billion is the final number. However, with the recent trouble surrounding Yahoo, a $2.7 billion court order is the last thing that the Sunnyvale internet giant needs.

Remember when Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1 billion for their damages? Clearly, this magnitude of a court order is not unheard of.

In the month of November, Yahoo’s stock price had been on the rise (up 12%). This is mostly due to the fact that Yahoo reported quarterly profits above $3 billion. After this news hit, the stock went down 2%.

Is it finally the end of the road for Yahoo with surrounding controversy and constant failure? Or is this just another bump in the road they will eventually overcome?

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The post Mexican Court Tells Yahoo to Pay Up $2.7 Billion appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We know that many of you have been waiting for a while for this moment; the Sparrow mail app is finally available for the iPhone. From now on, you will be able to enjoy a simplified way of checking your Gmail, iCloud and other accounts.

Just in case you are new to Sparrow, it is a third party email application and was a Mac-only app until now. The new mobile version comes with a range of features and, according to reports, is almost as good as the Mac version.

Sparrow for iPhone offers support for IMAP mail accounts like Gmail, iCloud, or Yahoo, but there’s no POP support. The app brings a unified inbox, and navigation is possible via swipes and gestures. The app is also coming with “smart contact list”, which will suggest possible recipients for your email (a faster way of emailing frequent contacts), the ability to attach pictures directly from within the app, and much more. But the absence of push email might be a deal-breaker for many.

And updates in the future will also bring in a built-in web browser, a landscape mode among other features. Sparrow is currently available from iTunes and it costs $2.99.  The app will work on iOS devices which run iOS 5.0 and above.

The post Sparrow For iPhone Is The Mobile Email Client Google Couldn’t Build appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Yahoo is staking its claim in new-media territory with the launch of Livestand, a digital magazine stand for your tablet or super-phone.

It’s not an app, they say, but a next-generation Yahoo platform where third-party magazines and media will funnel through to a personalized splash page.

“If Life is so digital…why aren’t our publications?” asked Yahoo product czar Blake Irving during the conference call announcement. He says small publishers are having a hard time on tablets because they can’t monetize, reach their audiences, or make their apps much more than just PDFs. Lifestand will enable publishers and advertisers to seamlessly distribute content across tablets and mobile phones in an experience that is elegant and personalized to the individual.

The program will also feature Yahoo Answers and Mail integration and an in-line browser for sharing content.

Though most of the content will be Yahoo-based when the app hits iOS and Android later this year, Irving says “we see a future where two people in a garage can publish a magazine with the tools we enable.”

They’re working with a few select partners, including Surf Magazine, ahead of the launch.

Yahoo isn’t letting on too much more, but for now, check out the teaser images they have released.

[<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/live-yahoos-mobile-announcement-2011-2">Business Insider</a>, <a href="http://livestand.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Livestand</a>]

The post Yahoo Livestand appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Yahoo Sketch-a-Search for the iPhone

A new app was released this week by Yahoo for the iPhone will help you find restaurants in your area and beyond.  The app is called Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search and is available free from the iTunes App Store.

Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search is primarily a restaurant search app that allows you to find places to eat in an area you search.  You search by sketching a circle around that area with your finger, Yahoo then looks for restaurants inside that area, points them out, and lists them.  You can access them for reviews, addresses, and phone numbers.  Some even have menu, pricing, and photos.  Another great feature is the ability to sort exactly what type of establishment you wish to find by filtering results.

All of the features work well, and there’s a ton of restaurants you can find in your area.  It’s a great app to have if you need to plan a date, an evening out, or just want to find a new specific restaurant.  It works simply, easily, and efficiently with quick load times.  I think it is one of the best  search apps on the market and even prefer it to Urbanspoon. Yahoo plans to launch additional local categories on an ongoing basis and extend to international markets in the near future.

The post Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search for iPhone finds you good eats appeared first on Mobile Magazine.