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Yahoo Mail's social upgrade suffers a burp

Some users hit by glitch in Yahoo's new socially connected version of its online mail service.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Stephen Shankland

Yahoo is proud of new features it began rolling into its online mail service this week, but some users had troubles with the upgrade.

"We found that some people were prevented from accessing the new social features in mail today for a short period of time," spokeswoman Karen Mahon said Thursday. "We have fixed the issue, so people should not have any issues with the new features."

The upgrade adds social features and six applications into Yahoo Mail. (Check our Yahoo Open Strategy gallery for a guided tour of some new features.) For example, people can sort their in-box to show only messages from their contacts, and applications can be used to show all photos in a person's mail archive.

"I have been unable to access my mail since I opened this page to find out what this new application was all about. I am not happy!!!" posted one commenter on Yahoo's announcement. And David Cassel said in an e-mail to CNET News that he also was affected: "Instead of upgrading Yahoo's mail, they broke it!"

Those who've signed up for a new Yahoo profile will get the social features, but only power users were invited to test the applications element, Yahoo said. The applications beta test will be broadened to more people "over the coming months."