Tech Shout!

Yahoo! has released an update to its instant messaging program. Messenger 9.0 beta is now available for download, it sports additional features along with improvements.

The latest update allows Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 beta users to enjoy games such as Checkers, Pool, Toki Toki Boom, etc.

Moreover, the Import Contacts features enables Yahoo users to add friends from address books from various sites such as Gmail, Orkut, Yahoo! Address Book, Hotmail, AOL and many more. While the Yahoo! Updates lets users know about what their friends are doing on Yahoo!. When a friend buzzes a favorite news story or changes their Avatar, a Yahoo! Update is displayed next to that friend in your contact list (with more detail in their contact card).

A Contact List Format Button is another addition to the Messenger 9.0 beta. Two types of formats of this Contact List button are available - detailed and compact. Besides, the Voice in chat rooms for Vista users and faster Captcha process are also incorporated in the Messenger 9.0 beta. It enables voice in chat rooms and Yahoo! has also changed chat room verification process. Users can enter the Captcha code directly in the chat room window instead of having to go off to another page.

Finally, Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 program offers bigger emoticons. In addition, when a new message comes in to the background window, a small notification will pop up from the lower right corner of the user’s screen with the beginning text of the IM your friend just sent.

Users can download the latest version of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 beta from http://messenger.yahoo.com/win.