Yahoo is the original Internet location. Back in the early days everyone had their Hotmail email address, and had Yahoo search directory set as their start page in Netscape Navigator. Things have changed drastically since then. Google is in the spotlight for search, and Yahoo has branched out to offer some important services for todays internet users, (insert Mozilla fan boy comment now) and we should all be using Firefox.

Taking a queue from Richard MacManus' post on the Top 10 Yahoo! Properties, we would like to highlight some of Yahoo's services that are making a difference in our lives in this Web 2.0 landscape.

1- Flickr - Yahoo took this photo community under their wings in March 2005, and ever since then have been steadily acquiring new members who post photos to share with friends and community members. In June 2005 after Flickr was acquired, the site had 775,000 registered users. That was a big increase given that the month before Yahoo acquired them Flickr had only 270,000 users. Today there are over 10 million registered users on Flickr, with 27 million unique visitors worldwide.


2- Del.icio.us - The original social bookmarking spot. Del.icio.us started the social bookmarking scene and Yahoo saw he benefits to having it part of their empire, eventually acquiring them in December 2005. Even though they have been lagging recently when it comes to updating their space, (believe it or not, they are working hard to develop the infrastructure necessary for scaling) they are still the top spot.


3- Yahoo GO 2.0 - This leading mobile application puts Yahoo in the forefront of mobile application developments. It offers users a quick look at everything from weather, stocks, email, and news feeds in the palm of your hand. The new Yahoo GO 2.0 GA is available on 200 different mobile devices, expanding to 400 by the end of 2007.

Look out for a field test user report coming soon from DLS on Yahoo GO 2.0.


4- Yahoo Pipes - There was a lot of hoopla about this platform before and when it launched, and it has since seemed to have fizzled out a bit. It is a way for non developers to develop complex feed aggregators and create data mashups that combine sources like Yahoo searches and Flickr RSS to create complex applications within minutes.


5- My Yahoo - Start pages are where it should be at for regular users. All of your standard information right at your finger tips as soon as you open a browser window. Although big competitors like Netvibes and Pageflakes are still fan favorites, Yahoo is strongly in the game.

DLS asks, what is your favorite Yahoo tool or service?