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Yahoo has added new applications for its users in another step toward giving its users more and more to do from within Yahoo.

The company plans to announce the limited beta of three new Yahoo Mail applications from PayPal, Picnik, and Zumo Drive on Friday. Yahoo Mail users who have indicated an interest in signing up for Yahoo's beta programs will be the first to get a crack at the new services, with the applications coming to the wider user base over the next several months.

It's all part of Yahoo's Open Strategy, designed to let outside … Read more

It might be Facebook's worst-kept secret.

It's become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Facebook is finally inching toward the launch of a micropayment platform. The social site has been expanding the presence of its virtual currency, which Facebook debuted last November when it changed the monetary units for its "Gifts" product into "credits" rather than U.S. dollars.

Credits are now bundled with some promotional items in the Gifts app. And soon, select developers on the Facebook Platform will be able to start working "credits" into their own applications, in a … Read more

What seemed to be yet another fantasy flying vehicle may have moved closer to reality this week when a test version of the three-wheeler PAL-V One took off publicly in Holland.

Accelerating just some 500 feet along the A1 highway near the city of Amersfoort, the three-wheeler took off easily in front of the Dutch Minister of Traffic Safety and Water Affairs, Camiel Eurlings, and a massive group of curious journalists.

According to the Digital Journal, many had hoped to see a real prototype of the flying-and-driving vehicle, which is aimed at consumers. What actually took off was a proof-of-concept vehicle, to show that the tiny three-wheeler could both drive and fly for real, which it apparently could.

On the other hand, as the autogyro technology it's based on was invented in 1919 by the Spaniard Juan de la Cierva, and flew for the first time in 1923, this was no hugely sensational news. Minister Eurlings, whose ministry is involved in the project, also said that despite some people's hopes, the vehicle would not be a solution to traffic congestion, but a possible alternative to helicopters for emergency services. … Read more

The murkiness surrounding Facebook's valuation got in the way of its attempt to acquire Twitter last year, according to a BusinessWeek article posted Sunday.

Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel's interview with BusinessWeek make it sound like while the talks were serious, they simply didn't go that far: "It became pretty clear it wasn't going to happen...The deal would have to be done with Facebook stock. And then you have to figure out how much the stock is worth." Twitter, according to an anonymous source, was told that the social network's valuation was … Read more

Marketing agency Rosetta released a study Thursday that found Bill Me Later and PayPal are the most popular alternative payment options on the Web, capturing 26 percent and 25 percent market share, respectively. Google Checkout increased its share by just 1 percent in 2008 commanding just 11 percent of the market.

Rosetta also found that 37 percent of the top 100 major retailers on the Web employ alternative payment options like those offered from PayPal and Bill Me Later, but just 7 percent of those retailers offer all three services.

iPhone developer Smule announced Thursday that it has secured $3.… Read more

The OpenID Foundation announced Wednesday that it has added PayPal as a corporate member of the board. Andrew Nash, PayPal's senior director of information risk management, joins the board, which is populated by representatives from Google, IBM, and Microsoft, among others. According to Nash, PayPal elected to become part of the OpenID board because "open standards-based user-centric identity is clearly becoming an increasingly important part of the evolving web infrastructure" and his company believes it can add to OpenID's desire to bring more security to the Web.

HealthCentral, a site that provides a collection of condition-specific … Read more

In mid-December, Forbes.com concluded that pro skateboarder Tony Hawk is the world's third-most influential athlete, trailing only Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong.

For those not all that familiar with skateboarding as a sport, this might come as a surprise, given some of the athletes he came in ahead of--football star Peyton Manning, basketball prodigy LeBron James, and NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But to the millions of people who have played any of the 10 Tony Hawk video games, the Forbes honor surely came as no surprise. After all, those games have become one of the most successful … Read more

Online payment service PayPal announced Monday that it has added a new layer of security for mobile phone users. The PayPal SMS Security Key gives users the option of receiving a unique six-digit security code via text message prior to logging in to their accounts. According to the company, the SMS (Short Message Service) security key generates the code every 30 seconds. Members will be required to input the code along with their usernames and passwords to sign in to their accounts.

PayPal's chief information security officer, Michael Barrett, believes this form of two-factor authentication, in which you need … Read more