My Yahoo! Blog

Hungry for 60 hot dogs?

I remember many different 4th of July traditions…fireworks, grilling, going to the beach, and toasting marshmallows just to name a few. One that I’ve become accustomed to throughout the last few years is the annual Nathan’s July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. Now, I’m not one to sit and chow down 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes, but there’s something so intriguing about the sport that over 1.8 million people tuned into watch the event in 2007!

After realizing that there’s an entire sport behind the hot dog venue on July 4th, I wanted to learn a little more about its history and find other competitive eating records. I was able to dig up a module called EatFeats. It’s actually quite interesting as you get the insider pass to the world of competitive eating with news, an events calendar, and my favorite, a database of all past contests and results you can add to your My Yahoo! page. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Tune into the blog later this week for grilling recipes and tips on preparing the perfect 4th of July meal.

Enjoy!

Adam
- My Yahoo! Marketing

Changes to My Yahoo!.

Hi everyone,

You may have noticed that a few things have changed on the header of your My Yahoo! page. We have been working to make it easier for you to find, discover, and add great content to your page.

In the header, you will see three new options, “Add Content,” “Change Appearance,” and “More Options.” With this new setup, you’re only one click away from making your page truly feel like home.

We’ve also made it easier to distinguish among your multiple My Yahoo! pages. With this new “tabbed” design, your additional pages will be separated as tabs that you can easily navigate. You will still be able to select a theme and layout for each unique page. Oh, and adding a tab is as simple as clicking “New Tab” at the right of your page tabs.

We are working on some other changes to My Yahoo!, so be sure to check in for future blog posts on these updates. Also, welcome to any international My Yahoo! fans who are seeing the new My Yahoo! for the first time!

For now, enjoy the new layout and comment on this post with your feedback.

Adam
- My Yahoo! Marketing

The hypermiling hype!

With gas setting record-setting prices, there’s been a lot of attention given to hypermiling, the art of squeezing out amazing amounts of mileage from every gallon of gas. It’s reported that the king of hypermiling, Wayne Gerdes, averaged more than 90 miles per gallon driving a plain, old Honda.

If you’ve got mileage envy, don’t despair. It actually turns out that anyone can be a hypermiler, even me, an infamous lead-footer. I usually get about 23 mpg, but as of last week, I’ve managed to add 2-3 mpg by following a few easy tips picked-up from the articles in my Yahoo! News hypermiling module.

1. Check your tire pressure
Incorrect tire pressure impacts fuel efficiency. Find out the recommended tire pressure for your car, then check the pressure with a quality tire-pressure gauge when the tires are cold.

2. Ease up on the acceleration and braking
I’ve always had lead-foot accelerating and braking, but for the past week, I’ve eased up on both. Instead of accelerating towards a stop light, I let the car coast at a steady speed, while still in ‘drive.’ This has also helped reduced how hard or often I’ve had to brake.

3. Drive the speed limit
There’s a reason for the speed limit. Experts say that as you drive above 38 mph, you’ll lose mileage in most cars. So leave the left lane to the lead-footers and embrace the right-most lane. Slow and steady wins the race.

4. Get rid of any excess baggage
Aside from a few car safety essentials in the trunk, my car is now a model of minimalism. The less weight in your car, the better mileage you’ll get.

To be honest, these tips are nothing new under the sun. Whatever you want to call it– hypermiling or common sense—it’ll ultimately get you towards better gas mileage.

Wish me luck as I try to achieve a lofty 30 mpg. Goodbye lead-foot, hello fewer fill-ups.

Helen
My Yahoo! Editorial

Books for the Beach.

Hi everyone,

There’s nothing better than digging your feet into the warm sand at the beach and opening up the perfect book. If time doesn’t permit you to make such an escape, you can get the same experience with your My Yahoo! page…well, aside from the sand.

First things first, you need to set the summer mood on your page with the Beach Theme. This will certainly get you one step closer to that view from the beach, and you won’t even need suntan lotion!

Now that you have the view, you’ll need the book. There’s an entire category of books in the “Personalize this page” menu, but try the Powell’s Books: Review-A-Day module. What’s great about it is that you get something new every day, and if you only get to the beach once this summer, I’m guessing that you don’t want to be disappointed in your literary decision.

Enjoy!

Adam
- My Yahoo! Marketing

Shh..show’s about to start!

With titles like Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk, how could you not be excited about this summer movie season?

Whether it’s a romantic evening out, a family adventure to the theater, or an afternoon escape from work, you can use your My Yahoo! page as the all-knowing movie critic.

In fact, there’s an entire category of great movie modules to choose from. They’re located in the “Add Modules” folder under “Entertainment.” I already had the Movie Showtimes module, but now that the summer movie season is bloom, I figured it was time to beef up the cinematic flavor of my page.

“Personalize this Page” > “Add Modules” > “Entertainment” > “Movies”

My new favorite movie module is the Filmspotting module. You get not only the latest movie reviews, but also some interesting commentary such as the “Top 5 TV show adaptations.” I’m a sucker for lists like this, so this module is perfect for me.

Well folks, get pumped for summer movie season; bring on the popcorn, turn off your cell-phones, and enjoy the show!

Adam
- My Yahoo! Marketing