• January 18, 2008

Yahoo announced Thursday that it will support OpenID, a standard that lets users maintain a single identity across multiple sites instead of having to create separate IDs and logins around the Web.

Starting with the beta launch on Jan. 30, Yahoo's 248 million registered users can sign on to participating OpenID sites by entering their Yahoo account login, or by typing in www.yahoo.com or www.flickr.com to be taken to a page to enter their information.

Partner sites including Plaxo and JanRain will allow people to log in directly with their Yahoo IDs. The addition of Yahoo is seen as a big boost for the OpenID project, which is still in the early adoption phase.

--Mark Walsh