• Ars Technica, Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:45 AM

As digital communication between people evolves from simple interactions -- sending e-mail and instant messages -- to more complex ones -- commenting on Flickr photos, replying to Tweets -- so too do our demands of our email providers evolve. Yahoo recognizes this, and is experimenting with a new kind of email that will accommodate the way we live our lives online today.

In beta testing now is a version of Yahoo Mail with a "smarter inbox" that allows for third-party interactions and incorporates social tools. The welcome page focuses less on mainstream news and ads and more on social activity and the user's "connections": the group of people the user communicates with most frequently.

Ars Technica has posted a short demonstration video that explains the differences, and speculates that the new service will make Yahoo Mail "far more useful and appealing."

Read the whole story at Ars Technica »