Due to a change to the Yahoo! registration page, YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker is now at version 2.4.0. This version fixes the “unknown” error message displayed after a CAPTCHA has been entered. Another minor change is that random domains are now turned on my default. All previous versions will have to be updated in order to create accounts again. The good news is if you have version 2.3.1, you can now take advantage of the Update Now feature. You can download YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker 2.4.0 directly from http://ycoderscookbook.com/files/YCC Yahoo Bot Maker 2.4.0.zip or visit the YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker website at http://ycoderscookbook.com/code/YCC_Yahoo_Bot_Maker.html for more information.
April 30, 2009
YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker 2.3.1 Down
It arrears that YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker is once again suffering from downtime. Preliminary analysis points to another change on the official Yahoo! registration page which is causing each name to be reported as made but showing an “unknown” error message. I will take a look at the code tonight to see if a quick fix can be issued. If the fix is not issued within the next 12 hours then you will have to wait till after the weekend because I am going out of town.
P.S. It looks like Yahoo! has been particularly active over the past few months. This is the third fix I have had to issue in as much time.
April 24, 2009
YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker 2.3.1 Released
This is not a major release of YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker but you should still download and update your current version if you already have YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker. The biggest change is to the automatic update system which should work now. Since this is the fix, you will still have to manually download and install this version. The latest version can be found at http://ycoderscookbook.com/files/YCC Yahoo Bot Maker 2.3.1.zip
April 20, 2009
How Spamming Can Solve Some of The World’s Problems
A story on Slashdot entitled “Looking To Spammers To Solve Hard AI Problems” (http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/19/024213#)points to an article in the New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16973-innovation-harnessing-spammers-to-advance-ai.html) detailing how solving CAPTCHAs (those impossible to type word images) to spread SPAM can be a good thing. Although SPAM is a nuisance, the act of solving CAPTCHAs automatically is a tough artificial intelligence (AI) problem. Since the first appearance of CAPTCHAs, spammers have developed new and novel approaches to solving these image puzzles which in turn has helped the larger AI community. In fact, a current spammer bounty is for half a million dollars to break the reCAPTCHA (http://recaptcha.net/learnmore.html) system. This turns out to be all most five times as lucrative as the top AI academic prize called the Loebner Prize (http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html).
The next question that some CAPTCHA researchers are proposing is not how to beat the spammers but what technology do they need a boost in. By making a CAPTCHAs out of currently unreachable problems, spammers of the future will pave the way for better AI, digital cameras, and other beneficial technologies.
April 17, 2009
YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker 2.3.0 Released
The latest version of YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker is now at version 2.3.0. The latest version fixes a problem where accounts were not being created due to a second security question added by Yahoo! Version 2.3.0 also updated the security questions, fixed a bug that prevented the alternate email from being sent, and made several internal changes. Apparently the improved update system introduced in version 2.2.2 isn’t quite working as it should (this is the first time it is being used) so you may have to manually download and install the latest version from .
YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker 2.2.2 Down
Following a tip from the Yahoo! Coder’s Cookbook forums, it looks like YCC Yahoo! Bot Maker is currently not working. The symptom is that the security question and answer is invalid. I will review the code and hopefully have a patch out within in the next few days.
