AOL LLC (formerly America Online, Inc) is an American-based online service provider, bulletin board system, and media company operated by Time Warner. Based in Dulles, Virginia, with regional branches around the world, it is by far the most successful proprietary online service, with more than 32 million subscribers at one point in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Latin America (declared bankrupt in 2004), Japan, and formerly Russia and Hong Kong. In the fall of 2004, AOL reported total subscribers had dropped to 24 million, a drop of over a quarter of its subscribers.^*

In 2006, PC World declared AOL the worst tech product of all time. ^*

For many Americans through the mid-to-late-1990s, AOL was the Internet, but the rise of high-speed Internet access from cable and telephone companies as well as the increasing sophistication of the public in handling browsers and other Internet utilities has cut into its user base. In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge, and the deal was approved by the Federal Trade Commission on January 11 2001. This merger was primarily a product of the Internet mania of the late-1990s, known as the Internet bubble. The subsequent massive decline in value of stocks such as AOL resulted in much recrimination over the merger.

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TechCrunch

CrunchGear Reviews the Samsung SC-MX20: $250 HD Camcorder
John Biggs Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:58:13 -0000
At $249, the Samsung SC-MX20 falls delicately between cheap flash-based camcorders and more expensive hard drive-based camcorders. It strips down some features that may not be necessary in the first place – high definition video, still photos, etc. – but adds something that most less expensive flash camcorders don’t have: an optical zoom. A big optical zoom, too, at 34x. That, coupled with long battery life, user-friendly codec support, and relatively low price make the SC-MX20 a winner.
MySpace And HP Team Up To Help You Print Out Those Drunken Photos
Jason Kincaid Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:00:33 -0000
MySpace has partnered with computer giant Hewlett-Packard to introduce a number of new print options to the popular social networking site. Beginning in November, users will be able to click an HP-branded "Print" box embedded on their MySpace pages to access a printer-friendly version of any portion of their profile that can be printed from their home printer. The announcement was made today by MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe and HP EVP of Imaging and Printing Vyomesh Joshi at HP's Imaging and Printing Conference in San Diego. Being able to print anything seems a little excessive - I can't imagine wanting to print out anyone's MySpace profile, and running promotions to print across the entire site isn't very green either. I wonder if MySpace's official Green site Our Planet will include the Print widget, too.
Facebook Rolls Out Live Search…Wait, Where’d It Go? Oh, There It Is.
Mark Hendrickson Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:00:14 -0000
Update: Web search is now back, as is Facebook's post about it. See our observations below. It's been a long time coming, but it appears as though Facebook finally has begun integrating Live Search into its main search bar, thereby providing web search in addition to its preexisting profile search capabilities. The functionality appeared earlier today for users, only to disappear again. Facebook published an official post about it only to take that down as well . Microsoft's own post, however, can still be found here.
Mozilla Geode Released With Support From Pownce and Fire Eagle
Mark Hendrickson Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:51:38 -0000
Mozilla has posted more information about Geode, the Labs plugin we foreshadowed yesterday that helps websites detect your current location. Geode is also now available for download here. Geode is a forerunner to Firefox's future implementation of the W3C Geolocation Specification, a standard that (once universally implemented) will allow websites to serve up localized content and services within any browser. Mozilla plans to let the user determine how they want to reveal their location (via GPS, WiFi, manual entry, or other methods) and how specific they want that information to be (exact location, neighborhood, city, etc).
Google Reminds You That Knol Exists With New Policy Debates
Jason Kincaid Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:25:09 -0000
Google launched Knol, a monetizable Wikipedia, last July, and since then most people seem to have either forgotten about it entirely or decided that it will never be as good as its Wiki predecessor. Today the site is launching a new section called Knol Debates, and while I don't think it will ever get me to use the site as a reference encyclopedia, it's a great idea. Google has brought together economists from the Cato Institute and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) who have written their opinions regarding the current economic climate. Users are encouraged to participate in the conversation by leaving their comments, reviews, and suggested modifications to the original arguments. Google is also allowing users to vote on future topics for Knol debates with its recently launched Google Moderator tool. For more information, check out the announcement on Google's official blog.
ZoomProspector Launches To The Public To Help Businesses Relocate
Jason Kincaid Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:00:41 -0000
ZoomProspector, the free site that allows businesses to search nationwide for the best places to relocate, has launched to the public. When we first introduced the site in April, we likened it to a Zillow for businesses. ZoomProspector rates cities across the country by a number of relevant criteria, including proximity to airports, commute times, demographics, or the availability of venture capital in the area (you can also choose to exclude some of these items if they aren't important to you). One of the more useful search functions is the ability to see what other businesses operate in the vicinity, so businesses can determine if they're going to be working close to a competitor, or even a potential client. Once a business has found an appropriate city, it can view individual properties that have been added by real estate agents.

InternetNews Realtime News for IT Managers

BlackBerry Storm Could Hit Tomorrow
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Technical Analysis: It's the Uptick Rule, Stupid
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