with AOL, sources close to the negotiations have whispered to us, and a deal could happen as early as this month. Is this just a rehash of the reported discussions in February and then again in April?

Yes and no. It’s clear that AOL’s parent company, Time Warner, wants this deal more than ever. What isn’t clear is whether AOL’s assets will fix any of Yahoo’s problems.

The deal structure that is currently being discussed is Yahoo’s acquisition of AOL (content, services and advertising), minus their subscription dial up business.

Read more: techcrunch.com 

Labels: AOL, Yahoo

Yahoo and Time Warner have spent the weekend in talks meant to accelerate a possible merger between the search engine giant and Time Warner's AOL division, says Britain's Times newspaper. Pointing only to insider sources, the publication claims Yahoo was in talks over the Independence Day weekend to speed up exploring the revived AOL deal as well as other options. Yahoo is allegedly eager to have some form of alternative deal to a Microsoft buyout of its search business in time for a crucial August 1st Yahoo shareholder's meeting.

The company is said to be worried about Microsoft taking its search business as it has no way to gauge its worth as just a content service, the paper claims.

Read more: electronista.com 

Labels: AOL, Yahoo

They say talk is cheap. With Google Talk, it’s free–and fast:

· Flexibility: Get in touch with an IM, email, or a call

· Quality: Enjoy fast file transfer and high quality voice calls

· Convenience: Convenience: Reach all your Gmail contacts, with just a click

· Pictures and themes: See pictures in your Friends list and chat sessions.

· File Transfer: With this top requested new feature, you can send unlimited files and folders to your friends through Google Talk. There is no restriction on the file type or size and the peer-to-peer transfer is fast and reliable.

· Voicemail: If your friends aren’t around to answer your call, you can leave them a voicemail message instead. Just record your voice after the “Meep” and your friends will get an email to their Talk contact address with the voicemail attached as an audio file. They can play your message when they check their email and save it for as long as they want.

· Music Status and Music Trends: Listening to music while chatting on Google Talk? Now you can let your friends see what you’re listening to by selecting “Show current music track” in your status menu. Your status message will change when your song does!

· Chat with your orkut friends using Google Talk

· PC-to-PC voice calls

Google Talk requires a Gmail username and password, and Windows 200/XP/Vista.

Mac and Linux users can connect to Google Talk using other other IM clients.

Download: Google Talk 1.0.0.105 | Google Talk for BlackBerry devices (most commonly accessed via your BlackBerry) 

Labels: AIM, AOL, Gmail, instant messaging, Talk

It's been nearly two years in the making, but Google has finally opened up its Gmail chat widget to AOL's IM network.

Gmail may have dragged thousands of e-mail users away from their existing accounts at other companies and over to Google, but the company’s approach to IM, dubbed Google Talk, hasn’t had quite the same success. Without many users, the standalone client stagnated until Google combined it with Gmail, proving that users enjoy the convenience of chatting while they e-mail, but not necessarily on Google’s own small network.

Full article: digitaltrends.com 

Labels: AIM, AOL, Gmail, instant messaging, mail

While it wasn't exactly the lead story on the nightly news, a new way of measuring website popularity startled the Web punditry earlier this week when it put long-suffering AOL in the top spot.

You read that right: that's above Google, MySpace, MSN and any other website you'd expect to be doing reasonably well.

Crazy, you say? You're not the only one.

Here's how it happened: Nielsen/NetRatings modified its website popularity gauge, adding time spent to its unique-audience metric. Using a new "total-minutes" calculation, Nielsen/NetRatings said AOL was the No. 1 site in the U.S. in May, followed by Yahoo; MSN/Windows Live; Fox Interactive, which owns MySpace.com; Google; eBay; Microsoft; Electronic Arts; Apple and YouTube, which is owned by Google.

Full article: usatoday.com 

Labels: AOL, MSN, MySpace

Although the five major online search engines have improved search safety, four percent of all search results link to dangerous websites, according to a report from McAfee's SiteAdvisor. Searches on Yahoo are the most risky, AOL the safest, the "The State of Search Engine Safety" report indicates.

With the exception of Yahoo, the percentage of risky sponsored links on all major search engines has improved, dropping from more than eight percent last year to about seven percent this year, according to the report. Google, in particular, has "taken small steps" to improve the safety of the sponsored links on its landing pages, said Mark Maxwell, a senior vice president with SiteAdvisor.

Full article: scmagazine.com 

Labels: AOL, Ask, McAfee, MSN, SiteAdvisor, Yahoo

Internet giants Yahoo has announced that they are upgrading their online mapping service as they would now give driving directions in 34 European countries.

This is a major update aimed to take away users of competing services provided by AOL and Google.

Read more: TechWhack.com 

Labels: AOL, Maps, online mapping, services, Yahoo