aol

AOL shuts down music-related services

It's a sad day here at @aol. We'd like to say goodbye to our colleagues at @aolmusic, @thebootdotcom, @noisecreep, @spinner and @theboombox

— AOL Radio (@AOLRadio) April 26, 2013 AOL, which tried for years to become a player in digital music with several online music services, is ending that effort on a down note.

The company is shutting down The Boot, Noisecreep, The Boombox, and Spinner, according to tweets from people involved in those operations.

We've contacted AOL for further comment and will update the post when there is more information.

Earlier, Dan Reilly, who was the editor … Read more

Could this yellow blinking eye be Zuckerberg's first Web site?

Some religions worship relics.

Bones of saints and artifacts of old emerge seemingly from nowhere, with no one ever truly knowing how real they might be.

I therefore bare my skepticism with moves not dissimilar to those in a Haka dance on hearing that Mark Zuckerberg's first ever Web site might have been unearthed.

My inconsistent reading of Motherboard today offered the startling information that Zuckerberg's first site might have included a blinking yellow dinosaur eye.

It seems that someone posted to Hacker News that the Facebook CEO's first masterwork was still available on Angelfire.

It's … Read more

Phil Jackson's strange first tweet is an AOL ad

Sleep has possibly eluded you since you saw Phil Jackson's first tweet.

You wondered whether the former Lakers and Bulls coach was having severe trouble typing or whether he'd perhaps lost his senses.

You must now decide which of these is fact. For the tweet that read: "11 champ;ipnsikp[ ringhs" is actually, intake of breath, an ad for AOL.

Indeed, that very same AOL that you have always loved and respected, never more than now.

I am grateful to Deadspin for bringing me this painful information and making me believe that all humans have aspects … Read more

Second act for the unorthodox Steve Case

When F. Scott Fitzgerald claimed that "there are no second acts in American life," he clearly didn't foresee the resilient career of the man who once headed America Online. Rita Braver reports:

He was the Boy Wonder of computing, co-founding the pioneering Internet service America Online while still in his twenties, and then helping make it the top-earning stock of the 1990s -- trying, he told CBS News back in 1997, "to build an interactive medium to inspire people's lives."

And if you've ever wondered what happened to Steve Case, look no further. … Read more

A year later, AOL is heading in the right direction

I have to hand it to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong: after struggling with a flurry of departures and internal turmoil, he has steadied the ship and the markets have rewarded him as a result.

A year ago, the Internet media giant lost its CTO, its tech lead, its head of sales, TechCrunch editor Erick Schonfeld, and a slew of technology people in its West Coast office.

Activist investors were calling for a new board or directors, and some were even calling for a new CEO. This launched a three month internal battle that resulted in the AOL was going in the right direction, … Read more

Twitter aiming to slash phishing e-mails sent from 'Twitter.com'

If you get an e-mail saying it's from Twitter, the social-networking company wants to assure you that it's really from Twitter and that there's no need to worry that someone's out to steal your password.

At least, it's almost certain that the e-mail you just got from a Twitter.com address is not a phishing attack, the company said in a blog post today.

Twitter said it has adopted a new security protocol known as DMARC that was designed by a consortium in order to cut way down on phishing attempts.

DMARC solves a couple … Read more

The 404 1,210: Where where we survive on ramen and taxes (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- How a movie changed one man's vision forever.

- Google's stock breaks $800 for the first time.

- Report: OfficeMax, Office Depot discussing merger.

- Microsoft moves Outlook.com out of preview.

- Dow 14,000: Stocks near new crest.

- Middle class remains stuck.

- Free File: Do your Federal taxes for free!… Read more

AOL revenue rises for first time in eight years

AOL eked out just a 4 percent gain in sales last quarter, but it was the first sign of revenue growth in the past eight years.

For the final quarter of 2012, the company took in revenue of $599 million, rising from $576 million in the year-ago quarter and beating analyst estimates of $573 million, according to Reuters.

AOL attributed the gain to a boost in sales from its global advertising, which grew by 13 percent from a year ago. Ad revenue from third-party networks jumped by 31 percent, while search revenue increased by 17 percent.

On the downside, subscription … Read more

Chat, message, and manage contacts on all your social sites with Trillian for Mac

Trillian for Mac is an instant messaging app with quite a few extras added. Trillian for Mac is available from the App Store as well as many download sites. It installs easily. The main Trillian for Mac client is free, and there is a Pro version that removes ads and allows for cloud storage, although most people will opt for the free app.

The main purpose of Trillian for Mac is an IM platform that connects to all the popular messaging and social networking platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, GTalk, Yahoo, Windows Live, and many more. Of course, you have to … Read more