lycos

Those of you who like getting nostalgic every now and then will be happy to hear that Lycos, one of the first major Web brands, has been acquired.

Daum Communications, a Korean-based search company, announced that it has sold off Lycos for $36 million to Ybrant Digital, an India-based digital marketing company. The Korea Times reported the sale early Monday.

Ybrant Digital's acquisition of Lycos included all of the company's many services, including site-builder tool Tripod, free Web host Angelfire, and people finder WhoWhere.

Lycos has a long and storied history. Founded in 1995, the site became one … Read more

Welcome to Justin's penultimate episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast! Tomorrow will be our last show as a team, but there's plenty of special Yuletide episodes, contests, 404 merchandise, and CES shows to look forward to in 2010.

I know we swore this story wouldn't get discussed on our show, but we finally cave in and say a couple quick words about the recent Tiger Woods sex scandal. As the story unfolds, Wilson tells us Tiger is in even hotter water for sending a racy text message to his lady on the side.

We all make mistakes, so we're not hating on the guy, even though these accidents are most common among teenagers.

Next, Jeff gives us an insider's look into the glitz and glamor of a professional video game reviewer with an overview of Sony's upcoming PS3 game lineup. One of the more unique titles is Heavy Rain, described by the director as "a very dark film-noir thriller with mature themes." Jeff describes the format as a graphic version of "Choose Your Own Adventure," where the decisions you make in the game help to route you through the levels and the storyline. Take a look at Jeff's PS3-exclusive gaming rundown for the full story and more previews.

Finally, virtual daps to Nicholas and Props Guy Jim for using their Photoshop skills to make a few special holiday images for the show. Be sure to subscribe to our iTunes or RSS feed to get the updated holiday album cover art! Also, we're saving Props Guy Jim's picture for the holiday blog, which will go live on Christmas Eve--thanks again, Nicholas and Jim!

A new economic team is heading to Washington and while it's still hard to gauge what the new administration will do vis a vis high tech, President-elect Barack Obama may have sent a message with the appointment of an Internet commerce expert.

Today's stories:

Lycos Europe to close portal, end Web hosting

Getting schooled in formation flying

Ares rocket development updates posted to iTunes

Obama taps Internet commerce expert

Lycos Europe announced on Wednesday plans to shutter its portal and Web-hosting business and find a buyer for three other areas of its business.

The company, which last month announced a 20 percent drop in revenue to 46.9 million euros ($60.8 million) and a net loss of 17.1 million euros, said the decision was made after reviewing its strategic options for several months.

It also plans to seek a buyer for other parts of its operation: its domains, Danish portal, and shopping activities.

Investors will vote on the management proposal at the company's December 12 shareholders … Read more

No press release, no fanfare, not even a PowerPoint for the asking: Lycos has just launched Webon, a free site-building service that's solid, simple, and very usable.

Not that anyone is asking for a site builder these days. There are blogging platforms, social site builders, and social networks. Who actually builds a straight-up Web site anymore?

But if you do want to build just a site, try this service. There are basic templates for building photo sites, travelogues, wedding sites, or even just blogs (although: why?). Or you can start from scratch. In each template there is a decent … Read more

Lycos today launched a social movie-watching site, Lycos Cinema. The idea is that you can invite your buddies to watch the movie you're watching (synchronized almost frame-for-frame), and then chat with them about the show in an embedded window.

I found it a surprisingly engaging experience. I fired up a movie and invited in some folks here, and the chat just picked up naturally. I could see this product being popular among kids. Watching a movie in your room would sure beat doing homework.

Users who aren't invited into a movie can "sneak in" to a … Read more

Mahalo launched a new Firefox extension last week at Gnomedex. It's called "Follow," and once installed, it does just that. It's a mix of a toolbar and sidebar that pulls up related search results from whatever page you're on. It's got a built-in Mahalo search box in an attempt to ween you off your Google and Yahoo search tendencies. It's also got a StumbleUpon-like function to recommend whatever page you're looking at to others with yes, no, and maybe buttons, along with a button to take you to a random Mahalo … Read more

Lycos Mix is a new video-playlist creation tool that lets you string together video clips from various hosting services. The videos sit beside a live chat window based off of Lycos' Cinema technology. Casual observers can come in, watch videos, and chat with you. It's almost like a bar except a little creepier.

When you're done adding content, which is done by pasting URLs or using the Lycos Mix bookmarklet from the content's source page, you can watch, rearrange, or chat about the videos, all within the same screen. The adding process is a little arduous, as … Read more