Posted 2 months ago at 1:37 am. 0 comments
The Great Divide
Time Warner plans to split AOL into two factions, an advertisement unit and a dial-up unit. The plan will be to sell off each unit to potential buyers.
Dial-up users do not make up the majority on AOL so giving them away won’t be such a big deal. Plus this means that AOL will finally have no use for India call centers, although they still might work as online tech support.
The advertising unit also known as Platform A, accounts for the whole AOL community, but mainly focuses on Ad.com. Platform A consists of tons of websites and brands all across the internet. Its a very lucrative spot to potential buyers as they will have ad spots in tons of areas including the massive AIM user base.
I am a Dial-up User, Where do I go?
Earthlink has been in talks to take over dial-up subscribers. I believe dial-up users will be switched over to an entirely new Earthlink email address, Their AOL account will automatically be switched over to free and they will be encouraged to use both emails. This is just purely speculation.
I am a Broadband User, Where do I go?
As for the advertisement unit, it looks like we’ll end up joining Microsoft or Yahoo, or hopefully someone else who wants to step up to the plate.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The most interesting part of this merger is the drama between each of the major companies. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are battling it out to gain the largest footprint over internet advertisement revenue. If AOL merges with Yahoo, Microsoft gets upset. If AOL merges with Microsoft, Google gets upset. Added to this problem includes the recent deal Yahoo and Google are making to share advertisement plans. Microsoft isn’t so happy about that either and wants the decision blocked. I’m hoping neither of these companies buy AOL. As you can see its already a tangled mess. Joining forces with AOL will only complicate matters.
If Microsoft or Yahoo does indeed buy AOL, interoperability will finally be on the table. Whoever buys AOL will now have to integrate all AOL screennames together with the buyer’s IM service. For the first time we may finally have AIM with the ability to add Microsoft and Yahoo subscribers to the buddy list. I know many have have been clamoring for that.
The other great feature is advertisement revenue. Now Yahoo or Microsoft will have an even larger audience to host advertisements, including non-AOL owned websites that Ad.com serves.
The Buzz Around the Internets
There seems to be no agreement as to who should buy AOL. One thought is that If Microsoft buys AOL, it could allow Yahoo to prove themselves to investors that they can run independent of Microsoft. Another speculates that AOL won’t be able to save the Microsoft brand. We may find ourselves watching the same thing happen years from now when Microsoft announces it will try to sell off AOL.
During this battle, users are always the victims. If I were to choose a company that could attempt to save the AOL community to bring them back together, I would choose Yahoo. Yahoo has proven its expertise in this aspect with sites such as Yahoo Groups and Yahoo Answers.
What do you think will happen to AOL?
Post a comment on your ideas and thoughts as to what might happen to AOL. You’ll have to wait until 2009 its announced what plans AOL will be forced to make.
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago at 9:07 pm. 3 comments
In the upcoming weeks all skins on this site will be converted over to Aim 6.8 format. This also allows us to group selected skins together to make it easier to download all of them at once. The following skins have been grouped together into one pack:
OS Pack
Bump X Pack
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 10:43 am. 3 comments
Aim 6.8
Aim 6.8 was recently went GM a few days ago. Its new features have been covered here already, but as with newer versions, comes new complaints. Most of which deal with the plugins carousel at the bottom of the buddy list.
Aside from that, now that this version adds the ability to save and load buddy lists, it should make it more friendly for Aim 5.9 users who never switched over. The stock ticker might not be back as of yet, but instead it does come with a stocks plugin for current information only.
Aim For Windows Mobile
Oh yes! The mobile revolution has been finally been made. Its been years since we’ve been waiting for mobile applications made directly by AOL with no carrier tie-in. Thus Aim For Windows Mobile has been made for Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6.
Aim for Windows Mobile uses your cellphone’s data connection, not SMS messages like Verizon and T-mobile uses. Please make sure you have an unlimited data plan or you may be incurring extra charges per MegaByte.
[via AOL BETA]
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 12:29 am. 4 comments
Recently, there has been a rise in AIM Spam links being sent out to everyone. Most of the messages go along the lines of:
Someone has an AIM CRUSH on you!
Click here - to find out who it is
I just got a free iPhone in the mail. Want to get your free iPhone? Go HERE and find out how!
I’ve got a bit of crush on you! But if you wanna find out who I am you gotta play along with my game! First, go here and you’ll find out more!
Somone special has sent you a - :) - (kiss)
Find out who here
Although Spam messages are certainly not new. This recent influx has annoyed people to no end. You can essentially protect yourselves and other persons using AIM on your computer by trying out these methods.
If they have been annoying you, call up and complain to the “Mobile Messaging” company at 1-800-416-6129
Link Preview Plugin
Link Preview plugin is one of the first place winners in the Open Aim Top Coder Contest. Essentially Link Preview lets you preview an image of a website before you actually visit it. Now it certainly won’t protect you from viruses but you can use it to get an idea of where these spammy links are sending you to. More likely than not, if its an adult site you’ll be bombarded with popups as soon as you reach.
Gundoff: Malicious Link Question
Gundoff plugin essentially asks you if you really want to go to the link. Using bright red text and an ominous warning, the plugin will more likely prevent newer computer users from clicking on links. Still it won’t stop viruses, but at least you won’t get infected by accidentally clicking a link.
Blocking Them
The best way to not receive any SPAM from random screen names is to block everyone not on your buddy list.
- Click Edit
- Click Settings
- Click Privacy
- Click Allow only Users on my Buddy List
- Click Save
Now only people on your buddy list can IM you. We do know that certainly this is not the most effective way but this will do until someone out there creates a plugin that pre-screens all IMs and closes the conversation if it detects spam. Yes I know there is a plugin for this on Trillian but Aim 6 still needs one.
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago at 3:07 pm. 5 comments
As Randy Falco, CEO of AOL, gets closer to his dream of making AOL the most profitable advertising network, users were treated with a brand new ad inside the buddy info. These ads now take up a considerable amount of space at the bottom of the buddy info. The window is now stuck at a much larger width than before
This did not set off well with the AIM userbase, as there have been complaints about this new ad system:
“THANK YOU PEOPLE FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THIS IS!!! I HATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE BUDDY INFO BOX, I CAN’T STAND IT!! ITS ANNOYING AND POINTLESS AND MAKES THE BUDDY INFO LOOK LIKES ITS NOT ABOUT BUDDY INFO AT ALL” ~DanceStar
“EPIC FAIL FOR AIM.” ~nj
“AIM MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO WAKE UP” ~a concerned mother
” SUCH A SMALL CHANGE AND I WANNA RIP MY EYES OUT >> GET RID OF THE ADS !” ~Robby
“Your actually doing negative advertising for these companies. SCREW VERIZON…the first company to buy the ad. I make a point to never buy any product of people you advertise for. STOP ALREADY.” ~jimmy
As you can see from all those CAPS LOCKS, people are enraged over this! I did notice that there was not much complaints against the text ads AOL placed in the buddy info, maybe they should reconsider implementing that instead.
In other news, AIM has added more integration with AIM profiles by adding a “Profile Buddies” tab in the Buddy Info.
Also Note AimAdHack now removes these Ads.
