AOL to Attach Ads onto E-Mails
AOL has announced that they will be attaching small advertisements to emails sent from AOL accounts. This is another step in the company's move from charging for Internet access to providing free access and concentrating on online advertising. Although these advertisements have been a part of AOL Webmail account users' emails for several months now, they have recently been added to emails sent by users of AOL's 9.0 software (used by AOL's paid subscribers). Although there has been an influx of complaints about the advertisements, the company has no plans to terminate the project.
CFO of AOL Chooses Private Equity Sector
Steve Swad, the chief financial officer of AOL, announced his plans to separate from the company in order to join a private-equity firm. Swad, who played a critical role in establishing AOL as a multi-web-services corporation, asserts that the split is amicable and that he will stay in his current position until a replacement is found. Swad is not the only senior executive to leave the company in recent years. Many have suggested that AOL executives continue to seek employment elsewhere as AOL struggles to compete with the cheaper, faster Internet connections and the free offerings of companies such as Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft.
Yahoo! Offers Instant Messaging through Webmail
As of February 12, 2007, users of the Yahoo! Mail service have the capability to exchange instant messages through their email accounts. Much like Google's Gmail and Gmail Chat, those with Yahoo! Mail accounts will be able to see the availability of everyone on their contact lists, and, if desired, begin a conversation. The new service will take place within Yahoo! Mail and will have many of the same communication options as the traditional Yahoo! instant messaging service. For example, users are able to choose to appear either online or offline to others and to hold multiple conversations at once. Also, with the new combination of services, users can easily change emails into IMs and vice-versa. This new service is free to the public and works from within standard browsers.
Viacom Takes Issue with Google's YouTube
Viacom and Google's YouTube website have been involved in negotiations for much of this month after Viacom sent a notice to YouTube to remove over 100,000 video clips of Viacom-owned material. Unlike companies such as CBS Corp., Universal Music, and NBC Universal, who have established partnerships with YouTube, Viacom executives have expressed wishes to create their own separate online video websites. YouTube has always complied with requests to remove pirated video clips in the past, but Viacom is concerned that not all videos of which they are the creators have been removed. As has happened with other corporations who find issue with YouTube retaining all revenue for pirated video clips, YouTube will very likely make a deal with Viacom in which Viacom is allowed a stake in the company's revenue generated from Viacom-owned videos. For now, however, Google executives say research is underway to create a filter for copyrighted material in order to avoid these types of issues in the future.
Google Introduces 'Google Apps Premier Edition'
Recently, Google presented a revamped version of Google Apps, a free bundle of applications introduced last year that includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Start Page. Google Apps Premier Edition, which will be offered for an annual fee of $50, now includes additional storage, 24-hour-a-day telephone support, and an optional Google advertising component. This new version of Google Apps aims to integrate Google Apps Standard Edition and Google Apps Education edition, making it much easier for business employees to work together and to work with technology and organizational tools they might not have had access to in the past. Further additions to Google Apps include Google Docs & Spreadsheets, which allows multiple users to work on a single spreadsheet at once, recording all revisions simultaneously, Gmail capabilities for BlackBerry hand held devices, and the ability for managers to place restrictions on document or calendar sharing for security purposes.