AOL Music employees were in attendance at the HR meeting where AOL announced that they would be out of a job. Many took to Twitter to express their disappointment. Dan Reilly, a former editor of Spinner.com, a music/entertainment website acquired by AOL, tweeted, “Well, we all just got laid off. AOL Music is finished. Sitting in an HR meeting right now, trying to negotiate keeping our computers for a few more days”

AOL’s new Brand Group CEO, Susan Lyne, had a hand to play in AOL Music’s demise. In some recent interviews, she said that she would be looking at AOL’s current content properties, and decide which of them would get the ax, and which of them would continue to live on. According to AllThingsD, while Lyne may be shutting down AOL Music, she may be bringing other forms of entertainment to AOL.

Lyne has an impressive media background. She was the president and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She spent 8 years at Disney as well as ABC, where she became the president of its entertainment division and oversaw the development of popular ABC shows like Desperate Housewives and Lost. While AOL Music may be dead, Lyne may have an ace up her sleeve to bring AOL back into the entertainment game.

[via AllThingsD]

Mawakana has an excellent resume. Before spending 12 years with AOL, she worked as the Senior Corporate Counsel at Startec Global Communications, and before that she worked in the Telecommunications and Intellectual Property group at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington D.C. She is fully prepared for her new position, where she will directing and working together with her new strategy team.

According to The Motley Fool, Mawakana will be working on issues surrounding privacy, intellectual property, business and human rights, high-skilled immigration reform, cyber-security, and much more. In a press release from Yahoo, Mawakana discussed her new position and how she will do her best to represent both Yahoo as well as all of the users who use its services. She says,

“The complexity of technology platforms and the pace of innovation creates unique challenges as governments work to develop smart policies for online and mobile businesses around the world. There is a critical need for public policy engagement, and I look forward to advocating on behalf of Yahoo! and the hundreds of millions of users, advertisers, partners and employees who rely on its platform.”

Mawakana isn’t the only former AOL exec that Yahoo is looking to bring onto its team. A couple of weeks ago, Ned Brody, a former sales executive for AOL, reportedly received an offer from Yahoo. Sources close to the situation said that Yahoo offered Brody a generous salary, however, things are a bit difficult because Brody is currently under a 12-month non-compete order. However, if Yahoo is able to figure a way around the order, and if Brody accepts the offer, Brody is expected to be an huge addition to Yahoo’s team.

[via Motley Fool]

Although the sources say that Brody has already resigned, it is worth noting that AOL still has him listed on its corporate leadership page. The sources are not certain that the former AOL employee has accepted Yahoo’s job offer, but report that the salary is of a generous nature, and word has it Yahoo will shell out cash to keep Brody on board with the company during his non-compete months – essentially paying him to take a long vacation.

Despite that attempt to take advantage of a loophole that may not exist in the non-compete, the sources say AOL has warned Yahoo it may take legal action in response. However, the former employer has not made any attempts to keep Brody on board, with reasons being cited as an offer from Yahoo that is too large for it to counter. The amount of that offer, however, is not known at this time.

The slot Brody would fill previously belonged to Ross Levinsohn, who left Yahoo in early 2012, leaving a hole in the company that has been temporarily filled by Mark Ellis and Peter Foster, both Vice Presidents of different divisions of Yahoo’s business. Despite the duration it has been without a permanent replacement, such a position is one of importance to the company, and should Brody accept its offer, he’ll become an integral part of helping boost Yahoo.

[via AllThingsD]

Of course, revenue from subscribers is down 10% from the same time last year, in which AOL was raking in almost $200 million from dial-up customers, but their revenue saw a 4% growth from last year as well, proving that the company is slowly starting to see its dial-up business cut back a bit, and is earning more revenue elsewhere.

Then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised. While broadband internet is now the norm, there are sadly still some people who don’t have access to it, namely those who live rural areas. Of course, they could get satellite internet, but it’s really expensive for the speeds you get, and most people just end up going with dial-up for the time being.

AOL ended the year with a total revenue of $2.2 billion, and an operating income of $1.2 billion ($68.2 million for the quarter). As far as net income, the company scored $35.7 million for the quarter, and $1.05 billion for the fiscal year. It’s a little scary to hear that AOL’s revenue depended on subscriptions for 29% of it, but advertising made up a whopping 68% of their revenue, so they probably don’t have anything to worry about.

Next there’s a few publications including IGN for gaming, AOL On for top stories and entertainment, and Azteca – that one just launching in Mexico – with soap operas, news, and sports on the docket. There’s also Televisa, an entertainment company bringing on content recaps of telenovelas, sports, news, and entertainment galore. Up in the USA there’s the launch of AOL On for videos from Rueters, Entertainment Tonight, and more.

SnagFilms is launching today with “acclaimed indy movies”, more than you can handle! This relase allows you to view the best of their library of videos including award-winning documentaries, fiction feature films, and independent releases galore. Viaplay is also launching in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden for a mix of television shows and on-demand content with international sporting events and local television shows as well.

The app known as Crunchyroll is coming to all Xbox LIVE markets except for Japan, United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, and Saudi Arabia. This app brings on more Anima and Asian drama than your face can handle including “Bleach,” “Naruto Shippuden,” “Hunter x Hunter,” “Sword Art Online,” “Coffee Prince” and “Boys Over Flowers” in HD. Hot stuff from top to bottom – and it works with voice and gesture controls, too!

Users in the USA will also find that the Verizon FiOS app has been updated with 49 new channels, this allowing users to work with a whopping 75 channels including the NFL Network HD, A&E HD, and AMC HD. Connect and make it all go so very fast, starting today!

[via Major Nelson]

“The way we use email has changed radically over the years, but the core email application experience hasn’t” AOL’s senior director of product for AOL Mail, Joshua Ramirez, said of Alto. “We’ve taken a deep look at how people use email now, and designed an application around that reality.”

As well as manually creating stacks, Alto will create them itself; initially, that’s based on a selection of pre-loaded categories, such as photos, attachments, social networking notifications, deals emails from providers like Groupon, and messages from retailers such as Amazon. However, they can be easily customized.

Photos, meanwhile, can be shared directly from emails to Facebook and Twitter, and Alto can pull in contact details from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as the latest social networking updates from your friends.

“When you sort through physical mail, you put it into stacks because it’s a natural way to decide what’s important, what’s junk, and what to save for later” Ramirez says. “We wanted to recreate that experience with Alto, but make it intelligent and automatic, to easily deal with the hundreds of emails we get every day.”

AOL Alto is available in invite-based beta from today; you can sign up here.

Even AOL, which is teetering on the brink when it comes to search market share, made the tiniest of gains, rising one-tenth of a percentage point to 1.8%. Microsoft’s Bing, which is Google’s largest competitor, held steady between August and September 15.9%, so while it isn’t a gain, it’s certainly better than a loss. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Yahoo, which was the only engine comScore is showing a loss for.

Between August and September, Yahoo’s market share actually fell 0.6 points, dipping from 12.8% to 12.2%. It isn’t the biggest loss – not by a longshot – but the struggling Yahoo needs all the help it can get in the search department. comScore says that right around 16.53 billion searches were made in September, which is down about 4% from August’s 17.04 billion. Almost all of the search engines that were tracked in comScore’s report suffered a decline as a result of that drop – with Yahoo in particular getting hit the hardest – but interestingly, Ask was the only one to make gains in explicit search queries, gaining 3% over August’s results.

So, even though Ask is a long way away from being able to challenge Google for search share (or Bing for that matter), September was a pretty good month for it. In any case, comScore’s report indicates that Google doesn’t have to worry about having its title taken away any time soon, though the fact that Bing is holding steady while Yahoo is losing a small amount of market share has to be encouraging for Microsoft. Be sure to have a look at our story timeline below for more reports from comScore!

You’ll be able to easily check out movie information related to the theaters near you and pick up tickets for up-to-date showings as well. This addition will be bringing on Augmented Reality as well – all you’ve got to do is hold your device up to the world around you (while the app is open) and you’ll see theaters, movie posters, and showtimes appear attached to theaters nearby – or rather far away depending on how close you are to a theater, of course. Moviefone’s information archive also includes movie posters and trailers galore!

Entertainment news will be streaming throughout your Entrance by AOL software with HuffPost Entertainment, AOL Music, and more. You’ll be working with a vast amount of streaming music with SHOUTcast Radio for global radio stations coming to you from all around the planet. You’ll also be working with AOL Music and CD Listening Party (CDLP) for early access to tracks that are exclusive to AOL only. These weekly offerings allow user to listen to full length albums from up-and-coming bands and also allow for the purchase (and download) of said tracks once you’ve heard a full preview.

The addition of Entrance by AOL software to your Lumia smartphone brings on Live Tile updates and Windows Phone user interface interaction as well. The Entrance by AOL app also links together the different collections of information noted above, with the following example given by Nokia:

“If a user likes a movie, they can see the entire cast with a tap, and continue to drill down to see all of the news related to a specific actor. Users can even listen to the soundtrack of that show and download the music. Multi-linked content helps people easily find what they love, and dig
deeper right inside the app.”

This app will be available immediately if not soon and will be appearing quite visibly in Lumia devices of the future – stay tuned to our Nokia tag to see everything else that pops up today – big releases for Microsoft and the Nokia crew!

So we’ve got Microsoft picking up one amount of patents from AOL last year for $1 billion USD, that deal having also been considered by Facebook at the time (so says sources familiar with the situation.) Now we’ve got Microsoft selling part of that batch of patents to Facebook for $550 million USD. We do not currently know if Microsoft will profit, so to speak, from this deal because we do not have the full number of patents purchased by Microsoft in the first place.

What is known is that Microsoft is certainly happy with this deal. Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith noted the following in a statement on the situation today:

“[This deal allows Microsoft] to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction.” – Smith

As Facebook adds to its patent portfolio, it becomes more and more able to defend itself against companies attacking them with their own patent collections. In response to this action, a Yahoo representative wrote the following today:

“Nothing about today’s action changes the fact that Facebook continues to infringe our patents. … We see today’s announcement as a validation of our case against Facebook.” – Yahoo Spokeswoman

Have a peek through the timeline below to see where this deal came from and get clues as to where it’ll go very, very soon.

While Microsoft has sold those 650 patents to Facebook, it will still be able to leverage them under a license agreement, and still holds ownership over around 275 of AOL’s patents and applications. Microsoft has also licensed around 300 additional patents from AOL that the latter company did not offer for sale originally.

It looks to be a strategic move from Microsoft, who says it “achiev[ed] our goals from the AOL auction” while recouping half the costs. Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, says, “As we said earlier this month, we had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.”

Meanwhile, Facebook say it made the move as parts of an effort to grow its intellectual patent portfolio to “protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.” The deal isn’t finalized yet, and is expected to go through closing conditions.

[Image credit: Computer History Museum]

AOL said that as part of the deal, it was selling “stock of an AOL subsidiary” at a loss in order to reduce its tax bill. AOL didn’t reveal the name of the subsidiary, but sources have confirmed to AllThingsD that it is in fact Netscape, or at least parts of Netscape.

Microsoft will acquire all the patents surrounding the Netscape browser, while AOL will still own the actual brand. That extends to the Netscape business, which was once an ISP, as well as the URL for the brand.

Netscape was one of the factors behind Microsoft’s entry into the wide world of the internet, prompting them to license Mosaic source code and turn it into Internet Explorer. Fitting, then, that everything has come full circle, and Microsoft has purchased patents behind IE’s raison d’être.

AOL’s retained patents cover “core and strategic technologies, including advertising, search, content generation/management, social networking, mapping, multimedia/streaming, and security” for the most part, the company says. It is also selling stock of an unnamed AOL subsidiary.

How, exactly, shareholders will see a slice of the cash is yet to be decided, though AOL’s execs and board reckon they should have that ironed out before the deal is closed. “The combined sale and licensing arrangement unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders” chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong said in a statement, ”and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft described its patent haul as “a valuable portfolio that we have been following for years. The company has been pushing ahead with an aggressive licensing program in recent months, inking a number of high-profile deals with Android OEMs such as Samsung for use of technologies in phones and tablets running the Google open-source platform.

This is a perfect symbol of AOL’s push to create a completely new brand identity. We’re not talking about just adding new products and services. We’re talking about AOL wanting to basically get rid of everything customers know about it and essentially build a new company from the ground up.

A new company, that is, that fits in with the modern tech enviornment and can play in the mobile world. AOL has already axed a bunch of its employees in departments that have always been its staples – like instant messaging and e-mail. But it’s a different environment today, and AOL is accepting a harsh realization that it need a completely new identity.

[via VentureBeat]

Insiders say Jason Shellen, who until now has been VP of Product on the AIM team, is leaving AOL. Shellen’s LinkedIn profile is yet to be updated to confirm that, however, and it’s unclear whether the decision was his or made by the company. Meanwhile, AOL has supposedly laid off around 40 employees from the team.

At one point, AIM dominated the US instant messaging market, but as subscribers to the company’s internet service drifted away to alternate ISPs its market share fell. The last stable release of AIM was in March 2011, though a preview beta was pushed out in December, and as of a June 2011 report [pdf link] held just 0.73-percent of the market share for people with the app installed (though not necessarily in active use).

Exactly how AOL intends to “evolve” AIM remains to be seen, then, and scything away at the developer team responsible for the product doesn’t exactly indicate confidence for the long-term.

The original chat program that took hold of what seemed like the entire western world throughout the 1990s and early 2000s will be sorely missed by those inventors of such epic phrases as LOL and LMFAO. Many replacements have popped up since the birth of the AIM platform including Skype and Facebook’s own chat service, these rendering AOL’s version of person to person “instant” chat all but extinct.

These layoffs come amid a few other waves of similar person-cutting from the ranks of AOL in recent months, this leading the public and analysts to predict service cuts (such as these) to occur sooner than later. With the death of AIM comes the movement of the social networking world past the most basic form it took (in a popular sense), and here we move on to the much more dominant social network world of Facebook, Google+, and straight up text messaging with smartphones. Will you miss AOL’s instant messenger platform when it gives its final kiss goodbye?

[via Complex]

That means people who help with the development and management of AOL e-mail, webmail, and instant messaging are at risk of losing their jobs. According to media reports, the number of employees who will be cut is 40. It’s part of the company’s continuing transition to move away from what it was known for 15 years ago and grow into something brand new and relevant.

It’s funny to think that at one point, AOL was so powerful that it actually acquired Time Warner. Just think about that for a moment. Now, having any connection to AOL is almost seen as a stigma. And employees certainly don’t have perfect job security. In the last six months, numerous high-ranking AOL executives have been removed from the company.

[via VentureBeat]

PaidContent is not only just a news website but it also functions as a catalyst for change in the industry, sponsoring its own branded conferences that discuss the evolution of media and technology. Through the acquisition, GigaOM will be able to expand its reach beyond tech heads and enthusiasts. PaidContent and its parent company ContentNext were previously owned by Guardian News & Media.

That company is best known for its namesake UK-based website Guardian.co.uk. In recent years, though, the site has been attracting a lot more viewers in the US. Guardian’s acquisition of ContentNext was no doubt a push to reach the North American market, but as the Guardian’s own primary website has begun to do that, it decided to put ContentNext up for sale. Enter GigaOM, which now joins the ranks of companies like AOL and SAY Media in the world of digital publishing acquisitions.

[via NY Times]

This bold and ambitious new plan is planned to come to fruition some time this summer. Then, by the end of 2013, the number of hours of content will grow to 16 hours per day, literally pitting it against CNN, Fox News, and the other 24-hour news channels which only offer about 15-17 hours of news and then several hours of re-aired programming during the overnight hours. This announcement came from a blog post written by Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, who actually has very little to do with the site’s day-to-day operations anymore.

People won’t just be watching it from their computers, either. It will “live on every platform — computer, smartphone, tablet, Over-the-Top TV — with the goal of creating the most social video experience anywhere,” Huffington wrote. It’s a good thing she wrote it because we probably wouldn’t have been able to understand anything with her thick Greek accept. The Huffington Post now belongs to AOL, which purchased the domain last year for $315 million.

[via Reuters]

A source speaking with Business Insider spoke of a “definite” set of talks about consolidation of the groups, be they Microsoft and AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo!, or others. Speaking anonymously for fear of being chopped into a million pieces for revealing said information, this BI trusted source spoke thusly on the matter:

“Definitely, people are talking about it. People generally expect AOL to come apart one way or another. I don’t think that’s an interesting asset. It’s just been so beaten down. Yahoo is a lot more interesting. If it comes into play, then at least their U.S. media business is a pretty interesting asset. It’s complicated because of those Asian assets.”

This same source also spoke on how Microsoft is re-evaluating how powerful MSN is and how crucial it is to have MSN help Bing “win.” Ex-AOL rep Ted Cahall recently came to Microsoft and turned MSN around to make it the growing business it is today. In the face of lowering stocks and reports of less than positive inner-workings going on, this is all great news for Microsoft’s online devision. The source noted:

It’s not every day that you watch both of your competitors blow themselves up. It’s like watching a train wreck. … The portal space is challenged. Facebook is just absorbing more and more minutes – usage. That’s having an effect on portals. The time shifting toward mobile is another factor weighing on portals. The problems AOL and Yahoo have are exacerbated by management.”

What do you think? Microsohoo!? Perhaps the key to making both AOL and Yahoo! prosperous to a giant degree again is to give the big ax to the entire management board? Microsoft, can you do it?

[via Business Insider]

The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and it was field by I/P Engine, Inc. The suit alleges that the companies are infringing on a patent held by I/P Engine that has to do with relevance filtering technology for search results. The company also claims that the tech is used to place ads with more relevance online.

I/P Engine says that it acquired the patents as part of a portfolio of patents that were purchased from Lycos. Lycos had acquired the patents in the purchase of a company called WiseWire Corporation. What the company is seeking in the suit is unknown right now, but I would assume it to be licensing fees and damages if it wins.

Established independent YouTube stars aren’t excited about the new development, but understand that it makes business sense for Google to do this. Many of the more popular YouTube stars are now YouTube partners with the company meaning they get a check from YouTube for their number of views and subscriptions. These independent stars can make up to six figures a year through their YouTube channels.

With the influx of celebrity channels may give independent YouTubers less of chance to get popular. “I’m not really expecting handouts from Google, but I feel that they should definitely contribute more to people that have a proven track record of being consistent and devoted to the site from the beginning, rather than people that are using it just because they’re getting some money thrown at them,” says one independent YouTube star, Alex Negrete (keeptheheat).

[via Business Insider]

“The company still gets eighty percent of its profits from subscribers, many of whom are older people who have cable or DSL service but don’t realize that they need not pay an additional twenty-five dollars a month to get online and check their e-mail. “The dirty little secret,” a former AOL executive says, “is that seventy-five percent of the people who subscribe to AOL’s dial-up service don’t need it.” Ken Auletta, New Yorker

According to AOL’s most recent SEC filing, subscription revenues and overall subscriber numbers are down; just 4.1m at September 30 2010. The 10-Q also confirms that 43-percent of AOL revenue comes from subscriptions; it’s not clear how the source figures that the profits are primarily from subscribers.

[via Slashdot and via Huffington Post]

R3 Media Network

Editor’s Choice
Netflix eyes international push in 2011 [WATCH OUT WORLD]
Nokia Android Honeycomb tablet is latest odd OS rumor [COULD BE NEATO]
PSP2 renders stoke next-gen Sony gaming rumor fire [PSP2PS2PSP]
McAfee: Apple, Google TV, Facebook and iPads all key 2011 cybercrime targets [CRIME!]

Android Community
Verizon to focus on Android not a new iPhone at CES
New details on PlayStation app for Android surface
SBN Tech bringing new Android videophone to CES
Nokia name-checked as Android Honeycomb tablet producer
Sony Ericsson’s 1GHz XPERIA mini pro replacement leaks
Fans of Angry Birds Blocking Ads on Android Version VS Ads Not as Prevalent as at Launch
Motorola Cliq 2 for T-Mobile Images Leak
HTC EVO Shift 4G Releasing January 9th for $150, According to RadioShack
HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon TWELVE PHOTOS

SlashGear
2011: The Year of Pentaband? [COLUMN]
Palm hiring spree highlights push for developers & new form-factors
Vodafone Huawei EC W820 video call home tablet hits FCC
Olympus XZ-1, Sony 1080p60 super-autofocus and Panasonic S-Series tipped for CES 2011 compact avalanche
ELP energy-monitoring system allows remote appliance control [Video]
Skype blames Windows app bug for supernode outage
Thermaltake unveils Max 5G external HDD enclosure
First Intel Sandy Bridge notebook is from Santech
Livio Radio system brings internet radio into the car
Ford MyKey feature upgraded to block explicit satellite radio content
LG and Samsung iPad screen shipment numbers are big
Netflix eyes international push in 2011
More details on PlayStation App for Android and iPhone revealed
SBN Tech Android videophone is more like a tablet
Nokia Android Honeycomb tablet is latest odd OS rumor
Moshi Reflection clock lands as a Brookstone exclusive
Fatheadz Eyewear is perfect for people with cranius enormous
Colorful offers special edition NVIDIA GTX460 dubbed iGame460 Commemorative Edition
Tiny Sony Ericsson XPERIA leaks with 1GHz processor punch
PSP2 renders stoke next-gen Sony gaming rumor fire
MSI WindPad U100W Win7 tablet gets video preview: underwhelms
DIY Nintendo Wii laptop scraps DVD drive for ripped game library [Video]
McAfee: Apple, Google TV, Facebook and iPads all key 2011 cybercrime targets
Paul Allen patent suit refiled: App Store, iTunes, Gmail & more all cited
France wants tablet-tax for iPad and Android slates while Windows exempt
NOOK design theft suit with Spring Design to continue
LG LW6500 promises flicker-free CINEMA 3D TV video
Nintendo 3DS Might Ruin Kid’s Eyeballs, if They’re Six Years Old or Younger

To see more wrap-up posts, follow the following tags: [The Daily Slash] or [SlashGear Morning Wrap-up]

Google’s supposed infringements are even more comprehensive, with Allen suggesting that Google search, Gmail, Google Finance, Google Videos, Google Maps, Orkut, Google Books and the Adsense system all fall foul. In the previous version of the filing, Allen and his team had not sufficiently specified which technology was being contested, Apple and Google had argued, and the judge gave until December 28 2010 for a revised suit to be filed.

R3 Media Network

Editor’s Choice
90′s AOL discs cost AOL about $35 per subscriber [WELL PLAYED, AOL]
iPad 2 case video claims iPod touch profile for 2nd-gen slate [CAMERAS!]
iPod nano hack removes apps; Jailbreak work-in-progress [Video] [CUTE HACKS]
First X-Ray Image of Lightning Captured [WHOA]

SlashPhone
Bada 1.2 for Samsung Wave S8500 Coming Early Next Year
New HTC 4G Smartphone Dated on January 6th
US Android Users Can Buy Android Apps with Carrier Billing
Galaxy Tab Firmware Will Come With Protected Bootloader

Android Community
Huawei IDEOS X5 Tech Specs Revealed
Cellbots app updated: video streaming, voice control, more [Video]
AppsFire Adds Video Previews for Applications, Coming to Android Market Soon?
New Android Music App leaks [Video]
Asus Eee Pad pics surface ahead of CES
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and LG Optimus Pad coming at CES 2011?
Samsung Galaxy S2 confirmed for MWC 2011 claim reports
Sony PlayStation phone coming in spring 2011 according to Japanese paper
Toshiba Folio 100 firmware addresses lag, multitouch, more
Cowon’s Android D3 Plenue PMP packs T-DMB and HDMI
Dungeon Defenders, the First Unreal Engine Based Game, Available Now
Motorola Cliq 2 for T-Mobile Images Leak
HTC EVO Shift 4G Releasing January 9th for $150, According to RadioShack
HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon TWELVE PHOTOS
ADW Launcher EX Released: Silky Smooth
HTC Desire HD gets FCC approval, North American 3G Radios Inside
Android Market Statistics Released from AndroLib
Original HTC Desire Update 2.29.405.5 Rolling Out Now
Angry Birds Creator Talks Android Fragmentation and Strategy
Dell Streak 7 and Motorola Cliq 2 Rumored for January 19th Launch
How To Force Your Android Device to Check for System Update
CyanogenMod 7 Alpha hits the myTouch4G
Samsung Galaxy S Devices in the US Listed as Having Android 2.2 on Samsung’s Product Page [Update]

SlashGear
Sony dismiss iPad-rival color Reader tablet plans
Alphaline Entertainment movie & TV download store launches
HP scoops $2.5bn NASA computing contract
Android music player update leaks but streaming still absent [Video]
Ring Socket concept makes timed charging easy
Amazon patents auto gift exchanges for online shopping
90′s AOL discs cost AOL about $35 per subscriber
Sonic the Hedgehog inductive Wii Remote charger from Mad Catz
Quirky Digits turn any gloves into iPhone working wonders
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and LG Optimus Pad inbound at CES according to report
Samsung Galaxy S successor due at MWC 2011
iGo to unveil new gear at CES 2011
PhoneGuard blocks texting when a phone is traveling faster than 10mph
iPad 2 to have separate AT&T and Verizon versions not single multimode?
AT&T beefs up WiFi coverage in NYC for Times Square festivities
Sony PlayStation Phone coming in spring 2011?
App Developers and Apple get sued over user tracking
Panasonic AG-AF100 micro-4/3 camcorder on sale now
Power Support unveils new screen films and coating for Clear Air Jacket
Trojan Condoms to participate in 2011 CES show
Sprint WiMAX 4G turns on in San Francisco
Nokia E7 gets Amazon listing with no delivery date in sight
ASUS G53SW, G73SW, N53SV and N73SV Intel Sandy Bridge notebooks revealed
RIM doubted original iPhone was possible claims ex-insider
iPad 2 case video claims iPod touch profile for 2nd-gen slate
ASUS slashing netbook prices as tablets take market; MSI dropping out completely?
iPod nano hack removes apps; Jailbreak work-in-progress [Video]
Cowon D3 Plenue Android PMP gets official
ASUS Eee Pads get pre-CES 2011 photo tease
Samsung Ready to Unveil World’s Thinnest 3D Blu-ray Player
Cellbots Android app wants to be your robot’s brain [Video]
Hydroleaf Shelter Collects and Purifies Water, Acts as Bus Stop
Samsung Announces WB700 Ultra-Slim Camera with 18x Optical Zoom and 16MP CCD Sensor
Call of Duty: Black Ops was Reportedly the Most Pirated Game in 2010
Solemates Superyacht Lets Passengers and Crew Control Some Features with iPads
Samsung Announces NX11 with i-Function Lens
Windows Phone 7 Marketplace Now Has 5,000 Applications and Games
New Super Mario Bros Sells Six Million Copies for DS
HTC Thunderbolt for Verizon Shown Off in Pictures
Engkey Egg-Shaped Robot Teaches South Korean Students English
First X-Ray Image of Lightning Captured
Researchers at University of Glasgow Create 1,000-Core Processor
Nintendo Adds 32 3DS Titles for Nintendo World 2011
LG Xnote P210 Notebook Unveiled
Gresso iPad Features 200-Year-Old Wood and 18K Gold Apple Logo, Goes on Sale New Year’s Eve
BlackBerry PlayBook Could be Delayed Due to Battery Issues
TENQ P07 Ubuntu tablet spotted in wild
Olympus PEN E-PL2 leaks: new lens kit & PENPAL Bluetooth dongle
Sprint Palm Pixi gains mysterious front-facing camera
SkyWire iPhone serial cable allows remote telescope control

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

One person wondered the same thing and posted the question on question and answer site Quora recently. Apparently, the CEO of AOL at the time you couldn’t escape from the discs, Steve Case, saw the question and decided to answer it. The answer in short was “a lot.”

According to Case AOL had decided that it could spend 10% of its lifetime revenue per customer on landing that customer. He also said that the lifetime revenue was $350 so each of those CDs cost AOL about $35. I guess the plan worked out OK for them at the time. AOL went from 200,000 users when the company made its IPO to 25 million in a decade with a market cap of $150 billion.

Via TechCrunch

The rumors echo plans back in 2009 to sell off the dial-up business to either EarthLink or United Online, but it’s unclear whether either is now in a position to pick up the tab. AOL still has 4m dial-up customers, who together add around $1bn of revenue to analysts’ $2.4bn 2010 estimates for the company. They’re also a significant source of traffic to the AOL homepage.

Still, the numbers are shrinking, and analysts agree that AOL needs to take steps if they’re not to stagnate and then decline. A Yahoo! deal could pair the site’s popular sports, finance, general news and email services with AOL’s strengths in maps and entertainment news.

It has a large high-res LCD screen on the phone as well as a full keypad which can be used to type your messages. No longer will you have to choose between sitting at the computer all day and using the precious capacity of your mobile’s data plan, you can now go outside and enjoy the weather and not miss the message from your friend you are waiting on.

The phone is ENERGY STAR rated, RoHS compliant, and comes with 100% recyclable packaging. It has caller ID, call waiting, recordable ring tones, voicemail indicator, a 50 name/number programmable phonebook/directory, and works with your choice of headsets. This amazing home phone is a mere $99.95 and can be bought online or at Best Buy.

[via VTech]

So, lets say Yahoo does merge with AOL, not only is that far less of a threat that a Yahoo/MS merger, but Google might even pull out of AOL if that happens, or not. Either way it means that Google will likely profit even more from this whole mess.

Yahoo should have accepted Microsoft’s offer, the two might have been able to form some sort of competitor for Google, at least to some extent, where as on their own, or even with AOL and Yahoo merged, not MS, not Yahoo, not AOL, not anyone can compete with Google. Personally I am perfectly OK with that as Google is doing an amazing job at what they do and without it I might die, but from the business side of things Yahoo may have shot themselves in the foot.

[via TechDirt]

But it offers up a unique feature, wireless downloads from the Rhapsody-to-go music service and from AOL’s video service via WiFi. It also has an FM transmitter just like the Zune.

It supports USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0 (finally) and has support for a bunch of video formats too, including MPEG-4, WMV, M4V, AVI, H.264, MPG, and audio formats including MP3, WMA, WAV, and AAC. You can get it in a 30GB HDD version or 4 and 8 gigabyte flash sizes. Those are priced at $319.95, $229, and $249.99 respectively, which means they think they are better than both the Zune and the iPod and worth it.

Haier AOL Reappears as Ibiza Rhapsody PMP [via PMPToaday]

On to better news, they have decided to give both the Slide and the new LX a “Consumer E-Mail Upgrade” basically it makes it easier to set up and use your public email accounts from companies such as Yahoo! and AOL. Specifically for those two companies, they also support their PUSH email systems.

You’ll also be able to setup other POP and IMAP accounts as you wish, and as always, access to your T-Mail account will be built in too. The new mail client will work a lot like MySpace on the Sidekick with tabs across the top for each account. The upgrade will come in OTA and will start rolling out today, with everyone getting it by November.

There is a miniSD card slot that you can store music on too, which in turn can be played through the integrated MyTunes media player, or you can stream them from the Internet. Obviously this beast connects via wifi, so speed should be good.

There is also a photo viewer built in. it will retail next month for $149.99. In case you were wondering, you can have more than one conversation at a time.

Zipit reveals Z2 Wireless Messenger for IM addicts [via engadget]

As the Washington Post’s Brian Krebs explains:

“Let’s take a fictional AOL user named Bob Jones, who signs up with AOL using the user name BobJones. Bob — thinking himself very clever — sets his password to be BobJones$4e?0. Now, if Bob’s co-worker Alice or arch nemesis Charlie tries to guess his password, probably the first password he or she will try is Bob’s user name, since people are lazy and often use their user name as their password”

There’s some discussion about this being a possible hangover from a 60s enterprise version of Unix, but AOL themselves will say nothing more than that they’re “looking into it”.

Washington Post [via Slashdot]

Under the hood, Netscape Browser 9.0 is Firefox codebase with some extensions to accommodate its integration to Netscape.com. The 9.0 is developed by AOL’s own development team unlike the previous version which was outsourced to Mercurial Communications.

AOL Preparing Netscape Browser 9.0 [via betanews]