Webware

A nice little summer shopping spree for AOL: Under the auspices of new CEO Tim Armstrong, the company has acquired "hyperlocal" news site Patch and hipster-oriented events listing site Going.com.

The acquisition of Patch isn't too much of a surprise. Armstrong founded and invested in Patch while at his former gig as Google sales chief. The start-up offers a model for local news on the Web and plans to have launched in a dozen cities by the end of 2009. Going, meanwhile, has been around since 2006 and offers event and invitation services along with ticketing. It's likely that AOL will use its technology to take the service beyond its party-friendly current target demographic.

"Local remains one of the most disaggregated experiences on the Web today--there's a lot of information out there but simply no way for consumers to find it quickly and easily," Armstrong said in a release. "Going forward, local will be a core area of focus and investment for AOL. The acquisitions of Patch and Going will help us build out our local network further with excellent local services that enable people to stay better informed about what's going on in their neighborhood."

He's not the only new-media executive thinking local: in his keynote address at the Advertising 2.0 conference on Wednesday, IAC/InterActiveCorp CEO Barry Diller called local "one of the few areas that hasn't been colonized" on the Web. IAC owns Citysearch, with which AOL has partnered in syndication deals.

Correction: This article was updated at 11:10 PDT to remove the statement that AOL doesn't allow using non-AOL e-mail clients to access its e-mail, which is untrue.

It's been a challenge to persuade my friends to move on from AOL. It's not because I am not convincing enough (I am!), it's just that it's impossible for them to move their e-mail archive and contacts to a new non-AOL account.

(Credit: Gmailblog)

But now my persuasion level has just been raised a notch as Gmail announced Wednesday a new feature that helps make the move easier.

Gmail now migrates e-mail and contacts from other providers, including Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, and a few dozen others. This means you can still view those special messages sent to the old account in your new Gmail account.

The new migration feature also lets you have your messages forwarded from your old account for 30 days, giving you time to inform those on your contact list about the new e-mail address. Of course, in my own experience, you can always go back and check the old account once in a while in case that person you never expect to hear from writes you again after years of zero correspondence.

For AOL users, by the way, you don't need to install the AOL software, which tends to slow down your computer and your Internet connection significantly, to check its e-mail; you can do that just by going to the Web site and log-in with your e-mail address and password.

Chad Parry, a Gmail engineer, said that for now the new feature is only available to newly created Gmail accounts. But soon, in matter of days, it will be available to all existing accounts. You'll know this when you see the "Accounts and Import" tab, which used to be called just "Accounts," under the "Settings" section of your Gmail account.

(Credit: Gmailblog)

This new migration feature, unfortunately, won't be available for schools and businesses using Google Apps. The reason for this, I believe, is that these entities tend to use e-mail addresses ending in their own domain instead of gmail.com.

Prior to this, you could always export your old account's contact to a CSV file then import it into Gmail, and you can still do that now. However, this new feature offers a much simpler way for importing them. It also offers the option to import the e-mail archive, which is very important.

I don't know about other e-mail providers, but AOL and Yahoo users should definitely take this opportunity to move on. AOL software is notoriously horrible in many ways, and Yahoo still charges you a yearly fee if you want to use a standard e-mail client to check e-mail, which is ridiculous.

Setting up Gmail to import Hotmail

Social media is coming to Warner Bros. Television Group's online properties, thanks to a smallish AOL property called Socialthing.

A feed of members' activity across Warner Bros. entertainment sites--TheWB.com, KidsWB.com, DC Hero Zone, MomLogic, Essence, and TheCW.com--will be displayed on their Socialthing profiles. So, if you watch a "Gossip Girl" video on TheCW.com or play a game on DC Hero Zone, it'll show up in your feed, and you can keep tabs on what your friends are doing as well (and share bits of content with them). There will also be fictional Socialthing profiles for characters like the "Gossip Girl" cast as part of a broader promotional effort.

As some others have pointed out, it's nice to see AOL finally showing some synergy with parent company Time Warner. You know, before it gets spun off and all.

AOL purchased Socialthing, a would-be competitor to FriendFeed, last summer and integrated it into the "People Networks" division anchored by the company's earlier acquisition of Bebo. Last month, AOL relaunched Socialthing as "a revolutionary new platform that brings social-networking services to Web sites and enables publishers to attract new users and keep them engaged wherever they are on the Web" and announced that it would be working the service into its MediaGlow content network.

From what it sounds like, it won't be all that different to what Viacom has been doing with its own "social platform" technology, Flux. Right now, members can log in with AOL and AIM accounts, but it'll soon be expanded to include Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, and OpenID credentials with the help of the various data portability tools out there.

Disclosure: The CW television network is a joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS. CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.

Two new members have been added to the fresh lineup of MySpace's executive ranks, following the appointment of CEO Owen Van Natta last week.

Jason Hirschhorn, most recently president of Sling Media Entertainment and before that MTV Networks' chief digital officer, joins MySpace as its chief product officer. He's the second prominent MTV veteran to take on a role at the News Corp.-owned MySpace in the past year, following MySpace Music president Courtney Holt.

Hirschhorn is firmly on the digital-media and entertainment side of things, something that will invariably come into play as MySpace (ideally) restructures itself as an entertainment destination rather than a networking tool. At Sling, he was charged with the development of the SlingPlayer online video aggregator.

The other new MySpace hire comes from a more traditional Silicon Valley background: Michael Jones, who sold his start-up Userplane to AOL in 2006, joins the company as chief operating officer. MySpace is already familiar with Jones' work: it uses Userplane's chat technology for its Web-based chat client, MySpaceIM.

Both will be based in Los Angeles and report directly to Van Natta.

AOL has updated its Silverlight-powered Web mail beta with a handful of small, but important features that bring it closer in functionality to its standard Web counterpart.

Users can now print e-mails they've received, add a standard signature that gets attached to every outgoing message, flag and filter messages, and watch WMV-formatted video that's been sent as an attachment in full screen using the embedded video player. This is actually one of the coolest features of the bunch, since it provides a quick thumbnail preview, then opens it in a player that comes up as an on-screen overlay. You are, however somewhat limited in what you can watch, since the attached videos need to fit into AOL's 16MB limit.

The beta still lags behind AOL's normal Web mail service. For instance, it does not let you save messages-in-progress as drafts, accessing the calendar and making changes requires going off-site, and it's only got three different themes to choose from as opposed to the normal service's 40 plus. You've also got to have the latest version of Silverlight installed, which has not been getting good press lately in the streaming-video department. For tools like this though, its fading menus and refresh-free page updates give the Web e-mail experience more wow-factor.

AOL is expected to launch this new version as an optional replacement for its standard service later this year.

The updated AOL Mail RIA beta shows you a quick preview of videos before you play them, and lets you watch in full-screen right in your browser.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

There's been chatter on the Web (and Wall Street) for years now about whether Time Warner should spin off its AOL subsidiary. Now, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, it looks as though Time Warner's management is looking to tweak the requirements that prevent it from unloading AOL. So it finally might happen.

On the other hand, AOL's slow drift away from its parent company has been at about the speed of plate tectonics; these "fresh start for AOL" moves are nothing new. It was way back in 2003 that Time Warner reverted to its old name from AOL Time Warner, changing its stock symbol back to TWX from AOL. The company relocated its corporate headquarters to New York in 2007, conspicuously not moving into Time Warner's own headquarters.

AOL has also been aligning itself into three quasi-standalone businesses: advertising (Platform-A, amassed out of a number of digital-ad acquisitions), social networking (the "People Networks" division anchored by AOL's $850 million acquisition of Bebo), and content (the "MediaGlow" network of blogs and editorial sites).

But it wasn't until the second half of last year, particularly amid the Microsoft-Yahoo acquisition fiasco (in which AOL was highlighted as an acquisition target for both companies) that AOL's post-Time Warner fate started to look more evident. CEO Jeffrey Bewkes confirmed in August that the AOL dial-up access division would be spun off in a further attempt to focus on advertising. It's been almost a year, for that matter, since Time Warner announced that it would be spinning off its Time Warner Cable division. So it's not like the company doesn't have a recent track record of slimming down.

Now, with former Google advertising executive Tim Armstrong about to assume the CEO role, AOL could indeed be shaping up to spin off for good.

The latest move, detailed in the Journal, would relieve AOL of $12.3 billion worth of debt, effectively lifting a weight from the business and enabling it to move off on its own. Bondholders have until the end of the day on April 15 to provide consent. An analyst told the WSJ that an initial public offering is unlikely--ad revenues are still falling, and the overall market climate is obviously not ideal.

But as we've seen, these things just don't happen overnight.

Automakers have been in the news quite a bit lately. The future of some is very much in doubt. And since the economy is hitting most of us quite hard, I thought it appropriate to take a look at sites that help us find high-quality used cars.

Many of the sites in this alphabetical roundup will provide the research and information you require before you buy a car. Others will allow you to find cars in your area or buy them right on the site. Either way, they're all worth a look.

AOL Autos AOL provides some of the best informational resources on the Web, if you're looking for a car. Whether it's reviews from some of its experts, information on sales, or news, the site has it all. It's a full-featured resource that you'll want to check out.

Automotive.com provides outstanding research.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

Automotive.com Automotive.com is a huge site offering car availability in your area, research pages, and loan information. But where it really shines is in its reviews, which provide everything from value and pricing to quality and miles-per-gallon information. It's a very useful site.

AutoTrader.com AutoTrader makes it easy to find used cars for sale and even lets you sell your own car right on the site. But if you're looking to research some models, the site's "Research and Compare" page enables you to find the right car for you based on its make, model, type, and price range. All of the reviews are informative.

Carfax Don't even consider buying that used car until you consult Carfax with its Vehicle Identification Number. Once you get to Carfax, you can input the VIN into the search field, and the site will return the vehicle's history report. The report details past owners, when it was manufactured, where it has been registered, and most importantly, whether it has been through a major accident. It's a paid service (one report will run you $29.99), but it's a necessary step in buying a used car.

CarGurus A community of car lovers combined with vehicle information, CarGurus is a nice site, if you want to find out about a car from those who already have owned it. The site has active discussion forums, which are helpful when you need to ask questions. And its research pages and automobile history reports are worth checking out. But the real value of CarGurus is in those forums.

CarMax Much like AutoTrader and Cars.com (below), CarMax provides you with research information on cars in which you're interested. It also allows you to find cars for sale in your area so you can find what you're looking for sooner. And if you're looking to get rid of your old vehicle, the site will buy your car from you for its estimated value. It then sells the car on CarMax to turn a profit.

Cars.com has some outstanding reviews.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

Cars.com Cars.com is one of the best ways to learn about vehicles in which you might be interested. Its research menu boasts outstanding reviews on practically every car dating back nearly a decade. The site's shopping-advice page comes in handy when you want to determine the real value of a vehicle. It's a must-see before you start your search for a used car.

CarShopSmart CarShopSmart, affiliated with AutoTrader, is a nicely designed site that might be useful. If you want to research vehicles, it boasts some basic information. But the focus of the site is on finding a car in your area or locating dealers close to your home. Unfortunately, though, the size of its vehicle database is a little too small for my liking.

CarZen If you'd like some car-buying advice, CarZen may be the place to find it. From negotiating tactics to in-depth vehicle information, the site will provide you with all the resources you need to place a strong offer. It even helps you find the right car with the help of its fantastic tool, CarConsult. Try it out. You might be surprised by what you find.

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports provides outstanding car reviews, and its simple scoring system helps you quickly determine if a car is for you. The reviews aren't as in-depth as they are on other sites, but what Consumer Reports lacks in quantity, it makes up for in trustworthiness.

Craigslist Craigslist might be a classifieds site, but it's a great place to find cars that are available in your area. Whether you're buying a vehicle or are putting your own up for sale, you can do your research elsewhere and then hit the popular listings site. A variety of vehicles in any price range are always listed.

Opera, announced Thursday that it has inked a deal with Skyhook Wireless that will bring geolocation to its browser. According to the company, those who download the geolocation-equipped Opera browser will be able to share their location with any site that supports it and get information about related products and services in their area.

Skyhook played an integral role in making the geolocation possible. The company's Wi-Fi Position System makes it possible for any computer or mobile phone with a wireless adapter to be located.

In conjunction with the release of a new Opera build that supports geolocation, the company also released an API that will allow Web developers to add the Skyhook location platform to their site, so they can interact with Opera browser users. Download the browser here.

AOL might have enjoyed its best days in the late 1990s, but the company is still the most beloved ISP, according to a new study from Forrester Research. Forrester polled nearly 4,600 consumers about their experience dealing with ISPs. AOL topped the list for usefulness and simplicity. Overall, the company's "Customer Experience Index" rating was 71 percent, putting it atop the list of ISPs across the U.S.

Visible Measures, a company that provides video tracking and measurement services, announced Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in a Series C funding round that was led by Northgate Capital. According to the company, it plans to use the funding to expand its operation.

Mortgage search site, Home-Account, announced Thursday that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from Charles River Ventures and other investors. The company will use the funding to invest in its growth for its recently launched site.

Why pay list price? Especially now, when you're probably watching every penny? One of the best ways to get a deal on anything is to use a coupon. But instead of searching around the house for scissors and chopping up circulars, check out these 18 online services that give you what you need to save you cash on your next purchase.

Adpera It might not provide coupons in the conventional sense, but Adpera finds the best e-mail ads from retailers and displays them on the site. From designer sportswear to shoes and housewares, Adpera's selection is incredible. And searching for and finding deals is made simple with the help of a prominent search box at the top of the page. Adpera is basically one big spam folder. But instead of annoying you, it actually saves you some cash.

CoolSavings If you're looking for a full-featured site that includes both printable and online coupons from retailers on a wide range of disciplines, CoolSavings is for you. The site offers coupons for companies that you might have never heard of, and some that that are probably right down the street. The sheer quantity of coupons on CoolSavings is amazing. Unfortunately, though, CoolSavings' collection of free coupons isn't that helpful. In order to access the more sought-after deals, you'll need to sign up for the site. Once you do, you'll be happy: from personal finance to groceries, there are coupons for everything on CoolSavings.

Coupious is unique and worth using.

(Credit: Coupious)

Coupious Coupious is one of the coolest services in this roundup. A mobile app, it can be installed on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android-based phone. With the help of those devices' location services, it actively searches for businesses around your location and finds coupons while you're on the go. I've tried it on numerous occasions and have been amazed at its speed and relevance. Once you're ready to use one of the coupons it finds, you need only to click "Use now" and you're all set. And it's free.

CouponAlbum CouponAlbum is huge. That's the best way to describe it. Unlike some services that specialize in a particular area, CouponAlbum wants to be your one-stop shop for everything that's on sale right now. Whether it's software, toys, sporting goods, or food, the site has it all. And since it's updated weekly, you'll never run out of deals.

CouponCabin When I'm looking to save a few bucks, one of my first destinations is always CouponCabin. Unlike other sites that throw any company's deal at you, CouponCabin sticks to major stores like Target, Walmart, GameStop, and a few others. All the coupons are up-to-date and new deals are placed on the site every week. And since you can search by company or category, you probably won't miss a single deal at the places you frequent.

CouponGood If you're an online shopper, CouponGood is a good first place to check before you decide to buy something. The site provides coupons for online companies exclusively. With the help of a simple design, it makes it easy to find any deal you're looking for. Simply input the URL of a company that you're considering buying from and the site will see if it has any active coupons available. Based on my testing, every site I searched for had at least one active coupon, ranging from free shipping to 20 percent discounts. And since the site's free, you'll only need to click a link or input a code at checkout to activate it.

CouponMom CouponMom is targeted at, you guessed it, mothers, but I'm not sure it's even worth trying out. The site requires you to sign up and promises big deals, but when I used it, I quickly realized it couldn't compete on any level with Coupons.com. It's an alternative if for some reason you don't like Coupons.com.

Coupons.com is a fine coupon service.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)

Coupons.com When you're getting ready to go to the local supermarket or grocery, go to Coupons.com before you leave. The site offers a variety of printable coupons on goods ranging from food to cleaning supplies and they're available for use anywhere the products are sold. I use Coupons.com each week and I save myself at least $10 in grocery costs during that time. It's an extremely useful site that's designed well and makes it easy to find coupons. It's a must-see.