America Online has temporarily dropped prices for its dial-up Internet service in an effort to stem the tide of customers switching to alternative services.
The Time Warner company has cut the price of its unlimited dial-up service to $19.95 a month from $23.90 for new U.S. subscribers who sign up within the next few weeks. AOL is similarly lowering the price of its 10-hours-a-month dial-up service to $9.95 a month from $14.95 for a limited time.
The special offer, which also includes 50 free days of service to new subscribers to the $19.95 plan, is aimed at broadband subscribers who want dial-up when they're away from home, an AOL representative said. The company has no plans for a permanent price change, the representative added.
AOL is the largest Internet service provider in the United States but has been steadily losing subscribers to lower-cost dial-up services and high-speed services from cable and phone companies. A study last year by ComScore Networks revealed high-speed service is rapidly gaining ground on dial-up, with about half of all Internet users in many major U.S. cities relying mainly on broadband connections.
AOL is also under attack by cheaper dial-up service providers such as NetZero. That rival offers unlimited dial-up packages for as low as $9.95 a month, a deal it currently advertises on its Web site as "half the cost of AOL."
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
With Windows 8 now on a clearer path to release, expect the big device makers to try to crash the raucous Apple party with Microsoft leading the way. And who knows? Microsoft may even steer buyers away from a next-generation 9-inch Kindle Fire.
AstrologyDating.com is a new site that tries to find you your perfect love on the basis of birth date, birth time, and birthplace. But will it tell you the truth? Well, it asks you to pay only per match. So I tried it.
The Web fulminates when it is revealed that executives from VEVO--vehement music industry antipirates--played a pirated stream of an NFL playoff game at a party. VEVO claims it left its Wi-Fi unsupervised. Have we heard that argument before?
Tor's "obfsproxy" technology would make encrypted data look innocuous and let it dodge government censors. That could help citizens in Iran reach blocked sites as antigovernment protests reportedly loom.
iPhones and Angry Birds aside, the arcade endures. Crave pays a visit--and offers up an homage to games and gamers of years past and a tribute to the possibly endangered, but not yet dead, atmosphere of the arcade itself.
superfast cable modem, where do I sign up.
</sarcasm>