AOL considers free e-mail for broadband users

AOL wants to drop subscription fees for most of its users completing its transformation to a free service similar to chief rivals Yahoo and Google say top executives at AOL and its parent Time Warner (TWX).
 
Dialup customers who rely on AOL as their Internet service provider would still have to pay the $. monthly fee. But anyone using AOL on broadband would get the service free including email and use of the AOL software.

A year ago AOL put

eBay Slams the Door on Google Checkout

In the ongoing fight between Internet giants the latest round has eBay coming out swinging. Shortly after Google rolled out a PayPallike payment service called Checkout eBay banned it from being advertised on auction listings.
 
Google Checkout joins AlertPay AuctionChex and or so other payment services blocked by eBay. Payment methods allowed by eBay include banktobank wire transfers Visa Discover MasterCard and of course eBay's own payment service PayPal.

"EBay is not able to monitor or police the

South Korea, Japan At The Head Of The Internet Pack

South Korea and Japan top the rankings for use of information and communication technologies (ICT) such as the Internet but developing states such as India are making giant strides a U.N. report said on Wednesday.

Using a speciallydevised Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) which tracks variables such as price and infrastructure the International Telecommunication Union put Denmark and Iceland in third and fourth places respectively.

Chile topped the list in Latin America while Morocco was the bestplaced African country.

The report by the United Nations'

Google Offers Free Access to Online Videos

Google has upgraded and updated its online video service to offer free adsupported access to premium content among other things.
 
Google has launched a beta version of its new "sponsored video" service which makes available a variety of videos that are paid for by companies like HP. The free content ranges from music videos to cartoon shows interviews and movies.

In order to offer the content for free Google has gone with advertisements of the noninvasive variety. Instead of popup ads

Google Opens the Checkout Lines

With the launch of Checkout formerly called GBuy search specialist Google wants to give you a helping hand with all your online purchases. The new service at checkout.google.com can store all of the pertinent information needed to quickly complete a transaction with any participating merchant.
 
In essence Checkout streamlines the ecommerce buying process much like PayPal does by letting you create an account with Google that includes contact information payment preferences and shipping information.

Then when completing a purchase

Unlocking the Promise of Web 2.0

The Internet is evolving. Whereas once it served mostly as a conduit for data today the World Wide Web is turning into something more akin to a giant operating system an immense interactive platform on which fullblown applications run in your browser and collaboration occurs in real time.
 
New technologies and new ideas are helping to shape the Internet into what some are calling Web .. MySpace.com ThinkFree.com and Digg.com represent a wave of dynamic sites that take

US Internet companies vow to protect children online

US Internet firms Microsoft Yahoo Earthlink AOL and United Online formed a coalition to protect children online pledging a million dollars and their savvy to the mission.
 
Revelation of the campaign to thwart online child predators was an apparent move to sap momentum from hearings in the US Congress into whether to enact laws forcing Internet companies to keep records of people's online activities.

The Technology Coalition would be an alliance with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

China's Baidu to offer blog service

China's Internet search leader Baidu.com Inc. plans to launch a new service Baidu Space which Chinese media said would offer Web logs like those from Microsoft and Google.
 
"There's a product named Baidu Space" Cynthia He a spokeeswoman for Baidu said on Wednesday. "I can't describe the product or give a date (for the launch) except that it will be very soon and we are very excited. But we'd like to keep a little mystery for now."

Chinese media reported

Adobe Bundles Google Toolbar with Shockwave

As part of its recent push to have its Web browser toolbar installed everywhere around the world Google has agreed to pay an unspecified "significant amount" to have the software bundled with select Adobe downloads.
 
The initial venue for the Google miniapp will be downloads of the popular and free Shockwave multimedia player.

The move is seen by some observers as an effort to outflank Microsoft especially as Internet Explorer nears its formal launch this summer. The next

AOL says reviewing European Internet business

AOL the online unit of media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. on Wednesday said it plans to expand its Internet business in Europe but raised the possibility of getting out of the dialup business in the region.
 
"We believe we have a very good future and need to be on the Web in Europe" Jonathan Miller AOL's chief executive officer told investors at the Deutsche Bank Media and Telecoms conference.

He added: "The goal is to extend our presence on

Mobile E-Mail Usage To Triple By 2011 Says Report

Email access by mobile employees is set to triple between now and according to a report released Wednesday by U.K. Market research firm Informa Telecoms and Media. And much of that increased access will be on relatively simple devices such as standard cell phones and not over more expensive devices such as smartphones the study claims.

The surge will be spurred by a shift away from enterprisemanaged mobile email products such as Research In Motion's (RIM's) BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Instead email access

Amazon switches to Microsoft from Google

Microsoft Corp. scored an important win against rival Google Inc. over the weekend, as Amazon.com began using its technology to power the Internet retailer's A9 search unit.
 
Microsoft's new Windows Live is at the core of the company's efforts to win online advertising dollars away from Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. A9 had previously been powered by Google.

Amazon's search engine, A9, breaks down searches into various categories, such as Web searches, book searches, and blog searches. It

Yahoo!'s 'Tech Made Easy' Site Gets Back To Basics

In the seemingly never-ending quest to help clients move beyond banner ads and informational Web sites, interactive shops are beefing up their ability to assist brands in developing their own online games.
 
Tribal DDB, Organic, R/GA and other Web shops say gaming is a way to deliver more immersive brand experiences, rather than rely on one-way messaging through outbound advertising.

In the past year, Tribal DDB has created online games for clients like McDonald's, Philips and Volkswagen. Now, the

Skype Hits the 100-Million-User Mark

If one characteristic of a utopian society is that you can make free phone calls to anyone in the world, then utopia has come a little closer to reality. On Friday, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) giant Skype announced it had reached 100 million registered users worldwide.
 
Skype's free service allows you to make computer-to-computer voice or video calls, but only to other Skype users. The larger the number of users, the larger the number of people you can call

Napster Offers Ad-Subsidized Free Service

Napster, which pioneered the concept of free music shared via the web, has moved back to that model -- with a catch.
 
Napster's basic service is now entirely advertising-subsidized, allowing users to stream music from the company's library of about 2 million songs, for free.

The catch, however, is that each song may be played only five times, after which the user is asked to subscribe to Napster's paid service, which costs $9.95 per month, or $14.95 per month