#aol

AOL launched a preview of its latest AIM vision today, which includes new desktop, mobile, and web apps. Surprisingly, AOL has cut out much of the clutter that previously made AIM a chore to use — it’s now streamlined and focused on conversations. Group chats are now a core part of the service, and video chats are seamlessly integrated.

Two weeks ago, Google disabled the + operator for searches, requiring quotation marks to force inclusion of a word. Today, Google Plus rolled out a new feature - Pages for companies and brands, so you can "build relationships with all the things you care about". Included is Direct Connect - go straight to Pepsi's Google+ page by searching for +Pepsi.

"Like a phoenix from the ashes, something new is in the process of being born. I give you ficly."

"AOL is shutting down Ficlets on January 15, and in their infinite corporate wisdom and understanding of how communities on the Internet work, they're not providing any easy way to archive the stories you've written there beyond advising that you try "copying the text and pasting it into a plain text or Word document." Right. That's going to be really fun and easy for people who have written dozens of Ficlets. [::facepalm::]"

"Open AIM continues to lead the way with providing the most powerful and flexible platform to power your communication, collaboration, and social networking experiences. "

Someone reverse-engineered the old Quantum Link (pre-AOL) service and got both classic C64 hardware and modern emulators working with it.

"An incredible video from CNBC shows an AOL customer trying to cancel his account, but a phone rep won't let him do it."

"The TOC2 protocol is an updated version of the TOC protocol, or "Talk to OSCAR" protocol. Its existence was never documented by AOL and it is only used in a few AOL Instant Messenger clients."

Wow. Access via IMAP. Next thing you know, they'll be switching AIM to use Jabber protocols