RSSAOL Enhancing Search for Broadband
By the Betanews Staff | Published September 8, 2006, 1:39 PM
AOL said Friday it was beginning to beta test a new version of its search product on a limited basis, making enhancements that will benefit those users who have broadband access. The new AOL Search will "go beyond text links," the company said. It will include a redesign aimed at making information accessible on a single page, and will provide links to videos, pictures, sound clips, and localized information.
New modular functionality will respond intuitively to search queries, says AOL. For example, a search for a particular music artist will provide relevant audio and video content, or a search for a current event will provide a list of related stores on the right-hand side. Finally, users will be able to fine tune their results in real time, allowing for more relevant searches. The company said it will launch an open beta in "the coming weeks."
While I disagree with what AOL and a myriad other services are doing, I also disagree with the hordes of folks who run amuck calling for this action or that action to be taken by the amorphous 'they'. ...As if we need someone else's enlightened insight to cause more problems! You don't have to worry about all of those folks who you seem to think are too stupid to appreciate your brilliant insight.
The answer is already here. Its called market choice. And rather than running around telling others what THEY should do, why not simply focus on your own behavior and make reasonable market choices.
Each person already has the ability to make such choices.
This all sounds so reminiscent of the whines of the poor victims for the govt to protect us from that heinous monster Microsoft, whose products the very same people freely bought instead of their supporting other systems!
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|doesn't this sound like targeted advertising? Search for a band and a picture with a link to a music store appears on the right? Worse yet it will appear as a link for your search results.
Aol sucks, I hope they die soon because they are worthless. They do nothing for the industry or customers now. They are a cancer of the net and need some radiation therapy. Just die already aol and let the newbies be taught by real professionals and use real security products and real search engines like google.
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|"doesn't this sound like targeted advertising?"
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Well of course it's taregeted advertising. What else is advertising if not to get to a "target" audience. A rhetorical question, of course.
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"Aol sucks, I hope they die soon because they are worthless."
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Just think...you made yourself an advertisement for AOL. For me as a loyal AOL subscriber and for AOL, that makes all of us very, very happy.
And obviously you haven't checked AOL out recently because they do use Google.
By the way, if you're an example of a "real professional" I hope all "newbies" take a rain check on individuals such as your self.
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|Well I did know they use Google, you certainly don't need to use their bloated client and processor cycle wasting software to use it. As for targeted advertising, thats great. But I would prefer to use google's ads which are targeted and helpful, not annoying. As for me using them lately, I have. I downloaded and installed their client software and signed up for a new free account and signed on. Worthless, they even disabled the chat rooms for the free users. So what will I use it for now? The mail is annoying with a gigantic advertisement right under it flashing and has nothing to do with anything. It installed a whole lot of crap I will never use. let's see, a screen saver, some coach software the AOL adapter, some spamzapper that runs every time I sign on. I am sure I forget a few things but after about 10 mins I said I had enough. I uninstalled everything and reformatted just to be sure it was gone.
I have used their AOL portal as well, it was worthless. I would rather use Google, FireFox, zonealarm and trendmicro any day of the week then the load of crap they try to offer.
So yeah, in response to you I would say AOL is dead in the water, no positives here and if they think they will be around in 5 years, they might be but a shadow of their former self.
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|"At the price they charge for Dial-Up, it's a wonder they even have any of those customers."
What $10? WoOOooo!
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|Um, try $26 for Dial-up. That is the only access they will be charging for. I know I read that they will be charging that much for DU because they won't be charging for BYOA anymore. That is rediculous, but then so is DU at this day and age.
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|Um $26 for dialup...um, read again. They do have a 9.95 plan now. Really bugs me when people talk so much about something they hate and dont have the facts.
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|"Um $26 for dialup...um, read again. They do have a 9.95 plan now. Really bugs me when people talk so much about something they hate and dont have the facts."
Thank you! Hate when someone calls me a lier. I know what the hell I'm talking about. Damn AOL bashers, why do they even REPLY to an AOL article, I'll never know???
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|Geez, aren't they getting desperate to find something that works for them. You know it's bad when you go from business model to business model, yet you still lose 3 million subscribers a year. Now they will be free for broadband, so I guess that makes them a portal in the broadband sense, and ISP for DU users. At the price they charge for Dial-Up, it's a wonder they even have any of those customers.
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