AOL leverages tech publications with new network

By Ed Oswald | Published April 10, 2008, 12:04 PM

AOL will aggregate its tech-oriented sites through a single portal, attempting to cash in on an already broad user base accessing those blogs.

Switched will now become the hub for the company's efforts, and draw in content from various blogs already under AOL's tech umbrella. Additionally, the site will lose prominent AOL branding.

Content on Switched will be pulled from the Engadget family of sites, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and Download Squad. However, a check of the site Thursday morning also included some content from off-network sites.

With a more cohesive group powering AOL's tech section, its reach will be approximately five million visitors per month. This makes it about twice the size of Wired, and about the same size as Yahoo Tech.

It also makes the network more palatable to advertisers, who will be able to market a brand with a significant reach. In a statement announcing the formation, AOL indeed referred to this, saying it will be easier to buy advertising across these sites.

"We're bringing together some of the Web's most powerful and fastest-growing tech blogs to create a technology publishing powerhouse," weblogs chief Marty Moe said in a statement.

Visitors can access the network through a link on AOL.com which redirects to Switched, or continue to access them through their normal domain names. On the redesigned Engadget sites and Switched, a user can navigate from site to site through a menu bar near the top of the page.

View comments by with a score of at least

Comcast deal for NBC Universal is about content, not broadband

Although Comcast is certainly America's largest broadband provider, at least for PCs, in most regards, today's deal with GE may not impact the Internet at all.

The Black Screen Syndrome, or, Tech news in search of the apocalypse

Scott Fulton On Point: This is a story about something that should not have been a story, about something that at one time was a story.

Five compact digital camera myths and realities

This holiday 2009 primer offers tips on what and what not to look for in a compact digital camera.

Mark Russinovich on MinWin, the new core of Windows

The next version of Windows three years hence will likely build onto a significant architectural change implemented in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.

Android team updates 'Donut' and 'Eclair' SDKs

The Android SDK includes components which optimize app development for each version of the mobile operating system. Today, the 1.6 and 2.0 components got updates.

See ya later, WinMo: Microsoft's mobile strategy needs a reboot

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: Hands up if you're considering upgrading to a Windows phone for the holidays...Anybody?

Online advertising evolves away from display, toward interactive software

Marketing departments and agencies are increasingly establishing positions for "creative technologists" who can steer designers and developers toward platforms that enable direct connections with consumers.

Google begrudgingly adjusts news crawling for paid publishers

If publishers want to make readers pay for news content, and thereby drive down its popularity and Google ranking, the company says, they can just go right on ahead.

Fee or free? Murdoch, Huffington square off over the cost of Internet news

Participants in an FTC workshop yesterday witnessed the two extremes of the Web news publishing debate, still centered on the issue of long-term profitability.

Security firm: Windows patches not responsible for 'Black Screen of Death'

On second thought, maybe that access control list thingie with the lockdown something-or-rather didn't trigger an alleged, perhaps non-existent, pandemic.

Apple settles with Psystar except for 'circumvention devices'

The fracas with the Florida clone computer maker might have ended today had Apple not have muddled the issue over a cheap piece of Psystar software.