AOL Tech | Wikipedia audio article

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL


00:02:37 1 History
00:02:47 1.1 1983–1991: Early years
00:07:38 1.2 1991–2006: Internet age, Time Warner merger
00:16:09 1.3 2006–2009: Rebranding and decline
00:24:30 1.4 2009–2015: As a digital media company
00:32:26 1.5 2015–present: Division of Verizon
00:38:50 2 Products and services
00:39:01 2.1 Content
00:40:05 2.2 Advertising
00:41:32 2.3 Membership
00:43:07 2.4 AOL Desktop
00:45:04 3 Criticism
00:46:01 3.1 Community leaders
00:51:26 3.2 Billing disputes
00:53:27 3.3 Account cancellation
00:57:00 3.4 Direct marketing of disks
00:58:22 3.5 Software
00:59:59 3.6 Usenet newsgroups
01:01:15 3.7 Terms of Service (TOS)
01:02:43 3.8 Certified email
01:05:37 3.9 Search data
01:06:46 3.10 User list exposure
01:07:40 3.11 AOL's Computer Checkup "scareware"
01:09:44 3.12 NSA Prism program
01:10:17 3.13 Hosting of user profiles changed, then discontinued



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Socrates


SUMMARY
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AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is a web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by Verizon Media.
The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET, which hosted multi-player games for the Commodore 64. PlayNET licensed their software to a new service, Quantum Link (Q-Link), who went online in November 1985. PlayNET shut down shortly thereafter. The initial Q-Link service was similar to the original PlayNET, but over time Q-Link added many new services. When a new IBM PC client was released, the company focussed on the non-gaming services and launched it under the name America Online. The original Q-Link was shut down on November 1, 1995, while AOL grew to become the largest online service, displacing established players like CompuServe and The Source. By 1995, AOL had about 20 million active users.AOL was one of the early pioneers of the Internet in the mid-1990s, and the most recognized brand on the web in the United States. It originally provided a dial-up service to millions of Americans, as well as providing a web portal, e-mail, instant messaging and later a web browser following its purchase of Netscape. In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. history. AOL rapidly declined thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband. AOL was eventually spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies.
On June 23, 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion. In the following months, AOL also made a deal with Microsoft.