Ahh the irony of the Internet

We launched our beta "digg-killer" on Netscape.com. Here's what was on the first page: Two negative articles about AOL. I thought I should record it for posterity's sake:

www.beta.netscape.com

I think this is a genuinely good use of the Netscape brand. It's like giving the name back to the users. Also, since editorial control is largely left to the site's users, we'll have to be prepared to deal with a lot of negative press about AOL on the site for a while.

Visually the site is a little busy, but at least it's not tying in every other AOL product we have. I like that there are non-technical channels (something digg is about to introduce to their site soon), although the "text matrix" is a little distracting from the stories.Overall i think this is a good move, on AOL's part.

The one thing i'd suggest is to NOT use the word member. Sexual references aside, "member" implies exclusivity and a financial prerequisite to something. A "user" is a better term, IMO.

The Mercedes-Harley People Mover

Over the weekend, my Mercedes ML430 SUV broke its catalytic converter. It sounded so awesome we went out and bought cheap leather jackets and road wraps for our heads. Can you say UPGRADE??



Beat that, AMG! I'm off to the race tracks!

Smooth Criminal lean explained!

Ever wonder how Michael Jackson does the forward lean on his Smooth Criminal video? I found this on digg and finally one of those huge questions in my life have been answered

AOL opens up to developers

Finally, the developers within AOL get a voice.

We are transitioning away from being an ISP and have started to open up our plaforms to the developer community. As it says on the main page, "We want you to hack our stuff!"

Of course, i'm most excited when Boxely gets to be public! Go over there and check it out. It's a good start:

developer.aol.com

I posted this on digg too, so go ahead and digg it!