pMapQuest is bringing personalization into their online and mobile mapping offering. Dubbed My MapQuest, the feature lets users save routes and maps, giving them access later whenever they need it./p
pMy MapQuest pages can be created through an AOL account or an OpenID account. You can set language and mileage preferences as well as store mobile numbers and addresses./p
pThe feature will be rolled out to MQ4M (MapQuest for Mobile) for Blackberry soon. Initial Blackberry models will include ATT BlackBerry Bold, Verizon BlackBerry 8830 and 8330, and T-Mobile BlackBerry 8300, 8800 and 8820./p
p“The launch of My MapQuest continues MapQuest’s commitment to innovation and improving the user’s experience. Our studies have shown that our customers want a personalization feature that includes the ability to save previously searched addresses,” said Christian Dwyer, Senior Vice President and GM, MapQuest. “Giving our users the ability to save not just maps but also their routes sets us apart and extends MapQuest’s commitment to offering users choice and flexibility.”/p
pRelated Reading:br /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/081029-101234″MapQuest Updates Widget and Local Content/abr /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/081021-101927″MapQuest Now Optimized for the iPhone/abr /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080911-092343″MapQuest, Google Launch Blackberry Mobile Apps/abr /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080909-121121″MapQuest Launches Local Portal/a/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=VCRFN”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=VCRFN” border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=GV3QN”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=GV3QN” border=”0″/img/a
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pAOL has launched an online events guide, When.com, which is powered by a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080415-204632″Zvents/a. The site is very reminiscent of a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080702-090820″Upcoming.org/a, which is owned by Yahoo./p
pMapping for events is supplied by AOL’s MapQuest and events can also be bookmarked to AOL, Google, Outlook or Yahoo Calendar./p
p“Whether you’re looking for events that are suitable for the whole family, something to do on a Friday night or ways to entertain out of town guests, when.com makes it easy for users to find where to go and what to do in their community or places they are traveling to,” said Chris Spanos, General Manager of AOL Local and Search Verticals. “When.com is also a powerful way for event organizers and advertisers to reach and connect with a targeted audience by providing them the ability to quickly and easily submit their events right from the when.com homepage.”/p
pimg alt=”whendotcom1108.png” src=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/whendotcom1108.png” width=”400″ /br /
/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=ItohN”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=ItohN” border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=YP2jN”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=YP2jN” border=”0″/img/a
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pWhen I read that AOL.com launched a a href=”http://www.aol.com/newhomepage”new homepage/a, I naturally hopped on over there to see what the new look, um, looked like. It looked the same, except with dark blue trim and web 2.0 stripes in the background for good measure./p
pa href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/aolnew1008.png”img alt=”aolnew1008.png” src=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/aolnew1008.png” width=”350″ //a/p
pOtherwise, it still holds the same basic design as….Yahoo. I then came across a story by a href=”http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN2949534420081029?rpc=44″Reuters/a which says Yahoo and AOL are conducting “due diligence” on a a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080924-111224″possible (probable?) merger by the two web companies/a. I was not at all surprised./p
pSomething else to know about the new AOL is that it incorporates a new social element. br /
What the new feature allows you to do is sign into social networks like Facebook and Bebo directly from the homepage.This is a smart move and will blend nicely with Yahoo’s push toward open source should the merger occur./p
p“As the Web becomes more fragmented, consumers want choice and relevance in their Web experiences. AOL.com is the first traditional big portal to offer access to popular social networking sites all in one place,” said Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President, AOL Programming. “Now consumers can connect with their numerous networks and information sources all from AOL.com. We have already seen success by opening up AOL.com to other e-mail providers. We will continue to enhance the appeal of our portal with the changes we are making today by adding more relevant programming, customization opportunities, greater integration of third party content, improved design and access […] Read more »

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pMapQuest has a few noteworthy updates to its widget and a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080909-121121″local content/a./p
pFirst up, the a href=”http://blog.mapquest.com/2008/10/28/mapquest-widget-upgrade/”widget has the following updates/a:/p
ulliThe Maps and Driving Directions experience/liliMapQuest Search functionality has been added/liliAdded Traffic information/liliPerformance and functionality improvements/li/ul
pIn the local content update, MapQuest has a href=”http://blog.mapquest.com/2008/10/29/mapquest-local-adds-addthis/”added an “AddThis” button/a. You may have seen the AddThis button around the interwebs. It lets you share content a number of social networking and bookmarking sites./p
pWhat do you think of these updates? Let us know in the comments./p
pRelated Reading:br /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/081021-101927″MapQuest Now Optimized for the iPhone/abr /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080911-092343″MapQuest, Google Launch Blackberry Mobile Apps/abr /
/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=qMP5M”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=qMP5M” border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=CBrWM”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=CBrWM” border=”0″/img/a
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pAOL is shutting down its blogging product, AOL Journals. Google wants Journal users to head on over to Blogger to keep their journaling spirit alive./p
pSo, they’ve created a migration tool to help you port your AOL Journals postings over to a new Blogger blog./p
pYou’ll want to hurry. AOL Journals says goodbye this Friday, October 31./p
pFor details, check out the a href=”http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/10/welcome-aol-journals-users.html”Blogger blog/a./pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=YmMIM”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=YmMIM” border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=Ma19M”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=Ma19M” border=”0″/img/a
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pOne of the main reasons I own an a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070110-123117″iPhone/a is to have access to a map when I’m out and about. The iPhone comes standard with Google Maps, but I find its always good to have a backup map. (Google Maps isn’t perfect, but you didn’t hear that from me.)/p
pThat’s why it was good to hear that a href=”http://blog.mapquest.com/2008/10/20/mapquest-on-iphone-and-ipod/”MapQuest now has an optimized version of its site for the iPhone/a. Even though the iPhone lets you surf the web, surfing normal pages is still a pain. Whenever a site has versions for mobile devices, it’s so much better for the mobile user./p
pimg alt=”mq_webapp_samples.jpg” src=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/mq_webapp_samples.jpg” width=”580″ height=”550″ //p
pRelated Reading:br /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080903-184634″AOL’s Platform-A Launches iPhone Advertising Solution/abr /
a href=”http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080924-094647″AOL Adds SmartBox (aka Query Suggestions) to iPhone Mobile Search/a/pdiv class=”feedflare”
a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=fPv2M”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=fPv2M” border=”0″/img/a a href=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?a=I8AnM”img src=”http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~f/sewblog?i=I8AnM” border=”0″/img/a
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In a refreshing show of humility and honesty, AOL has admitted that perhaps visitors to AOL.com do not necessarily have @aol.com at the end of their email addresses.
So, they’ve enabled users to aggregate their email from Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo on the AOL.com homepage.
“With the launch of mail aggregation, AOL will be the first among the big traditional portals to offer a centralized email experience,” commented Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President of Programming, AOL. “We know that consumers today have multiple email accounts on different services to keep tabs on daily, and we want to make it easier for them. This is an important first step in opening up AOL.com and giving users the ability to populate the AOL.com homepage with content and services they use on a daily basis, regardless of where it lives.”
Of course, you can do the same on iGoogle, but the applications were developed by third parties.
Related Reading:
AOL, Live.com, and Ask.com Best Search Engines for Democratic National Convention Info
AOL Buys Social Network Bebo for $850M
AOL to Distribute Citysearch Content, Ads
AOL Launches Google-Powered Search Marketplace

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AOL has announced the launch of the beta mobile version of Truveo, a video search engine. There’s already an iPhone application, but now other mobile phone users have a chance to search Truveo from their phones. Users can access the mobile version at http://wap.aol.com/truveo.
“One of our missions is to provide consumers with easy access to our products no matter where they are or what device they are using,” said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. “Truveo Mobile Video Search continues that effort by giving mobile users access to the industry’s leading video search engine and enabling them to enjoy videos anytime, anywhere.”

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MapQuest today added a local portal to its popular mapping website. Found at local.mapquest.com or by clicking on the local icon on the front page, the new local site shows news, weather, dining, movies, and more for your location.
The features are displayed in modules, which can be dragged and dropped where you would like to put them. To remove a module altogether, simply click the “Customize” button near the top and uncheck the box of the module you’re not interested in.
Each module can be individually refreshed for the latest information, or you can click the “Refresh Page” button, which is next to the Customize button near the top of the page.
Recently, MapQuest tapped Citysearch for comprehensive local search results.

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AOL has announced that their ad-serving platform and network, Platform-A, is launching an iPhone ad optimization solution. The solution is offered through Third Screen Media and detects when web browsing is being conducted on an iPhone. AOL says the combination of the Third Screen Media mobile network gives Platform-A, which reaches 90% of the internet audience, the ability to deliver up to 75 million iPhone ads per month.
“Today’s launch is a perfect example of how Platform-A’s unmatched reach, solutions and technologies can benefit advertisers trying to reach consumers in the most compelling way,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. “We can not only help advertisers effectively reach iPhone users on WAP pages and Web pages, but we can also deliver banners optimized for display on the iPhone.”
Last month, Platform-A opened up mobile ads to third parties. In June, Platform-A was made available in Europe.

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