Blogger Beware: AOL's Robo-Reporters Will Swarm You Like Locusts

With great power comes great responsibility. But AOL's media borg Seed.com can't stop its horde of desperate underemployed journalists from mobbing story subjects, like the angry woman who heard from seven Seed writers in six days. Frightening. More »

How AOL Will Justify Sending Jobs to India

Next week will bring a much-anticipated "nuclear" round of layoffs to AOL, insiders believe, part of an internal shift the CEO is describing as a cultural revolution. Indeed, some jobs are literally going to another culture, offshore, we hear. More »

Mashable Hunk Not Ready for Heavy Petting with AOL

Responding to rumors he might sell his tech blog to AOL, Mashable CEO/babe magnet Pete Cashmore says he's gone to first or second base with some company, and flirted with others, but isn't about to close a deal. More »

If AOL buys Mashable — or just sells the monster tech blog's ads — it will be banking less on journalism than on the site's network of members, Twitter fans and party groupies. Banking, that is, on Pete Cashmore's hotness. More »

AOL Lusts for the Brad Pitt of the Blogosphere (and His Company)

AOL is interested in buying the world's largest tech blog, Mashable, we hear from a source at the internet conglomerate. And in fact the two sides have been talking, people outside AOL have whispered to one another, and to us. More »

Why Diddy Is the Perfect New Mascot for AOL

AOL has put Sean Combs very publicly in the middle of its directors and managers. A company banking on formulaic, mass-produced content could do worse than the rap mogul, who wished AOL shares luck. They promptly slid. More »

AOL's Editorial Process — Revealed!

Today we obtained a copy of one AOL editor's "welcome to the team" email to new writers. More »

AOL's Big Plan: Robot Traffic Whoring

The internet needs more hot search keyword-driven advertorial "content" about as much as the internet needs AOL. So, welcome to the "linchpin" of AOL's growth strategy: Hot search keyword-driven advertorial "content" crap! More »

The Incredible Shrinking AOL

Just in time for Christmas, AOL is asking 2,500 of its workers to volunteer for buyouts starting Dec. 4 (layoffs come after) as the company separates from Time Warner and a shadow of its former online conglomerate self. More »

AOL Layoffs Tomorrow to Kick Off Depressing Holiday Season?

'Tis the season to rush up layoffs so they don't fall in the sacrosanct Thanksgiving-to-Christmas period: An AOL insider tells us the company is slated to let go around 100 people tomorrow, following 1,500 firings Electronic Arts announced today. More »

A Dramatic Google Goodbye

Today was Kristin Kovner's last day at Google, after three years with the company in New York. And what better way for a YouTube marketer to say goodbye to cherished colleagues than with a serenade, uploaded to the intranet? More »

Why Delay AOL's Mass Layoffs?

Everyone knows Tim Armstrong is planning more layoffs at AOL once the company is spun off from Time Warner. So why let them hang over the company's return to the markets as an independently-traded stock? More »

Did Elisabeth Murdoch Just Get Conned?

It seems Joanna Shields has found another mark. Barely 18 months ago, she sold her also-ran social network Bebo to AOL for $850 million. The disastrous deal still haunts AOL. Now she's charmed Rupert Murdoch's daughter into bankrolling her. How? More »

AOL's CEO Calls for 'Laser Focus,' Fires People

Tim Armstrong has begun to shape AOL to his liking, four months after Time Warner announced the much-diminished internet conglomerate's spinoff. Here's the internal memo in which the CEO calls some serious buckling down — and jettisons two executives. More »

Why Warren Buffett and Martha Stewart Just Showed Up at an AOL Meeting

Domestic doyenne Martha Stewart and legendary investor Warren Buffet are on stage at a big AOL meeting. "People are going fucking nuts," a tipster writes. Why are the business celebrities at AOL? To make children's programming, naturally. More »

Michael Jackson Traffic Melts Entire Internet

Any doubts about Michael Jackson's megastardom should have ended after news of the singer's death tripped up Google and crashed AOL Instant Messenger, Wikipedia, TMZ and, of course, Twitter. A survey of the epic traffic: More »