Yahoo's done its best to fend off Microsoft's aggressive advances until now, but it suddenly looks like the struggling company might be getting some help -- both the Wall Street Journal and Reuters are reporting that the Yahoo is "closing in" on a deal to merge with Time Warner's AOL division and partner up with Google on search advertising. Yeah, that's pretty major, and it would probably do something about those declining shares Microsoft's been making noise about. The idea is for Time Warner to sell AOL to Yahoo and make a large investment in the new company, which would probably be valued at around $10B. There's apparently a lot of work left to do on the deal, and it would still have to be approved by Yahoo and Time Warner shareholders, but it looks like Yahoo is no longer stuck taking Ballmer and Co. to the dance.

[Disclosure: Look up to the right. See that? Yeah, Engadget is owned by AOL -- but trust us, we have no idea what's going on.]

Read - WSJ article
Read - Reuters article

Every once in a while we'll come across a mystical product that gets scooped really early in its development cycle, goes years without release, and makes a CES cameo or two before becoming available to the now-underwhelmed throngs. Such is the case with Haier's Ibiza Rhapsody, a decidedly metallic PMP that features WiFi, Bluetooth, and support for both Rhapsody and AOL Video. Granted, those are still somewhat impressive specs even by 2008 standards, but the capacities top out at 30GB (weak sauce) and the physical appearance of the device is definitely an acquired taste. Anyway, we happened to catch the Ibiza Rhapsody in final retail packaging in our travels and stopped for a few brief sentence to snap a shot or two; do enjoy them, won't you?

Although Netscape was once a mighty pioneer in the world of internet browsers, it didn't take long for Microsoft's Internet Explorer to overtake it and squash its dreams of market dominance. Granted, we highly (and we stress "highly") doubt any viewers reading this now are relying on Netscape Navigator as their primary browser, but seeing it finally bow out is a bit surreal. According to a post on the Netscape Blog, support (and subsequent updates) for it will no longer be provided by AOL (disclosure: AOL is our parent company's parent) after February 1, 2008. Sure, old versions will still be available for those who just hate to move on, but the team is suggesting that any remaining Netscape users (a show of hands, anyone?) make the leap to Firefox, and they even point you in the direction of a Netscape theme should you find yourself uncomfortable with change. Rest in peace, dear Netscape -- it's about time that last heap of dirt was finally flung.

[Via BlogRunner]

Because we know just how much you like to know exactly whose crapware you'll be removing from your next store-bought desktop or laptop, this is a just a quick heads-up that HP customers worldwide can soon expect to be confronted with portals, toolbars, and default search settings courtesy of AOL (which also happens to own Engadget parent network Weblogs Inc.). Since it was almost exactly a year ago that HP made a similar deal with Yahoo, we can only assume that AOL has pushed its rival off of HP machines altogether, extending its current agreement to provide only the co-branded portal for domestically-sold rigs. Perhaps the best news here is that for those folks who haven't bought a PC in several years, the pre-loaded AOL software may provided a much-needed connection back to the days of dial-up in this scary new world of broadband, Vista, and MySpace.

A couple of lines in a settings file does not a partnership make, but some enterprising hackers at the Archos Community Forums have discovered evidence that Archos is planning at least one large-scale content deal when the super-hot 605 launches in the US. Poking around in the unit's provider.xml file inside the system folder, user Plissken007 discovered pointers to not one, but eight major content partners for wireless media distribution, including some with live holder pages on the Archos website. Notables include Best Buy, Cicuit City, Amazon (for Unbox, probably), MovieLink, Vongo, AOL, and, of course, YouTube. Now, we can't see Best Buy and Circuit City sharing space like this, so Archos is probably hedging their bets a little, but if it's true, it looks like there's finally going to be a major competitor to Apple's iPod / iTunes ecosystem out there, eh?

[Disclosure: AOL owns Engadget's parent company.]

[Via Archos Fans]

When we first got word of AOL (disclosure: AOL is our parent company's parent) and Haier's Linux-based WiFi and Bluetooth-enabled PMP yesterday, we were a little confused. On the one hand, the shot that PC Magazine snapped was of a device that looked pretty beat up; on the other, the feature set appeared to be impressive. Today we got a hands-on with the device, which managed to exceed our initial low expectations regarding the design of the player. The problem here is that the brushed stainless steel casing looks awful when photographed with a flash. In person it could actually be called attractive, although fingerprints on both the screen and the casing are still easily noticeable. For menu control there's a square, clickable trackpad which does a great job of menu navigation due to the fact that you don't have to move your thumb off the trackpad to select an option. The Linux based operating system has a nice and simple (albeit iPod inspired) design, which compliments the trackpad control system. In terms of specific features it has a QVGA LCD screen (which didn't appear particularly bright), built-in WiFi (with which you can buy music from online stores, stream internet radio, do background downloads, and search for similar songs), built-in Bluetooth for using wireless A2DP headphones, and USB 2.0 connectivity. The range of files that it'll play is also impressive, with PlaysForSure WMA files, AACPlus, AACPlus Enhanced, WAV, and MP3 all playable. On top of that you can play MPEG-4, WMV 7/8/9, H.264, and AVI video, as well as display JPG and PNG images. An AOL representative told us that they're expecting to ship the player for $249 sometime around the second quarter of this year, so hopefully we'll be able to give you an idea of other more specific features -- such as battery life -- as it nears a commercial release.

AOL has announced that it is taking part in the development of a portable media player with a Haier-manufactured player that looks like it was put together by the company's East German industrial design division, and then forged from plate iron in a Soviet-era smelting factory -- in fact, it appears as if this product has something to do with AOL's acquisition of the zany WildSeed guys a while back. Equally amusing as its fugly design is the fact that the only picture of the device at CES is of a model which has a broken button (check out the skip track button on the right.) That doesn't really say much about the Germanic design we were just joking about now does it? Fortunately for Engadget's parent company (disclosure: AOL is our parent company's parent), the device's internals aren't so dated -- which is good because otherwise we'd be completely panning the thing right about now. Apparently the player has a Linux-based text interface -- that has been developed by AOL's Tegic unit -- and is controlled by a touch pad, packs a 30GB hard drive, plays MPEG-4 and WMV videos, and has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth for listening to internet radio stations and downloading songs from paid Windows Media music stores like Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo! In summary: AOL and Haier are planning to release a truly ugly player that counters its ugliness with a varied and genuinely intriguing feature set: maybe our -- non-corporate -- parents were right, beauty really is only skin deep! According to PC Magazine, we should expect to see a retail release of the Smartscreen Media Device sometime around the second or third quarter of 2007.

[Via Linux Devices]

Today Logitech got a clue: why sell one device to the burgeoning Internet calling community when you can sell an entire suite of peripherals. Introducing the EasyCall Desktop which Logitech claims is the world's first mouse, keyboard, headset and speakerphone combo. In essence, EasyCall Desktop does for desktop clutter what Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple did for software -- take a bunch of disparate tools, give 'em the same look and feel and enhance each for relatively seamless interaction across the suite. In addition to a cordless keyboard and laser mouse (which, while not stated, will likely both feature Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR like other Logitech Desktops) the package includes a tethered stereo headset which can be attached to the full-duplex speakerphone. The speakerphone, apparently also wired, acts as the Internet calling control center and features Logitech's RightSound echo cancelation technology to get the most from VoIP apps like Yahoo Messenger with Voice, AOL's AIM, and of course Skype. What's odd is that a Skype specific keyboard will also be launched as part of the Desktop but only in Europe -- go figure. Expect the kit to ship in the US and Europe by mid-September with an expected retail price pegged at $130/€130.

[Via CrowdedBrain]

Let's face it, with more and more content being created for the third screen (i.e. your cellphone, handheld, portable, multimedia device, etc. -- whatever you want to call it), it was obviously time for the Emmys to create yet another award for a new kind of small screen: the award for outstanding original programming for computers, cellphones and other hand-held [sic] device (or that's what we understand it's called, anyway, they didn't officially acknowledge it on their site so far as we could tell). So whose programming's up for an Emmy? You've got Fox Mobile's 24: Conspiracy, MTV's mtvU Stand In, AOL's Live 8 on AOL, Orrin and Jerry Zucker's It's Jerry Time!, CB Films' Sophie Chase, and interactive puzzle program Stranger Adventures. To be announced April 22 with the Daytime Emmies, the Academy will be reviewing and voting on the nominees with what we can only hope is the utmost reverence and sincerity for the category, similar to how we imagine they vote on the Emmy for Sound Mixing - Nonfiction Programming or Outstanding Game Show Host.