Time Warner's AOL today is unveiling two new enterprise-level versions of the company's instant messaging service. Tentatively named AIM Pro, one version of the new service targets small businesses and the self-employed, while the other is designed to appeal to larger corporations. AIM Pro, a collaboration between AOL and conferencing services provider WebEx Communications, offers a customizable interface, voice, video and Web collaboration capabilities, and enhanced security. AOL has been the leader in instant messaging for more than a decade; it worldwide market share is 56 percent, according to Radicati Group, a research firm.

In what analysts say is the first major example of a free podcast attempting to go paid, "The Ricky Gervais Show," one of the Web's most popular podcasts, will now charge users $1.95 per episode and $6.95 for a whole season. The show reached an agreement with Audible to sell its episodes on the audio book vendor's Web site. The deal covers seasons two and three and includes at least four episodes of "The Office"--Ricky Gervais is the creator and star of the popular British television show. One wonders whether such a move will spark a trend, because the vast …

Dave Williams, chief strategist of 360i, a search engine marketing firm, claims that Microsoft's new demographics-driven MSN AdCenter is producing better results for search advertisers than Google or Yahoo. Williams says the demographic info including age, sex, and location is what sets AdCenter apart from its competitor's systems. An MSN exec said the ability to parse the data into various permutations gives search marketers the opportunity to modify their campaigns to certain demos with specific keywords. While all this is fine and good for marketers who buy on MSN Search, the fact remains that Microsoft's search doesn't have near the …

Google continues to roll out its "click to call" test on a more widespread basis, reports the Wall Street Journal. "Click-to-call" gives Web surfers the opportunity to talk with advertisers by phone. They simply click on the little handset icon appearing beside the sponsored link, type in their phone number, and then Google simultaneously calls both the user and the advertiser, and they chat over the Web. Like its pay-par-click service, the search giant charges advertisers for the number of calls they receive via the icon. These so-called pay-per-call services could become an important new source of revenue for search …

Google filed documents at a federal District Court in San Jose on Friday arguing against a subpoena from the U.S. government asking for millions of search queries and one million randomly selected Web page addresses from the company's usage files. The documents say the release of such data would expose Google's trade secrets to its competitors, and undermine consumers' trust in the search giant. The government is seeking search records for its lawsuit in defense of the Child Online Protection Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court a few years ago. The department plans to use information provided …

Sony Corp.'s heavily anticipated PlayStation 3 game console is proving to be a heavy investment for the electronics maker. The PS3 may not appear in key markets at all this year, and could initially cost Sony an estimated $900 per unit to produce, according to investment firm Merrill Lynch. Analysts said the price per unit would fall to $320 after about three years. Game companies need to make up for such losses through the sale of software. This talk of a delay is not particularly good news for anyone in the video game business (except maybe Microsoft), as game sales …

Retail advertisers are spending too much money on search, says Piper Jaffray research analyst Aaron Kessler. Rising competition over keywords has driven prices up to the point where it's no longer feasible to just keep buying keywords. "Three years ago, Internet search was a good value for any retail category, but now it's not always the value it was," Kessler says. He's quick to add that search is still a great marketing channel when it works, but retail advertisers in particular should rely on it less because the returns are no longer what they used to be. Instead, retail marketers …

The landline telephone will soon be a thing of the past. A new device using Skype's voice over Internet protocol technology lets users make calls over the Web from any phone in the house--even cell phones. The VoSky Call Center from Actiontec Electronics, fresh from the massive telecommunications conference in Barcelona, Spain, is one of several new Skype-powered devices that have recently come to market. Skype is a far cheaper alternative than paying for a landline, although calls made outside of the Skype network still command a fee. Skype-powered phones must always be connected to the Internet, and the audio …

It may be impossible to censor the Web after all. Reuters has a story about a Chinese man able to slip past Beijing's censors to spread news of widespread government corruption. Lu Xinde is a one-man show who publishes entries on any one of 49 blogs he uses to stay ahead of Chinese censors. "They shut down one, so I move to the other," he said. Investigative journalists like Li are creating a sizable demand among the Chinese public--particularly rural farmers--for more freedom. The Internet, Li said, is "Like the Yellow River. You can guide its course, but you can't …

For those watching Internet stocks on the Nasdaq, the ride's been bumpy enough for a while now to make one feel a bit queasy. This despite stock prices firmly rooted in real revenues (er, with the exception of Google, of course), unlike the late 1990s. However, The Christian Science Monitor says the volatility is all part of the natural progression of new technology movements, "moving from the early phases of boom and bust toward maturity." Even Google's recent meteoric rise and 25 percent fall is "hardly unusual for a fast-growing company," the paper says. Having said that, an NYU financial …