Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, tells CNET that the change for Google's users "will be very slight" after the expanded deal with Time Warner's Web portal
AOL, meaning there will be no banner ads on the Google home page, and no AOL favoritism in the search results. However, there will be thumbnail-small graphical ads on the home page and, accompanying
some text ads, banner and display ads on Google's video and image search results, and greater visibility for Google and its products on AOL's pages. The plans for video remain vague; the companies
plan to collaborate on online video search, but how is unclear. AOL's premium video service will be showcased on Google Video, according to the article, giving users of each service access to the
other's content, but not without making it clear whose content they're viewing; each will also most likely provide an "in partnership with" message referring to the other on their respective sites.
Access to Time Warner's enormous content library is a different story, however, as this is probably not part of the deal. Google Talk will also be less compatible with AOL Instant Messenger than
previously thought; Google Talk users will have to sign up for AIM to be able to add AIM users to their buddy lists.
Read the whole story at Cnet News »