New Things From AOL

Starting May 16, AOL's instant messenger users (41 million of them) will get a free telephone phone number and voice mail, so that they can receive incoming calls from traditional phones for free. The free phone number would be capable of receiving calls from any phone, but it would not be able place outgoing calls.

But wait ... AOL's also about to launch an unlimited monthly PC-to-anywhere dialing service for $14.95 (Or, an introductory price of $9.95 a month for people who subscribe when the service starts). AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) phoneline numbers will be available in 50 metropolitan areas. This will allow users to call each other free if both are online, typically using headsets or microphones attached to their computers.

AOL also plans to introduce AIM Pages to compete with MySpace.com, the rapidly growing social networking service. MySpace, which is owned by the News Corporation, gives its 70 million members (mostly young school or college students) a place to post their writings, photographs, favorite music and video clips. A beta version of the social networking service will be available to AIM users by the end of next week.