America Online (AOL) has released a beta version of AOL 8.0, the
next release of its Internet service provider software, that
includes features it says will make it easier for parents to
monitor and restrict what their children do on the Internet.
The AOL Time Warner subsidiary said it has improved parental
control features in AOL 8.0 by making them easier to use. Parents
will be able to see more easily the level of control assigned to
each person on their AOL account and to adjust the restrictions
over the Web whether they're at home or at work.
Perhaps more significantly, the company later this year will start
issuing "report cards" listing Web sites that a child has visited,
part of what AOL calls a new suite of "family-security" features.
It said more than 16 million of its roughly 35 million customers
use the parental control features in its software.
AOL 8.0 also includes new ways to send music clips through AOL
Instant Messenger, and a new You've Got Pictures service for
sharing organising digital images. The upgrade also provides better
ways to manage e-mail and filter out unwanted messages, according
to AOL, as well as new sounds and icons to jazz up Instant
Messenger.
AOL began a more limited beta test of AOL 8.0 in June and expects
the finished product to ship later in the third or early fourth
quarter, the company said.
The company has also launched a new version of its search tool for
AOL an member that is powered by Google's search engine. AOL said
in May that it would use Google's search engine for all of its
brands, which also include CompuServe and Netscape.
Besides offering results more quickly, it said users would be able
to retrieve results that are more relevant to the region where they
live. Tapping users in emerging markets has become a focus for AOL
as it tries to grow its business against stiff competition from
Microsoft's MSN service and other rivals.