AOL

Amazingly enough, AOL still exists. And what is it? That’s hard to say, but more than anything, AOL is now a portal to anything and everything online, yet with enough hand-holding and simple tools to make it a snap for even Internet-fearing technophobes to get comfortable. Take RSS. That acronym confounds even some tech-loving newshounds, but at AOL, you have an easy-to-use tool for using RSS to tune into blogs and news from around the web (with a special emphasis, of course, on AOL properties). Which brings us, of course, to the future of AOL, as the company is more than a web portal, what with its coterie of web properties letting you tap into everything from online radio (with AOL Radio) to financial news and tools (AOL Money and Finance), from gadgets (check out Engadget) to social networking (try Bebo). This isn’t your grandpa’s AOL—it’s a media company looking into the future.