Two names from the earliest days of the Internet and broadband--AOL and @Home--are back in the news ... sort of.
AOL is reportedly on the verge of buying TechCrunch, an online blogging network that it would use as more leverage to transform its model from ISP to content provider. Of course, as is wont to happen with these sorts of things, the deal "is at a sensitive stage and might fall apart," reports said.
The connection to @Home is more tenuous but still fun, since it revives ever so slightly that daring broadband meteor that streaked across cable's skies before burying itself in reality. George Bell, who oversaw the merged Excite@Home as it grasped its final glory, has been named CEO of mobile and advertising network company Jumptap, replacing Dan Olschwang. Bell, of course, has had some other media industry adventures since Excite@Home. Among other things, he founded the Outdoor Life Network which is now Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSA) Tour de France and hockey tour de force Versus channel.
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