AOL is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc.
MSN TV was a web access product consisting of a thin client device that used a television for display, and the online service that supported it. The original WebTV device design and service were developed by WebTV Networks, Inc., a company started in 1995. The WebTV product was announced in July 1996 and later released on September 18, 1996. In April 1997, the company was purchased by Microsoft Corporation and in July 2001, was rebranded to MSN TV and absorbed into MSN.
Out is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. It presents itself in an editorial manner similar to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was owned by Robert Hardman of Boston, its original investor, until 2000, when he sold it to LPI Media, which was later acquired by PlanetOut Inc. In 2008, PlanetOut Inc. sold LPI Media to Regent Entertainment Media, Inc., a division of Here Media, which also owns Here TV. In 2017, Here Media sold its magazine operations to a group led by Oreva Capital, who renamed the parent company Pride Media. On June 9, 2022, Pride Media was acquired by Equal Entertainment LLC known as equalpride putting the famous magazine back under queer ownership.
Excite is an American website operated by IAC that provides outsourced internet content such as a metasearch engine, with outsourced weather and news content on the main page. As of 2024, all of Excite's operations are controlled by services outside of the business.
The Advocate is an American LGBT magazine, printed bi-monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a website. Both magazine and website have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people. The magazine, established in 1967, is the oldest and largest LGBT publication in the United States and the only surviving one of its kind that was founded before the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, an uprising that was a major milestone in the LGBT rights movement. On June 9, 2022, Pride Media was acquired by Equal Entertainment LLC.
SmarterChild was a chatbot available on AOL Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger networks.
Plaxo was an online address book that launched in 2002. It was a subsidiary of cable television company Comcast from 2008 to 2017. At one point it offered a social networking service.
Jason McCabe Calacanis is an American Internet entrepreneur, angel investor, author and podcaster.
Global LGBTQIA+ Employee & Allies at Microsoft (GLEAM) refers to the Microsoft employee resource group comprising LGBTQIA+ employees along with straight allies. GLEAM originated as a private mailing list during the 1980s. Members of the list successfully campaigned for sexual orientation to be added to Microsoft's anti-discrimination policy in 1989. In 1997, group leaders pointed out that anti-gay actions had occurred, but "overt bias is extremely rare."
LPI Media was the largest gay and lesbian publisher in the United States. The company targeted LGBT communities and published such magazines, books, and websites, with its magazines alone having more than 8.2 million copies distributed each year. The Advocate and Out magazines were the two largest circulation LGBT magazines in the United States, each with corresponding websites, Advocate.com and OUT.com.
Microsoft Advertising is an online advertising platform developed by Microsoft, where advertisers bid to display brief ads, service offers, product listings and videos to web users. It provides pay per click advertising on search engines Bing, Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo, as well as on other websites, mobile apps, and videos.
Google was officially launched in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to market Google Search, which has become the most used web-based search engine. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, students at Stanford University in California, developed a search algorithm at first known as "BackRub" in 1996, with the help of Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg. The search engine soon proved successful and the expanding company moved several times, finally settling at Mountain View in 2003. This marked a phase of rapid growth, with the company making its initial public offering in 2004 and quickly becoming one of the world's largest media companies. The company launched Google News in 2002, Gmail in 2004, Google Maps in 2005, Google Chrome in 2008, and the social network known as Google+ in 2011, in addition to many other products. In 2015, Google became the main subsidiary of the holding company Alphabet Inc.
Derek Hartley is an American talk show host, who co-hosts the weekday paid subscriber-only internet radio show and podcast Derek and Romaine 2.0 and who previously served as co-host of its forerunner Derek and Romaine Show, a talk radio show that aired on SiriusXM Satellite Radio's Gay/Lesbian channel, OutQ. The show had a national audience with a potential reach of 18,000,000 listeners. The show could also be heard worldwide on the internet similar to the new show format. He serves as emcee/host of LGBT events around the country. In 2018 he was credited for writing Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate.
Gay.com was a chat, personals, and social networking website catering to the LGBT community. The site was a digital brand of Here Media Inc. In addition to community features, the site featured LGBT-related news and features. As of September 2005, San Jose Mercury News ranked gay.com as the most popular online gay personals site in the United States. As of March 2007, Hitwise ranked it number three in domestic American popularity after Adam4Adam and Manhunt. Gay.com also used to compete internationally with dudesnude, gayromeo, and gaydar.
LinkExchange was a popular Internet advertising cooperative, similar in function to a webring, originally known as Internet Link Exchange or ILE.
Julie "J. D." Disalvatore was an American LGBT film and television producer/director and gay rights activist. She was openly lesbian.
Metaswitch Networks is a private UK-based company that was acquired by Microsoft in July 2020. Metaswitch Networks designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed telecommunications software to communication service providers, equipment manufacturers, and large enterprises.
Here Media Inc. is an LGBT-oriented media company. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company produces and distributes niche content focused on LGBT consumers.
Out Traveler is a gay and lesbian travel magazine from the publishers of Out and The Advocate, combining photography with coverage of LGBT travel topics. Published as a stand-alone title from 2003 to 2008, it was subsequently incorporated as a supplement to Out magazine and is no longer available for subscriptions as a stand-alone title.
MSN Dial-up is an Internet service provider operated by Microsoft in the United States and formerly also in several other countries. Originally named The Microsoft Network, it debuted as a proprietary online service on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of Windows 95. In 1996 and 1997, a revised web-based version of the ISP was an early experiment at interactive multimedia content on the Internet.
