America is all Online now, right? TimeWarner says that its division, American Online, has now accomplished its eponymous
mission and managed to get America, from purple mountains to fruited plains, on the Internet. Thus the division is
changing its name officially to "AOL LLC."
The "LLC" organization will reflect
the 5% stake Google purchased last
week.
According to an email sent to all employees (including yours truly), "consumers already know
us by our initials and believe that AOL stands for a more contemporary Internet company." I can't imagine this
news will have much of an impact on the consumer experience -- I mean, when was the last time you said "America
Online"? -- but it's interesting to hear the rationale behind it.
(And, as an aside, this news comes at
about the same time the company rolls out all new business cards for its AOL employees - they're pretty and vertical and
so much better than the old ones. I wonder if there's any correlation between vertically-oriented business
cards and stock price?)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lowe's (LOW), Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB), Campbell Soup (CPB), Reuters Group (RTRSY) and Netease.com (NTES) were today's noteworthy upgrades: 
Comfort Zone Investing: The unmighty dollar
Five winners of a weak dollar
For a quick-read on the U.S. economy, check the price of gasoline
