AOL employees, those that are left after the new management's purges, will want to mark down February 14th in their calendars. Balan Nair, CTO of the Time Warner's internet unit, is putting together a series of events at the headquarters in Dulles, including a Valentine's Day "technologies we love" showcase, to alert AOLers to the trends that the "kids are buzzing about". I think he means Facebook. The internal memo, hot off the email, follows.

From: BalanNairAOL@aol.com
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 12:44:09 EST
Subject: Get the Latest Buzz on Technology Trends
Dear AOL Colleague:

When Randy told me he wanted to feature a month of events focused on technology trends, I was excited. It's a clear sign that AOL is once again committing itself to being a technology leader. AOL became great because we made complex technology accessible to the general public, and we can do so again.

Today, of course, the technology terrain is much changed. In a Web 2.0 world, the community drives technology — it's no longer the province of the few. And as such, each of us at AOL has an important role to play, whether learning to work with the new online tools or identifying new tech trends and alerting us to what's exciting, what works, and what our kids are buzzing about.

To that end, my team and I, along with Corporate Communications, have put together a month of events that will help all of us better understand the latest technology trends and see where AOL will be focusing our technology efforts.

Throughout the month, we have an exciting lineup of activities around awareness of technology trends including hands-on workshops on mash-ups and blogging, technology brown-bag lunches on Web 2.0 and protecting your online experience, as well as a panel discussion with our technology leaders from across AOL. We'll also have a tour of our Dulles-based Data Center, a Valentine's Day reception showcasing the hottest new technologies we love, and more. We'll highlight exciting technology initiatives planned for this year including where we are with our technology roadmap and our plans to innovate through research and innovation efforts.

You can see the entire month's schedule and sign up for some of these limited-seating events at Keyword: Get Smart.

I encourage you to participate in these events as you can, and I hope to see many of you throughout the month.

Best,

Balan Nair
Chief Technology Officer

Contact information for this author is not available.