Is this some kind of joke? AOL is testing out a new home page, and it is almost identical to rival Yahoo's. A beta version of the new AOL.com has a rotating central story, directory with mini-icons on the left, search to the right of the logo, medium rectangle banner ad under a bunch of buttons on the right — exactly the way the Time Warner unit's Sunnyvale rival organizes its front door. There are two explanations I can think of: either the Dulles internet giant is benchmarking itself against the competition; or it has lost all capacity for independent thought. Don't believe AOL would rip off a design so obviously? Just look at the screenshots.

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