Hot on the heels of Yahoo's Brandon Holley-led lady site Shine, AOL is ramping up to launch its own estrogen fest, with an as-yet-untitled women's site.

But this isn't new territory for the fumbling Internet giant; it already publishes Asylum, a Maxim-y mens site. And while AOL claims 3.1 million visitors on that property, think of these ventures as mere places to dump the hoards of traffic AOL.com attracts.

With Internet advertising supposedly a big deal – with iVillage inspirations like WOWoWOW popping up – AOL now needs well-branded content to sell ads against, even if it is firing 500 people from on of its divisions.

In order to fend off Microsoft's takeover bid, Yahoo is said to be teaming up with Time Warner's AOL division in a merger. [Reuters]

AOL DOESN'T HATE THE GAYS With 2000 job cuts at AOL, someone had to suffer. Among the victims: Its gay blog Queersighted. But, we're promised, it'll be back. Under the Weblogs Inc. umbrella. One day. [Queerty]

There’s nothing to announce yet, but Time Warner Inc. may have a new CEO as early as next week.

Richard Parsons, the current chief executive, may hand off the title to Jeffrey Bewkes, president of the company. Bewkes was responsible for changing AOL’s business focus to advertisers, instead of users. That strategy appealed to about six moms in the Midwest.

CONTINUED »

• The New York Times confuses real news with Joseph Gordon-Levitt talking about French accents.

• Wrist Watch: Owen Wilson is out and about.

• From ABC: "Us Weekly, OK! relied on verified circ as newsstands waver." Celebrity weeklies being intentionally deceptive? The horror!

• Meanwhile, our future drinking buddy Kent Brownridge steps up his game, calling for more accurate circ reports and warning Rolling Stone, "There's only room in this town for one totally irrelevant music magazine."

• NYU students beware! AOL is moving its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to Astor Place, and we hear they're already considering "Off The Wagon" as their new executive hangout.

• GalleyCat tries to pick a fight with Oprah, fails to realize their own relative insignificance

• Even if Google brings new ad revenue to newspapers, it'll come at the cost of losing direct relationships and paying a fee of broadsheets' already pitiful sums. Score!

• Conde Nast bets on teen girls to save its Internet ass.

• MySpace hopes the creative types will save its print ass.

• Amy Goldwasser ruins chances of snagging Seventeen top job.

• HuffPo resident attorney type Melissa Lafsky gets all legalese on Judith Regan.

• Tyra Banks scores another two years of talking about her cellulite.

• As soon as Bono showed up at Forbes, everyone's pensions went in the shitter.

CONTINUED »

• Time Inc. spending lots of cash to find out how not to spend lots of cash.

• FHM may be closing, but lucky you, publisher Emap is keeping the website around!

• Former CNN chief Eason Jordan puts faith, future in blogging about Iraq.

• Who wants to work for curmudgeon Bob Woodward? Hundreds and hundreds of qualified journalists, it seems.

• People, Hello fight over Brangelina exclusive.

• Gawker holiday party at the same place it hates on.

• LAT recycles quotes, shocks few.

• Unauthorized biographer devil Kitty Kelly selects Oprah as her next target.

• AOL unloads 450 employees.

Today in TMZ:

Same beta site as yesterday (when TMZ "launched"), but at least we get to ogle potential pedophiles.

TMZ [TMZ]
Hot Celebrities, Hot Priests [TMZ]
Earlier: TMZ Watch: AOL does beta better than anyone
Earlier: TMZ launches — in beta
Related: All TMZ coverage

Different headlines than this morning. Same beta TMZ launch from this morning. Stay tuned.

Earlier: TMZ launches — in beta

Says the headline: "AOL Launches Hollywood Portal TMZ.com."

Shows TMZ:

Could someone please explain when the "launch" will take TMZ out of beta?

AOL Launches Hollywood Portal TMZ.com [Mike Shields, Media Week]
TMZ.com

• Do you really need a headline – or us? – to tell you that fewer people are reading newspapers? Circulation has dropped again as TimesSelect secretly sheds a tear. [AP]

• For once we're not complaining about such a gigundo New York magazine article. After all, it probably does take nearly 7,000 words to explain all the ways to improve the Village Voice. [New York]

• Judith Miller will not make her expected return to the newsroom this week since neither she nor Arthur Sulzberger Jr. & Co. are willing to budge in their negotiations. Judy wants an op-ed piece to rebut criticism while execs would rather let Maureen Dowd's kvetching stand untarnished. [NYO]

• Just because America is made up of one part obese people and two parts moderately fat folk doesn't mean fitness magazines are at death's door. In fact, some of them are reporting increased circs. [Mediaweek]

• Leave it to Simon Dumenco to rain on AOL's parade. A comeback for the Internet dinosaur? Maybe, but it'll look like Martha Stewart's. [AdAge]

• Martha Stewart's new motto: "Can't nobody hold me down, oh no, I got to keep on movin'." [Fortune]

Now that daddy Dick Cheney is busy with that whole federal indictment thing, it's about time uber-lesbian Mary Cheney returned to the spotlight. Nah, she's not running for public office in a Brian Ellner sort of way — she's joining that Internet company that used to barrage you with popups in a Matt Drudge sort of way.

AOL has hired Mary Cheney to assist its vice chairman, Ted Leonsis, as he seeks ways to boost advertising sales, a company spokesman said.

She will join by the end of the year to advise on ways to attract more users to AOL's Web sites.

Huh. We didn't realize Weblogs Inc. was publishing a gay blog.

AOL hires Cheney's daughter [NYDN]

• After testifying again in front of a grand jury, Judith Miller has been released of contempt of court charges — thanks to those notes she just happened upon. [IHT]

• Despite what the upcoming third issue of Radar has to say about Jeff Zucker's tenure at NBC, Katie Couric is countering claims that her relationship with her boss as "soured." They're still very close, piratically touching, just like her knees. [Lowdown]

• Is it possible that the New York Times newsroom is even "more demoralized now than during the 2003 debacle over Jayson Blair's serial fabrications" thanks to the handling of Judith Miller's case? In a word: abso-fucking-lutely. [WaPo]

• Aileen Mehle has ended her five decade gossip reign, closing the doors on a career that included the New York Post, Daily Mirror, WWD and W. In this era of snark, nothing is sacred anymore. [Page Six]

• Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Ding might just become the most powerful personality at News Corp., which is easier to say now that Lachlan Murdoch pussied out. [Malaysian Star]

• Google and Comcast are looking to bloat their own empires with the purchase of a minority stake in AOL. Just in time too, since Time Warner is suddenly realizing how valuable its Internet property just might be. [Reuters]

• Since you can't find music videos on MTV anymore, perhaps now you'll be able to find them on your iPod. Oh, and Lost and Desperate Housewives too. [AP]

• As if Esquire food critic John Mariani didn't come off yesterday as being too demanding, now he's demanding an apology from Chicago chef Homaru Cantu, who trashed Mariani for (what else?) trashing him. [Page Six]

Reminding us both anti-Americanism and capitalism are alive and well, America Online decided to rename itself — to the "doesn't stand for anything, just like the SAT" acronym "AOL." It's part of their international push, which now includes syndicated Jason Calacanis' Engadget in every dialect of Shikomoro.

During an interview at the Web 2.0 conference, AOL CEO Jonathan Miller said that AOL was changing its official name from America Online to "AOL," solving the problem of taking the brand internationally without offending those countries that don't want to have an America Online in their midst.

The name change also alleviates the concerns of media, whose copy desks have been struggling over whether to refer to AOL as "America Online" or "that bastardized Internet unit that Time Warner is suddenly pimping out again."

When is a blogger worth $35 million? When his blog is an excuse to publish his speaking schedule and argue with Technorati, leaving all the blogging of substance to his network of 80 blogs and their writers. Oh, and when you've got AOL's checkbook.

That's when.

So a hearty congratulations to Jason Calacanis, who is expected to make an official announcement this week to declare AOL's purchase of his Weblogs Inc., which will be exactly the second company the chatty chap sold for millions.

He and partner Brian Alvey (as well as investor Mark Cuban?) will pull in anywhere from $20 million $35 million, depending on which rumor you're listening to and whether WIN can actually deliver AOL's earnings expectations.

America Online, once the bastard child of Time Warner, now waves around its checkbook as if dialup customers weren't dropping like celebrity babies. And as a blog ourselves, we couldn't be more elated. Over here, News Corp.!

So take that, Nick "There's no money to be made in blogging" Denton.