The latest four-pack of tech news stories from David Bradley

• AOL’s "Dirty Little Secret": 60% of AOL’s Profits Come From Misinformed Customers – Call this a business model? According to an article in the New Yorker: 80% of AOL's profits come from subscribers, and 75% of those subscribers are paying for something they don't actually need. In other words, it's time to tell your old folks who've had broadband for years to cancel their old AOL dialup account. I predict a class action law suit against the company some day soon…
• Modernise and minimalise Gmail interface – A neat Chrome addon to give you much more control over how GMail looks in your browser. After all, the standard layout even with a custom theme is very old-fashioned feeling.
• Create your own customized search engine – Fairly sure I saw this site about five years ago, but it seems to be in beta again, or maybe they changed what they do. Anyway, Rollyo now provides guests and users with an opportunity to create their own custom search engine. Search results are based on Google, and Rollyo basically acts as a frontend for custom Google searches. Custom search engines are called Rolls at Rollyo. Visitors can create their own roll at this page. No technical knowledge is required to do that.
• Facebook desktop app brings Facebook activity to your desktop – Personally, I have a Facebook widget in the Google sidebar, but for those who want their Facebook on the desktop, here's a simple way to add it.