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AOL acquires blog search company Sphere

Sphere contextual widgetThis blog's parent company, AOL is continuing to snatch up smaller companies like there's no tomorrow just in case there actually is no tomorrow. The latest acquisition is blog search tool Sphere, which we've covered several times in the past. While Sphere started out as a blog search engine, the company has since become a tool for bloggers and web publishers who want to show related information from other blogs on their web sites.

Sphere CEO Tony Conrad says the company's approach will remain "start up style," even after joining the AOL team, which basically means the management team will remain in place but now Sphere will have access to AOL's resources and take some marching orders from the top.

As AOL continues to make the transition from an ISP to an internet-based business, the company has been buying up properties like Bebo, Sphere, and a little company called Weblogs Inc. It's too soon to tell whether the move will be enough to save AOL. But if there's any truth to the rumors of an AOL/Yahoo! merger, that could do the trick.

[via WebWare]

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Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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