Verizon said Tuesday that it plans to spend $4.4 billion to buy AOL , which was once a leader in Internet connectivity but has struggled to find its way as a content provider and online advertising platform. AOL still has a subscription business -- anecdotally, aged users who don't know they can get e-mail for free from Yahoo and Google -- and also owns The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Engadget and other media brands.