AOL said today its social music app PLAY has been downloaded over 250,000 times since its launch three weeks ago at SXSW. "Music is a big part of what makes a smartphone a smartphone. But the future of portable music is more than just listening to music you like " it involves sharing your music experience with friends," said David Temkin, VP of Mobile at AOL. "With PLAY ,

Techlightenment, a division of Experian, has partnered with performance-based ad network Adknowledge, to launch as social research platform on Facebook. The Social Research Platform )SRP( can layer opt-in social data of a user's interests and demographics on top of survey responses. With access to this information, brands can make better decisions about ad campaigns, marketing strategies, and competitive positioning.

More than two-thirds )69%( of marketers and 55 percent of agencies plan to increase their Digital Video Advertising )DVA(, with 22 percent growth forecast over the next 12 months, according to a new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau )IAB(. Those surveyed project they will spend 17% of their total online display advertising budget on DVA in the next 12 months.

eBay developer Sellebrity, has introduced a new tool called "Social Streamer" aimed at helping sellers promote their listings for free on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Social Streamer works by monitoring how listings change over time due to social factors, such as bids, watch counts, links, bookmarks to the listing, and questions asked. The tool compiles and analyzes this information, and in some instances,

Yahoo said today it has launched a royal wedding website for the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The royal wedding website features articles, photo galleries, and videos. A digital guestbook has been created in Prince William and Kate's honor so people can offer their advice to the couple. A number of celebrities have already added their advice and wishes to the Royal Wedding Yahoo Guestbook, and more will contribute in the future.

Consumer Watchdog, a group known for being critical of Google, is sponsoring legislation in California that would give people a an online "Do Not Track Me" option. In addition, Consumer Watchdog sent a letter to new Google CEO Larry Page asking him to support the "Do Not Track Me" plan and prove his company is moving in a new direction. In a letter to Page Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court and John M. Simpson, director of the nonprofit,

PR Newswire said today it is introducing social engagement tools that allow for the integration of custom Facebook pages to improve PR and marketing efforts. The tools allow organizations to improve their Facebook presence, engage with their existing fans and attract new fans. By designing custom tabs to highlight specific campaigns and products, organizations can share targeted, fan-only multimedia content, conduct promotions and polling in one dashboard.

Netflix said today it has expanded its distribution deal with Twentieth Century Fox to make more TV shows available for instant streaming. Under the agreement Netflix is providing its members access to the first season of "Glee" and the first two seasons of "Sons of Anarchy" beginning today. In addition, "Ally McBeal" and "The Wonder Years" will stream instantly on Netflix.

Real estate website Zillow said today it has launched a free app for Reasearch in Motion's BlackBerry smartphones. Zillow said the addition of the BlackBerry app, along with its existing apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad, means more than 90 percent of smartphone users can now access real estate information on more than 100 million properties. The location-based Zillow BlackBerry App uses GPS technology to find and follow users on an aerial map,

Greenpeace is putting more pressure on Facebook to persuade the company to stop using coal to power its data centers. Greenpeace is calling on Facebook to "unfriend" coal by Earth Day on April 22. The Greenpeace Unfriend Coal Facebook page has over 98,000 likes. "Just as Facebook has revolutionised the way the world communicates, so it can revolutionise the IT sector's current reliance on coal," Greenpeace said in a blog post.

Google said today it is previewing five new templates in Blogger and they will soon be available in a wider launch. Google said its new template views use the latest web technology, including AJAX, HTML5, and CSS3. The new template views include Mosaic, Flipcard, sidebar, and Timeslide.

Online travel site Expedia said today it is launching a Facebook promotion that will offer more than $1 million worth of travel to friends on the social network. The promotion is called the "Expedia FriendTrips" and people can participate in the promotion by becoming a fan of Expedia on Facebook. Then participants will create a "virtual plane" and will point the plane towards one of a number of vacation destinations.

American Airlines said today it is launching the "Mobile Million Sweepstakes" to promote the recent release of its Android application. The sweepstakes will give one grand-prize winner a million American Airlines AAdvantage miles. In addition American will give away one Barnes & Noble Nook Color for 30 days to 30 people, for downloading the free app. The sweepstakes runs through April 28 and users can install the app on their Android devices,

Google said today it has added new Street View imagery to historic sites in Italy and France. Along with seeing the exterior of archaeological sites like the Imperial Forum and the Colosseum in Rome, Street View has added interior views of those landmarks as well. The Google Blog offers more details. "In few clicks you can navigate through centuries of history. Start at the birthplace of Rome, the Palatine Hill, where the mythical founders of the city,

The majority )85%( of women on Facebook indicate they have been annoyed by their online friends, according to a new survey from daily deals site Eversave. Eversave surveyed more than 400 women on Facebook and found they have little tolerance for friends who use the site to brag or overshare.

Skype has launched a free online platform aimed at connecting teachers with other educators and classrooms around the globe. The new platform called "Skype in the classroom," is designed to help teachers find each other and related projects according to search criteria such as the age groups they teach, location, subjects of interest; and teaching resources that can be shared. How to create a profile and find a teacher from Skype in the classroom on Vimeo .

Staples said today it has launched a website focused on tablets to help people research and compare devices that fit their needs. Staples.com/tablets will offer side-by-side feature and price comparisons, photos, videos and business apps. Key features of the site include: *Videos such as "Why Buy A Tablet?

Printing company RR Donnelley said today it has acquired Journalism Online, a company aimed at helping news papers monetize their web content. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Three veteran media executives are behind Journalism Online including Steven Brill, founder of Court TV, Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and Leo Hindery, a former chief executive of AT&T Broadband.

The number of Americans who accessed financial accounts )bank, credit card, or brokerage( via mobile devices reached 29.8 million at the end of 2010, a 54 percent increase over 2009, according to a new report from comScore. "More people are turning to the convenience of mobile devices for their financial service needs, fueled in part by the adoption of smartphones, 3G devices and unlimited data plans," said Sarah Lenart, comScore vice president.

Office Depot has expanded its mobile offerings and has launched an iPhone and Android app available for free download on iTunes and the Android Market. The new apps are part of the company's broader "Office Depot Anywhere" strategy aimed at helping people show via a variety of mobile platforms and m-commerce sites. The apps allow users to browse and buy products from their mobile phone, read product revies, find a store location, access order history, track shipments,