Netflix said today it has tapped Dolby Digital Plus to provide 5.1 channel surround for its TV shows and movies streamed over the Internet. Netflix also said, starting October 18 PlayStation 3 will be the first consumer electronics device to get 5.1 channel surround sound on movies streamed from the company. Netflix said it would add more devices over time to its streaming digital surround sound.

NASA has partnered with Gowalla to create new ways for people to learn more about space exploration and the agency in general. The partnership populates Gowalla with NASA-related information and four virtual items - moon rocks, a NASA patch, a spacesuit and a space shuttle - that can be found at agency-related venues. NASA's partnership with Gowalla is a creative way for us to reach out and share information about what the nation's space agency is doing," said Bob Jacobs,

Skype has introduced an updated version of 5.0 beta for Windows along with the integration of the Facebook News Feed. The Facebook integration makes Skype more social. Skype users can interact with their Facebook News Feed, including posting status updates, commenting, and liking, directly from Skype. The Facebook Phonebook in Skype allows users to call and SMS their Facebook friends directly on their mobile phones and landlines. If a Facebook friend is also a Skype contact,

Crown Imports has launched an online campaign for its Corona Light beer brand targeting people in their 20s. The campaign promotes a movement for Corona Light to be the most liked light beer on Facebook. People who like Corona Light on Facebook will be able to upload their photo to a 40-foot tall digital billboard in Times Square. The Times Square billboard will go live on November 8 and run through December 6.

Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President, Online Business, Microsoft says they are grateful for Facebook partnership. We are going to show how search gets better because of your friends. Editor's note. This article was live blogged. Qi Liu, President, Online Services Division Microsoft, talks about partnership between Facebook and Bing and taking search to the next level. We will harness potential of social, take it to the next levels Unfolding a new era of search.

AOL said today it is relaunching its City's Best online guide to provide local food and entertainment reviews in 25 metro areas. Citys Best local editors and writers in each market have visited and selected the best food, and entertainment destinations in each city creating directory listings for each. AOL will invite local users to chose the most popular spots. Users can vote starting today on City's Best through November 30.

Verizon Wireless said today it will begin pre-loading Amazon's Kindle app on some of its Android phones. Verizon will pre-load the Kindle app on the new Samsung Fascinate, Droid 2 by Motorola and the Motorola Droid X. Features of the Kindle app for Android include: *The ability to synch bookmarks across devices so users can pick up where they left off. *Books purchased from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online, where they can be re-downloaded. *The U.S.

comScore Video Metrix has released its September online video rankings finding that 175 million U.S. Internet viewers watched online video during the month for an average of 14.4 hours. Google sites, driven mainly by video viewing at YouTube, continued to rank as the online video content property with 52.2 million unique viewers. Yahoo sites move back into the second spot with 54.4 million viewers after falling to Facebook in Augst. Facebook closely trailed with 52.

OneRiot said today it is moving away from its realtime search to focus on its online advertising platform. Since the company first launched its advertising network in January brands and media companies including Stella Artois, Sony Pictures, AOL and Time have incorporated OneRiot into their digital marketing strategies and have benefited from the company's realtime social targeting.

The New York Times has implemented video recommendation technology from Taboola, on its online video section, NYTimes.com. Taboola video recommendations are based on algorithms that combine behavioral and contextual data to analyze users' engagement with videos they watch and generate real-time predictions for other videos of interest. The recommendations appear as list of thumbnail images in a section titled "Other Videos You May Like,

The U.S. paid search market saw spending increase 5.8 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, with July growing 4.9 percent, August 5.8 percent and September 6.7 percent, according to a new report from SearchIgnite. Bing saw the most spend growth, up 21 percent year-over-year, with market share gains of 6.4 percent in Q3 )up from 6.2% in Q2(. Yahoo saw a 10 percent decline in search ad spend over Q3, with market share falling to 13.4 percent from 15.4 percent in Q2.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said today it is putting $20 million into funding an online education and technology initiative to increase college graduation rates in the U.S. The Foundation's initiative, Next Generation Learning Challenges , has released the first series of requests for proposals )RFPs( for technology applications that can improve postsecondary education. This round of funding will total up to $20 million, including grants that range from $250,

Facebook users who like a brand's page on the site are thirty-three percent more likely to buy a product, and 92 percent more likely to recommend a product to others, according to a new report from DDB and Opinionway. The report also found that brands should closely monitor their content and communication on their Facebook page because those same fans quickly disengage. More than a third )36%( of brand fans have unsubscribed from a brand's fan page,

eBay has introduced a mobile app for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 devices. eBay's app for Windows Phone 7 allows users to search, bid, buy and check their buying and selling activity. The app uses Microsoft's panoramic interface and Windows Phone 7's push notification technology so users can recive real-time alerts on deals and best offer activity. eBay and Microsoft share a common goal of keeping consumers connected. When Microsoft approached us about Windows Phone 7,

Google captured 72.15 percent of all U.S. searches in September and gained one percent in search share month-over-month, according to a new report from Hitwise. Bing powered search received 23.64 percent of searches for the month with Yahoo Search and Bing receiving 13.54 percent and 10.10 percent, respectively. The remaining 65 search engines1 in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis report accounted for 4.22 percent of U.S. searches.

Yoko Ono and EMI Music have partnered with YouTube for worldwide tributes honoring John Lennon to mark his 70 th birthday )October 9(. YouTube will honor John Lennon with a homepage spotlight starting at 9pm PT on Friday, October 8th and staying active for 24 hours. The spotlight will include a personal video from Yoko Ono, asking people around the world to submit videotaped tributes to John Lennon. Video testimonials from Lennon's friends and fans, including Ringo Star,

Three-quarters of parents )75%( don't think social networking sites do a good job of protecting children's online privacy, according to a poll conducted by Zogby on behalf of Common Sense Media. The majority )92%( of parents are concerned that children share too much information online and 85 percent say they are more concerned about online privacy than they were five years ago.

Sony's online video entertainment site, Crackle, has launched a movie and television application for the Android platform. The Crackle app streams full-length movies and television shows as well as originals content from the site. The cutting edge Crackle app provides Android users with movies and television offerings in their favorite genres like they have come to love on the site, said Eric Berger, Sony Pictures Televisions Senior Vice President, Digital Networks.

An analysis of mobile activities in Japan, the U.S. and Europe found significant differences among consumers by geography, according to a new report from comScore. Mobile users in Japan were the most connected of the three markets, with more than 75 percent using connected media )browsed, accessed applications or downloaded content( in June, compared to 43.7 percent in the U.S. and 38.5 percent in Europe.

Amazon.com said today it has reached an agreement to purchase Spanish Internet retailer BuyVip.com for $96.5 million. BuyVip is a fashion and lifestyle online buying community with more than six million members in countries including Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Portugal. Members of BuyVip can participate in sales that run for a limited time and involve limited quantities of fashion products from over 500 brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Converse,