AOL was rated as the top Internet service provider for overall customer experience, according to a survey of consumers by Forrester Research, an independent research company. The survey asked nearly 4,600 consumers about their interactions with Internet service providers based on a number of measures, including usefulness (tied for first at 79%) and ease-of-use (71%).

AOL’s overall “Customer Experience Index” rating was 71%, higher than any other service provider in the survey, according to Forrester. The Forrester survey also found that AOL’s Index score climbed five percentage points between 2007 and 2008.

In this kind of economy, it is good to know that businesses are focusing on providing top customer experience.

T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced the release of the T-Mobile webConnect USB Laptop Stick, providing customers with connectivity to the Internet on the go via Wi-Fi or T-Mobile’s 3G wireless broadband service.

The new webConnect laptop stick allows customers with a laptop to take advantage of broadband speeds available through T-Mobile’s 3G high-speed data network (HSDPA) and accessible Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) network, which includes access to more than 10,000 convenient locations across the U.S. in the T-Mobile HotSpot Network. Customers simply plug the webConnect laptop stick into their laptop and the built-in Connection Manager software automatically finds the best available Internet connection. Accommodating up to 8 GB of installable memory, the webConnect laptop stick also provides portable storage for documents, music or movies — eliminating the need for an additional USB memory stick.

Customers can purchase the webConnect laptop stick online and at T-Mobile retail stores and select third-party stores in cities where T-Mobile’s 3G service is currently available.

The United States Golf Association and World Golf Tour (WGT) have formed an agreement to host the first Virtual U.S. Open Championship on www.USOPEN.com.

Developed in partnership with Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., the Virtual U.S. Open will take place on a state-of-the-art simulation of the Black Course at Bethpage, allowing golf enthusiasts everywhere to play an online golf championship from their computers at no cost, at the same time and on virtually the same course as the actual U.S. Open competitors in June.

Visitors to www.USOPEN.com can play qualifying rounds for the Virtual U.S. Open, beginning May 25th through June 21st. The top 156 qualifiers plus ties will then square off for the Virtual U.S. Open title on June 22nd. The winner will be crowned the USGA Virtual U.S. Open Champion and will be a guest of the USGA at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.

WGT has utilized its patented technology to bring Bethpage Black to life online. First, nearly 100,000 high-definition images were taken of the course from the ground and with helicopters using precisely mapped GPS coordinates. These images and additional data collected from the course were then translated through WGT’s proprietary physics engine to enable players to virtually experience Bethpage Black within a photo landscape. Championship tees and hole locations, U.S. Open-quality rough and accurate green contours and speeds all combine to make this the most realistic championship golf experience ever offered online.

E-commerce payment solutions and social network gifting platform developer Socialwise, Inc. has finalized the production version of BillMyParents payment system. The system is set to go live wit its e-commerce partners soon.

BillMyParents is a safe, easy and secure way for kids to shop online, while enabling parents to track and maintain control of expenditures. Using BillMyParents, kids can shop online without a credit card and use the system to send purchase requests to Mom and/or Dad. Parents are notified of the potential item to be purchased, and can approve or decline the purchase, staying in control of their child’s online purchasing activities. If the purchase is approved, the parent can then enter the relevant credit card information and the BillMyParents system completes the transaction.

Concurrent with planned launch activities, Socialwise is working on continued enhancements to the system. These improvements include adding more security features and enhancing performance, scalability and ease of use, with the goal of establishing BillMyParents as the preferred payment utility for kids and parents.

Kayak.com has launched TravelPost.com, a comprehensive hotel information website.  TravelPost.com presents hotel reviews, content and rates on more than 140,000 hotels from over 200 travel sites in one easy-to-use display. TravelPost.com content includes detailed descriptions, photos, maps and reviews from travelers and professionals, as well as integration with Kayak.com’s industry rate search. 
 
Hotel content providers from around the globe will be added each month.  Several new tools are scheduled to launch over the next few months, rolling out on a weekly basis.  These tools include but are not limited to hotel rate alerts that notify users when a rate meets or beats their desired price, enhancements to display algorithm, recent search history displayed on homepage, improved mapping capabilities and opportunity to score reviews as helpful or not helpful.  The site will also make it easier for hoteliers to track reviews and communicate openly and honestly with unhappy consumers with a tool that supports review rebuttal and resolution.

Mooch announced the launch of its new peer-to-peer video game trading website. By facilitating every aspect of the peer-to-peer trading process, Mooch gives video game players an affordable and easy way to trade the used games sitting on their shelves for ones they want to play.

Instead of exchanging used titles at retail stores for a fraction of the original price, Mooch subscribers can enter a list of the games they have as well as the games they want, and Mooch’s patent-pending trading engine goes to work. Each step of the trading process is intelligently automated, including finding potential trades, balancing each trade, and even allowing users to print postage directly from the site.

A limited number of free accounts will be available during the beta period. Following the free beta, membership to Mooch will require an annual subscription fee of $19.99.

Online video management and advertising platform Auditude has secured an additional $10.5 million in funding from Redpoint Ventures along with existing investor Greylock Partners.

Redpoint and Greylock have between them backed market-leading companies such as DoubleClick, Right Media, Facebook and MySpace. Auditude plans to use the new funds to expand its leadership position in video management and monetization for content owners and publishers across the web.

Auditude enables content owners, publishers and advertisers to benefit from the distribution of video on the web. The company combines their highly accurate and patented fingerprinting technologies with a robust ad platform to simplify video distribution and advertising. The company also has partnerships with some of the world’s largest content and publishing companies including MTV Networks, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and MySpace.

Brightcove Inc. announced a series of major customer acquisitions in Japan, including Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc., Sony Music Network Inc., Asahi Breweries Group, Shueisha Publishing Co., Ltd., and Orange Page Inc. The adoption of the company’s platform in Japan continues to accelerate Brightcove’s global expansion and build on a customer base that includes leading media companies and marketers across North America and Europe.

Brightcove established its majority-owned subsidiary in Japan in 2008 with $4.9 million in new investment from Brightcove Inc. and four market-leading Japanese strategic partners: Dentsu, Inc., J-Stream, Inc., transcosmos, Inc. (transcosmos), and Cyber Communications, Inc. (CCI). Last year, Web TV distribution giant, Presentcast, selected Brightcove for gorin.jp, the exclusive online video portal in Japan for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. gorin.jp is backed by all of Japan’s commercial television broadcasters. Since then, Brightcove has continued to help Presentcast launch a number of online video properties, including the World Snowboarding Championship’s X-Trail JAM and the Inter-High School Football Championship.

Custom publishing enabler SharedBook Inc. announced the launch of a newly enhanced book personalization web site Inscribe-It.com.

Inscribe-It.com expands SharedBook’s offerings by giving consumers even greater ways to customize and personalize books with new features and options for the text on the dedication page, such as left and center justification, color and size. Additionally, Inscribe-It.com offers an improved flipbook for viewing all customized elements.

SharedBook has added more than 100 books to the website, across children’s and adult categories, including titles from Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin USA, DK Publishing, Bloomsbury, Sterling, F&W, Perseus, among others.

Photobucket announced the availability of a mobile Photobucket application exclusively for the T-Mobile Sidekick. Built in conjunction with Danger, Inc., the software services provider for the mobile device, this application enables users to access and interact with Photobucket media directly from anywhere.

Users upload photos and videos from their handset directly to their Photobucket album. There are a number of options, including adding and editing titles, descriptions and tags, as well as rotating and resizing images. Additionally, users can:

• Create a Photobucket account
• Log into Photobucket to access their albums
• Browse and search images and videos on Photobucket
• Browse other users’ albums
• Share images