The Onion today launched The Onion News Network onlinewhich will provide online viewers with the most up-to-date video news reports and excerpts from Onion News Network programs every Tuesday.

“We’ve been waiting for technology to catch up with our advanced vision for the future of news,” said Onion President, Sean Mills. “That day has finally come.

“We discovered there are occasionally times in our viewers’ lives when they are forced to be away from a television,” Editor-In-Chief Scott Dikkers said. “The Onion News Network will fill these gaps of news access with a seriousness and integrity missing from news today.”

I like The Onion in print, and watching what they have now gives me the impression that I will like their videos more. Their news delivery is so believable that you would think that it’s the mainstream media that’s acting like The Onion.

YouTube is rolling out the red carpet to celebrate the winners of the 2007 YouTube Video Awards.

“2006 was a groundbreaking year for YouTube, user-generated content, and entertaining online videos. With this in mind, we established the YouTube Video awards to recognize the ingenuity and achievements of our community,” said Jamie Byrne, head of product marketing for YouTube. “These individuals put the first stitches in the fabric of the YouTube community. Instead of seeing a way to share videos they saw an opportunity for worldwide visibility and through their success have changed the landscape of how a ‘star’ is defined.”

“It’s incredible how quickly and completely YouTube is changing culture and it’s a surreal honor to be part of something so great,” said Damian Kulash, front man of OK Go. “We can’t wait to get our trophy.”

The community has made their decisions and the 2007 YouTube Video Awards go to… drum roll please… read more

NBC Universal and News Corp. today announced a deal with AOL, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo! to create a premium online video site dubbed as the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled. Scary.

The deal was announced by Jeff Zucker, President and Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal and Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation. The video-rich site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios.

“This is a game changer for Internet video,” said Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation. “We’ll have access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience at launch. And for the first time, consumers will get what they want – professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live. We’re excited about the potential for this alliance and we’re looking forward to working with any content provider or distributor who wants to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity.” Again, this is scary. read more

Apple is now shipping Apple TV, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content on to your widescreen TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts.

With Apple TV’s interface, anyone can quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from across the room using the simple and intuitive Apple Remote. Apple TV easily connects to almost all modern widescreen televisions.

“Apple TV is like a DVD player for the Internet age-providing an easy and fun way to play all your favorite iTunes content from your PC or Mac on your widescreen TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple TV allows you to wirelessly play your content from your PCs or Macs using your existing WiFi network as well as the newest and fastest version of WiFi-802.11n.”

The seamless integration of Apple TV and iTunes lets users choose from over 400 movies and 350 TV shows in near DVD quality; over four million songs; 5,000 music videos; 100,000 podcasts; and 20,000 audiobooks from the iTunes Store.

Enticing, true. But the next question, just like the gizmos that came out in the not so distant past is looking for supply. Start lining up now or better yet, wait until excitement dies down.

VideoEgg has teamed up with Community Connect Inc. to power all video content within its sites.

By working with VideoEgg, Community Connect can now offer users the ability to easily and efficiently upload and share video content. Community Connect is the leader in online niche social networking sites and has more than 18 million registered members throughout the following sites: BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com, AsianAvenue.com, and GLEE.com.

“The VideoEgg platform makes it easy for our members to upload video, creating more personalized, vibrant, interactive communities,” said Court Cunningham, COO of Community Connect Inc, “and the Eggnetwork helps us as a business to monetize our four distinct, niche sites.” read more

I recently had my blog “Philly Sports Net” redesigned and intentionally created a premium spot above the fold for video highlights. At first, I figured I’d just edit the WordPress sidebar.php file with a new YouTube or Google Video embed file every time the writer for my site wanted to switch out a sports highlight.

But I knew there had to be better way. Rather than swapping out videos, wouldn’t it be nice to create something like a Video Channel that played the newest video first and then sequenced through subsequent videos in temporal order?

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Myspace, tagworld, bebo, and facebook. There are social networks for just about everything these days. But what if you want a simple social network for yourself, one that you can make totally your own?

THE FIND: Well Ning’s new “Your Own Social Network” might just be the answer for those who have been looking for a simple way to create their own social network.

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Metacafe today launched Café Confidential. The new video confessional channel with Hollywood producer Steven Bochco at the helm, features short videos of twentysomethings sharing highly personal experiences such as My First Time, My Weird Family or Most Embarrassing Moment. The unscripted content is designed to encourage viewers to respond by posting their own video stories, which are immediately eligible for cash payment through Metacafe’s Producer Rewards program.

“Online video provides an extraordinary forum for intimate, personal storytelling,” said Steven Bochco, whose numerous television successes include Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and LA Law. Cafe Confidential is sponsored by American Apparel. read more

YouTube announced the first-ever YouTube Video Awards to recognize the creative achievements of the YouTube community.

The 2007 YouTube Video Awards commemorate the best original user created videos of 2006 and the artists who made them in the categories of: Most Creative (Innovative And Cutting Edge Video), Most Inspirational (Things That Make You Think Or Feel), Best Series (The Best In Serial Entertainment), Best Comedy (They Had Us In Stitches), Musician Of The Year (Celebrating YouTube’s Home-Grown Musical Talent), Best Commentary (The Bloggers Who Caught Our Attention), Most Adorable Video Ever (So Cute It Hurts). read more

Several documentaries have been made about Second Life, but now there’s a film that actually takes place inside this popular virtual world. In the film ‘My Second Life‘ the main character sets out on a journey and the viewer tags along.

The story goes like this: In January 2007, a man named Molotov Alva disappeared from his California home. Recently, a series of seven video dispatches by a Traveller of the same name have appeared within a popular online world called Second Life. In these dispatches Molotov Alva encounters everything from Furries to Cyberpunks to Neo-Luddites to Sex Slaves to the King of the Hobos, Orhalla Zander, who becomes Molotov’s guide as he searches for the creator of their brave new world. read more