Finally, YouTube is unveiling its solution to video ads, beyond the pre-rolls. The new ads are semi-transparent overlays that cover the bottom fifth of the screen, and after 10 seconds, disappear. If you click it, a video ad will play in the same player, but you can close it, and then the original clip will resume.

The ads just play on YouTube, not on embedded clips. So far, the ads only apply to partner videos, and they are selling for $20 CPMs. Here is a test clip.


A teenager frees an iPhone from the shackles of AT&T

A skilled 17-year-old teenager from New Jersey has manage to hack an iPhone, and now it works fine with his T-Mobile account.

He has blogged instructions for the hack, and that phone is now for sale on eBay. The hack is not easy; it takes two hours and requires soldering and software work.


Flash will include H.264 high-quality video codec

H.264 video codec, used for high-quality video on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD video, will be part of the widely used Flash player, Adobe announced.

So far, Flash video has been good enough for 4x3, but not for high quality 16x9 video. This is an important step towards HD video streaming. (Technical details here)


Mobile-phone-compatible local-news sites on Gannet

Gannet announced a bunch of mobile-friendly local news sites. They are specially tailored to fit easily on the small screens of mobile-phone displays. They have updated content, 24 hours a day, and also carry advertising on the national, regional and local level.

To access them, users can add the letter “m” before the URL of a Gannet site –for example, http://m.usatoday.com.


Web 3.0, according to Google

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt has launched a definition of Web 3.0. “While Web 2.0 was based on Ajax, Web 3.0 will be applications that are pieced together.”

He added that these apps will run on any device (PC or mobile), they will be customizable, and distributed virally (social networks, email, etc).