The story cited a new report from social media research consultancy Trendstream and research firm Lightspeed, giving stats such as:

• In one week in January, 97 million Americans viewed a streaming clip online – as many as are tuning into any major broadcast network
• With 72 per cent of U.S. web users watching clips online, web video outstrips both blogging and social networking, and is now the leading “social-media platform”
• With 49 million active Web users – 32 per cent – uploading content in January 2009, users of all ages now generate far more content than traditional broadcasters and collectively contribute the majority of video content to the web

Meanwhile the world’s most popular video-sharing site, YouTube had a 1,700 per cent jump in mobile video uploads over the past six months.

YouTube has shown phenomenal growth over the past few years. In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Now, 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. In fact, as I write this blog “uploaded youtube” is a trending topic on Twitter.

In my hometown of Yellowknife I have seen the growth of online video. Here are a few businesses that prominently feature online video. Let me know what I am missing:

• CBC North – runs its full Northbeat news show as well as numerous shorter news videos
• Kellett Communications – offers full gamut of filmmaking and effects, strives to make communication interactive, weave it in and out of all media, especially online content
• Up Here – this magazine about the north posts photos animated Ken Burn’s style with music/voice over track such as this recent soundslide, which is hosted on Up Here’s Vimeo channel

You can check out the Yellowknife tab on my Netvibes page to see other Yellowknife videos on YouTube.

The watch-phone is expected to be available for sale in the second half of the year.

It looks a little clunky from the photos displayed, but has many features, such as:

• a built-in speaker for text-to-speech
• an MP3 player
• a Bluetooth compatibility camera which can be used for videoconferencing

I am not sure that I would want to watch TV on my wrist, but I do like the idea of all-in-one gadgets. How handy to have devices such as GPS, phone, camera, video recorder, all bundled together, like my fetish object, the Nokia N96.

Why carry 10 gadgets when one can do it all?

As well, LG and all of the major television manufacturers are expected to push 3-D technology at this year’s CES, according to a story on CBC.

That could open up all kinds of opportunities to develop more interactive games …. combine that with a Wii (with better graphics of course!) ….