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Finding specific online videos from TV networks and independent producers can often be a daunting challenge. Some TV shows are on Hulu, some can only be found as paid downloads on iTunes or Amazon and some are only available for streaming on the network's and producer's own sites.

Clicker wants to change this by making it easier to find shows from TV networks, music videos, and web videos from across the Internet. Clicker is currently in private beta and only available in the US. The company gave us 1000 invites for our readers. Read on to find out how you can get yours.

Vimeo, one of our favorite online video services, just announced a number of interesting updates. In the near future, Vimeo plans to give its users the ability to use an Adobe AIR desktop tool to upload videos to the service. These videos will also play in a larger video player. In addition, Vimeo plans to introduce a more advanced stats package for users with paid accounts.

YouTube is throwing a bone to content creators who have questions about how to do online video right.

The mega-video site is partnering with Videomaker magazine to offer free webinars on topics of interest to the would-be iJustines and Ask A Ninjas of the world. Topics will cover how to shop for a video camera, microphone techniques, lighting and all the basics of shooting palatable online video content.

At an investor conference held earlier this week, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker revealed that they were looking at new ways to help monetize their joint venture, the video-streaming service Hulu.com. The site, a popular web destination featuring movies and TV shows from content partners including Fox, ABC, Disney, and, of course, NBC Universal, reaches anywhere from 9 million to 42 million users per month, depending who you ask. Although the hosted content is currently ad-supported by way of commercials interspersed into the video streams, the company is interested in exploring other revenue options as well, specifically subscription services and pay-per-view programs.

So, Sony BMG doesn't want you to embed that AC/DC concert footage in your blog or grab the audio from that footage as an MP3? They'd probably have a fit if if you stored that footage as an MP4 on your computer and distributed it wherever you liked or - worse yet - remixed it to your heart's content.

Thanks to Tooble.tv, a fascinating tool that plays footsie with all kinds of copyright law, you can do all of the above and more. Only high school students would have the audacity (or sheer naivete) to pull off a stunt like this.

July turned out to be the biggest month for watching Internet video yet. According to comScore, Internet users in the US watched 21.4 billion videos in July, up 88% from last year. Google's YouTube streamed 9 billion of these videos, followed by video sites from Viacom and Microsoft. In terms of unique users, YouTube gets only twice as many visitors as Microsoft's video sites. On YouTube, however, people watched an average of 74 videos in July, while they watched only around 10 videos on Microsoft's sites and 19 on Viacom's online video properties.

People who think that 'America's Funniest Home Videos' is a media phenomenon that peaked in the television era, may be disappointed to know that the same formula is becoming increasingly popular on the Web. As of July 2009, Break Media was ranked the 35th most popular site in the U.S. - one year ago it wasn't in the top 50. Break.com is an entertainment destination focused on "Funny Videos & Funny Pictures" (the company's words). It targets a young male audience and makes no bones about going for the lowest common denominator.

Startup video service Pixorial allows users to upload, edit, and share their videos from VHS, Beta Max, Hi-8, and other analog sources as well as standard digital files. The uploading process for analog formats does require users to mail in "primary documents," i.e., the physical tapes themselves, for conversion. And HD downloads might not be the free-for-all that users experience on other, all-digital sites.

Still, for the ability to digitize old home movies without any constraints on file length and edit and combine those files once they're online, we think Pixorial deserves the attention of any users with memories on tape to save and share.

Blip.tv's CEO, Mike Hudack, chatted with us this afternoon about how online video and television are evolving and informing one another. Revenue models, show length and format, distribution, and consumption are all called into question as the web targets increasingly narrow and engaged niche audiences.

As startups such as Blip.tv continue to grow and partner with old-guard media companies for television distribution, what will happen to the major networks, whose current model creates a scarcity of opportunity for revenue while requiring a "least objectionable programming" approach to content? Will network TV survive? Watch and find out what Hudack thinks.

A new report (PDF) from the Council for Research Excellence functions as a good reminder to those of us who spend a lot of time on the web that we can often have a rather skewed view of how the rest of the world consumes media. If you are reading this, there is probably a good chance that you watch a lot of video online, or that you record your TV shows on your DVR and fast-forward through ads.

This study, which was sponsored by media research firm Nielsen, however, concludes that the average adult in the U.S. still watches an almost unbelievable 5 1/2 hours of live TV every day. 94% of adults watch TV on any given day, while most people only watch online videos for a few minutes a day.