ReadWriteWeb

CBS.com is experimenting with HTML5 video, the plugin-free video technology supported by Apple mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad. With HTML5 running on the CBS website's back-end, visitors from these and other Internet-connected devices could stream videos without having to install the Adobe Flash plugin, something that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is known to be vehemently against, having penned a public statement giving half a dozen reasons why Apple mobile devices won't include its support.

According to CBSi's SVP and GM of entertainment, Anthony Soohoo, CBS.com plans to reach HTML5 parity with the plugin-based Flash video, but is still trying to find the right mix of tools in order to do so.

How appropriate that these current tests utilize Star Trek Enterprise episodes for the experiments with this futuristic video technology.

On the heels of a report which found that online ad revenues will likely surpass those of print ads in the next year, television networks are poised to increase the number of ads run during episodes of shows viewed online. Will Richmond of VideoNuze reports that ABC intends to double the amount of advertisements displayed when viewers watch episodes of ABC shows on the network's website after implementing a similar policy for its iPad app.

Last night Microsoft unveiled Kinect, the company's foray into motion activated controls for the XBOX 360 gaming console that was previously known as Project Natal. Users can play games and navigate menus and web apps by waving their hands or by using their voice, but the camera in Kinect can also be used for social communication. Announced this morning at Microsoft's keynote at E3, Xbox Live users will also be able to video chat from their TVs with friends and family using Windows Live Messenger.

The Guggenheim Museum is teaming up with YouTube in partnership with HP to discover the art of YouTube videos. Tasked with uncovering the "most creative video in the world," the companies have launched an international search by way of YouTube Play, a specially branded YouTube channel that will feature the entries in this new competition.

There's a popular, but apparently unfounded, belief that those who watch videos on their mobile devices are mostly teens. This isn't the case, says Nielsen in its latest "Three Screen" quarterly report for the first quarter of 2010. More than half (55%) of the mobile video audience is actually adults, it finds, aged 25-49.

And while mobile video viewing on a smartphone still remains a niche activity in comparison to total audience size, its year-over-year growth (51.2%) is impressive.

The Hulu rumors resurface once again. This time, two sources have been cited by a Reuters report confirming, for what seems like the thousandth time, that indeed Hulu is poised to roll out a subscription service. And like the sources quoted last month by the L.A. Times, this will start soon - perhaps even within the next month or two.

The only new information in today's report is that this supposed paid version of Hulu may now be making its way to other devices, including Apple's iPad and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

WebM, the open video standard introduced at Google's recent I/O developer conference, is now coming to Firefox 4. According Mozilla's Robert O'Callahan, the key sticking point was making sure that the new WebM codec licensing was compatible with GPL - an open-source licensing type that allows users to copy, modify and redistribute software free of charge as long as modifications made are shared with the community.

That issue has now been addressed, allowing Mozilla to support the codec in its Firefox Web browser.

The presentation by Steve Jobs opening Apple's developer conference today was packed full of details large and small about the company's hardware and software, but the one detail that could have the biggest long-term impact well beyond Apple itself was the introduction of Apple's new video calling system, FaceTime. Jobs said on stage that the system was based on extensive use of open technical standards, and that the company intends to work hard to make FaceTime an open industry standard itself.

Live mobile video, interoperable across different phones and carriers, could be a force for major changes in the way we experience the Web and the world. It could be one of Apple's most important contributions to the future.

Scott Rafer is a startup machine. He was one of 5 people at MyBloglog, the portable social network that caught fire in months and flipped to Yahoo, he was a co-founder of API management service to the stars Mashery and has held top executive positions at 6 other startups since leaving Kodak in the late 90's.

Today he's unveiling his newest project and it's a very ambitious one.

Future, we are here. With today's launch of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G, the hotly anticipated smartphone running Google's Android OS, video chatting moves off the desktop and into the palm of your hand.

Using the popular Qik mobile application, EVO owners will be able to chat with other EVO owners and, eventually, with any smartphone user whose phone sports a forward-facing camera.

Are we on the precipice of a whole new form of communication? Or is mobile video chat going to be just for fun?