Peer To Peer networks and BitTorrent have always gone hand in hand with piracy, with many such services used for swapping copyrighted material illegally between users.

YouTube has also been cited as a source for piracy, with clips of many copyrighted shows being uploaded to the site, and not discovered until potentially millions of people have viewed them.

However, none of these services are completely devoid of usefulness to copyright holders, and it seems some are now finally realising the potential for using these kinds of distribution channels for their own ends.

Peterson’s is a new site intended to make the path to college easier, and less daunting for new and future students. It covers every aspect of the experience from applying to admission and beyond.

The site also currently has an exciting contest happening which uses YouTube to test the ambition and drive of potential students who need a scholarship for college.

What Makes U Special?

The contest basically asks you the question “What Makes U Special?”, a question which requires the recording and uploading to YouTube of a video detailing your response.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how YouTube should be making more money than it currently does to justify the $1.65 billion Google paid for it, and to maximise the huge traffic the site receives.

New Advertising Innovations

Back in April, Google CEO Eric Schmidt promised new innovations to come which could finally make YouTube the money making monster it really should be with the amount of users it has.

Now, he has spoken to The New Yorker, reported here via Times Online, about the problems and solutions in monetising YouTube sufficiently, though he did also make it clear that Google’s goal was not “to monetise everything.”

It seems that after Steve Jobs keynote at the WWDC earlier this week, where he unveiled the new 3G iPhone, everyone is trying to get a piece of the Apple action.

We heard a couple of days ago about Sling Media demonstrating the new SlingPlayer Mobile, and now we have Flixwagon doing the same with a live video broadcasting tool.

From Phone To Web

The Israel based Flixwagon specialises in software allowing mobile phone users to broadcast video live in near to real time over the Web. It has already provided the software for the Symbian mobile operating system and is now expanding.

The company is working on versions of the software for the iPhone, Java, and Windows Mobile. This will mean millions of mobile phone owners will soon have access to the software.

While TV shows are becoming more prevalnet, and more readily available on the Web, with services such as Hulu and the BBC iPlayer leading the way, films generally have been hit and miss.

While television companies have been slow to embrace the Web as a way of distributing content, the movie studios have been moving at snail’s pace.

Disney Leading The Way

Disney however is now proving its commitment to the Web, and video being available over the Internet by making some of its most popular movies available online for free straight after airing on traditional TV through ABC.

Steve Jobs spent his day unveiling the new iPhone 2, or 3G iPhone to a packed audience at the WWDC. And over the weekend, Sling Media announced plans for a Sling Player on the iPhone – Coincidence?

The timing is surely not coincidental, but unfortunately the new SlingPlayer Mobile that was announced and demonstrated for the iPhone is only pre-alpha proof-of-concept software.

Not Available Yet

Until Apple officially accepts the company in to the developer program then that is how this piece of software will remain, in limbo, and not available to anyone but the geeks over at Engadget.

Ever since 9/11 took citizen journalism, ordinary people on the street giving their side of the stories dominating the headlines, to the next level, the desire for the genre has grown.

From the Iraq war, and the current race for the White House, people everywhere are having their say. 

Web video, along with sites such as Twitter, is playing a big part in this, with vlogging becoming more popular every day.

YouTube Takes It Mainstream

YouTube recently introduced an entire channel for citizen journalism and reporters, causing many to applaud it for its foresight. While I agree that a channel devoted to citizen journalism on a mainstream site like YouTube is a good thing, citizen journalists don’t need the approval of a mainstream web site to be heard.