The video-on-demand sector has just got a little more crowded, and this time, it’s due to a big player entering the fray: Amazon is launching an online store of TV shows and movies called Amazon Video on Demand.

The service, which has been launched today to a number of selected customers, but will be fully launched later in the summer, with all US Amazon.com customers able to use the service.

Masses Of Content

40,000 movies, and episodes of television shows will be instantly accessible, with most movie studios, and television networks making their content available, with the exception of Disney, and ABC, who are close to Apple, the company behind market leader iTunes.

Easy Streaming

However, Amazon Video On Demand will be different from Apple iTunes, as well as other competitors, as well as the original incarnation of Amazon’s video store, Amazon Unbox, by allowing customers to stream content, rather than download to their hard drive.

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We’ve recently spoken quite a bit about webcams: the technology involved, video conferencing, video blogging, and what are the best currently on the market.

But most of the attention has been on webcams designed for use with PCs and laptops, but not for Apple Macs. Now it’s time to redress the balance.

The Ecamm Network iMage USB Webcam for Mac and Windows, does, by definition of its title, work on both Macs and Windows-based PCs, but by design and usability, it definitely owes more to the Apple products.

Horrible Design

However, while all of the variations of the Apple Mac, and most other Apple products, are nicely designed, with smooth lines, and a refreshingly simple layout, the iMage looks horrible.

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The challenge for YouTube to make some money from the millions of viewers it gets each month continues, but a new deal with independent film studio Lionsgate could help at least a little bit.

It was revealed just yesterday that YouTube nabbed about 35% of the total videos viewed online in the US during May, so there’s certainly the viewers there to make revenue possible.

Lionsgate Branded YouTube Channel

The latest deal, announced by Google CEO Eric Schmidt at a industry conference, sees clips from Lionsgate movies appearing on a branded video channel on the site.

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Just a day after Microsoft announced a deal with Netflix which means Xbox 360 owners will now be able to download movies to their consoles, Sony has unveiled its own video download service for the PS3 and PSP.

The service was actually announced at the end of June, but very few details were known. At the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, the details were filled in, and the content partners revealed.

Movies and TV Episodes

According to the press release, the service is launching initially in the US, with full-length movies and television shows being made available over the Playstation Network and Playstation Store.

300 movies, and 1,200 episodes of television shows being downloadable, from content partners including 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

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The last two years have seen online video reach the masses, and grow massively as a result. That trend has continued apace during the first half of 2008, with comScore revealing 12 billion videos were watched in the US during the month of May.

That 12 billion videos suggest a 45% increase on the same period last year, and shows a very healthy growth in online video. This is both from user-generated sites such as YouTube, and those providing streaming television, such as Hulu.

142 Million Uniques

Ars Technica reports that 142 million unique users watched video online in May, which counts for 74% of the total Internet users in the US, meaning 3 out of 4 people have watched some kind of video online.

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There’s a small event going on right now in Los Angeles called the E3 Media and Business Summit, which is the place where Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, as well as a host of games developers unveil plans for the next year.

Today was the first day, and Microsoft was the first of the big three to show its hand. And one of the announcements means that Xbox 360 owners will soon be getting more access to online movie downloads.

This will be coming from Netflix, the online movie rental company, which is teaming up with Microsoft to allow Netflix subscribers, who also own an Xbox 360, to have access to its extensive catalogue through their consoles.

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Now that YouTube is owned by search expert Google, you’d think it would be easier than it is to find the video you are looking for in amongst its glut of content. But it’s currently quite a hard task.

It could be about to get easier however, at least if you want to find a video from, or about, a certain location. YouTube is now experimenting with geosearch - the ability to find videos tagged with a location name.

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