A couple of days ago I wrote about a new series of Microsoft adverts that were only available online and promoted Internet Explorer 8.

In total four adverts were made with Dean Cain starring in all of them and proclaiming IE8 can solve many of the problems regular users have when surfing the Internet. The reception the adverts got has been mixed, but it is one video in particular users either found funny, offensive, or off-putting.

The video in question was called O.M.G.I.G.P. which is short for Oh My God I’m Gonna Puke. The ad shows a wife finding pornography on her husband’s laptop that is so disgusting she vomits. Her husband then slips on the vomit and she continues to puke on him. So you can see how it is either funny or not depending on how much you like to see a woman repeatedly throwing up on a guy.

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The Googlesphere is abuzz with word that Steve Chen, who co-founded YouTube with Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim and later sold it to Google (GOOG) for $1.65 billion, has left his post as YouTube's chief technology officer. And here's the thing: he did it last fall, and we're only hearing about it now! Who says you can't keep a secret in Silicon Valley?

The news first broke on All Things D, where Peter Kafka got YouTube spokesman Ricardo Reyes to confirm the move: "Steve shifted his focus to help with some Google engineering projects. He's still involved with YouTube and invested in its success." Google has not disclosed what Chen is working on now. PaidContent openly predicts that YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley will be gone soon as well.

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Google has launched a channel for wannabe citizen journalists on YouTube which is aiming to teach the general public how to be better reporters.

Featuring video tutorials from the likes of Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, and the New York Times' Nick Kristof, The YouTube Reporters' Centre is hoping to build on the hype generated by the internet use during the Iran election aftermath.

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YouTube has recently stated that mobile uploads have been soaring over the last six month with over a 1700% increase. Since the iPhone 3GS was released daily uploads increased 400%. I’m curious what people are uploading that they think is so fascinating.

YouTube believes that the growth is mostly due to more mobile phones with video capabilities on the market, which makes sense of course. If you give people the tools to do something they’ll do it. They’re also giving people a quick and simple way to alert their friends about their latest videos by connecting YouTube accounts to Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader.

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Apple's new iPhone 3Gs is having a big impact on YouTube. Since it was made available on Friday, uploads from mobile phones to YouTube have surged 400% per day, YouTube said on Thursday.
On Monday, Apple said that it had sold over 1 million iPhone 3GS devices through Sunday, June 21. The iPhone 3GS features the ability to record, edit, and share videos, unlike previous iPhone models.The iPhone-driven deluge comes amid a 1700% increase in mobile phone video uploads to YouTube over the past six months.
"This growth represents three things coming together: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvements to the upload flow when you post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows your videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through your social networks," said product manager Dwipal Desai and community manager Mia Quagliarello in a blog post.

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Here is my newest YouTube obsession Kunt and the Gang. It's more of a straight guy (and Char) thing, but I had to share it with you. Here is his music video titled Fucksticks, and unless you have headphones it is NSFW.

Follow Kunt on YouTube or visit him at his official website and get a free download of his latest single "I Sucked Off A Bloke."

The US National Archives is now available on YouTube as well, as they began their new channel which is located at www.youtube.com/USNationalArchives.

At the US National Archives YouTube Channel you will be able to watch popular archived film footage as well as upcoming events around the United States. There will also be National Archive exhibits that you can visit without actually being there.

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The price at the gas pump has been ticking up and unemployment is tightening its grip. Pay cuts, salary freezes and furloughs strangle the wallet. The easy cuts to the family budget - no summer camp, no family vacation - already have been made.But the school year has ended and the kids are at loose ends. What's a worried parent to do?

At the risk of attracting the ire of those who justifiably want to pull their children away from computer screens, send them to YouTube. Amid the trashy home videos and other uneven chronicles of pop culture is a memorable new look at America's past that whets the appetite for more free fun. The National Archives, in celebration of its 75th anniversary, has posted 17 videos to YouTube from its audio-visual collection.

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I’m tearing myself away from twitter right now to note that, since the aftermath of the disputed election in Iran last week, the much-maligned social networking site has all of a sudden become the most significant media outlet for information about the protests in that country. Search #iranelection and you get dozens of tweets and retweets every minute from Iranians on the ground reporting live in first person about the civil unrest there. Although Iranian security forces are trying to track and shut down tweeters, news is still pouring out of the country via the social media site much faster than it can be traced and eliminated. "it was a nightmare, I can barely breath & my face is burning, Masood got shot in the arm & Shayan's brother is missing," reads one tweet. "we ran as fast as we could in the opposite direction, at the same time basiji bastards started to hit fleeing people," states another.

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A few months ago, a few vloggers (that's video-bloggers), most located in the SF Bay Area, and a few from other parts of the country came to meet in North Beach for the San Francisco YouTube As-One Meetup.

Now you're probably thinking "What's the heck is that." Well, the idea was started in 2007 by Cory Williams, AKA "Mr. Safety" who's current claim to fame is something called "The Mean Kitty Song" and who's knack for making viral videos has earned him celebrity status in the vloggerverse, if there is such a thing.

Ok. There is. The vloggerverse.Anyway, the idea is for YouYube vloggers, or YouTubers, to get together at one place and get to know each other in a real-time physical environment. Mr. Safety organized the first one of these at Pier 39 in San Francisco and included then then major star of YouTube, Renetto, who flew out from Ohio to be a part of the event.