YouTube has announced via a blog posting that it will start supporting the 1080p high definition format.

The company says if you have already uploaded videos in 1080p, they will be converted automatically in the coming days.

The highly requested feature will fully launch by the end of next week.

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The most popular and free online encyclopedia Wikipedia will get video support according to a new MIT report. The new video support is expected to launch within 4 months.

Contributors will be able to easily add video to posts via a new “Add Media” option. Users can then select to add videos from existing repositories including the Internet Arhive, Metavid, and existing content from Wikipedia. Users can also upload their own video and even select to embed clips rather than an entire video.

Wikipedia will also later include features to annotate videos from a web-based app.

Microsoft has just announced the availability of its first official Windows Mobile Facebook app.

The standard Facebook mobile for phones is fairly basic that really only includes access to status updates, profiles and wall posts. Now, that’s changed for Windows Mobile users who can now have a feature rich Facebook experience on their mobile.

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According to beta users testing the new QuickTime version, users will be able to easily convert and share videos on social sharing sites, including YouTube and the Apple MobileMe gallery. Users will be able to effortlessly automatically convert and upload videos directly to YouTube with their YouTube account. With the new updates, you will also be able to convert and export videos to work on other Apple products such as the iPhone, iPod and Apple TV.

TC has an exclusive preview of YouTube Realtime that will let you share videos you are watching with your friends on YouTube. A simple bar appears at the bottom of every YouTube page, similar to Facebook Chat, with a button to turn sharing on or off. You will be able to easily see what video your friends are currently watching. This is now just another reason for you to sign up and actually manage your friend list on YouTube.

YouTube today launched CaptionTube in YouTube TestTube labs section, allowing you to easily add captions to videos. Previously, the only way to do that was via time codes and by uploading .sub files. Check out the video below to see the new app in action.

Sources familiar with a new deal in the works between YouTube and Sony Pictures told CNet the partnership will bring full-length films such as Spider-Man to YouTube.

The news comes as YouTube, the leader in online video sharing, faces intensifying competition from newer rivals such as Hulu (News Corp, NBC joint venture) who provide excellent quality full-length shows. Rival NetFlix also provides a very extensive online film library but requires a reasonably priced monthly subscription fee. Despite YouTube holding the top spot (by a significant margin) as top video sharing site, the company must continously innovate as new competitors with superior products launch.

In related news, Walt Disney last week announced it had licensed content to YouTube as well.

YouTube will be silencing all audio on music videos from the UK, after Google failed to reach an agreement with the UK Performing Right Society for Music. You said today as part of a statement, “Our previous license from PRS for Music has expired, and we’ve been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us,” YouTube also said, “PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our license than before.”

The UK PRS for Music says it is outraged Google has chosen to remove the audio and said Google earns billions and yet refuses to pay a fair amount for the licensing. Music streaming service Pandora also recently pulled out of the UK because of similar problems. A deal seems unlikely now after months of negotiations.

Mogreet.com was founded in 2006 in Venice Beach, CA and is a video messaging start-up that has just raised $5 M in VC series B funding led by existing investor Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier. Users can send mogreets (Mobile Greeting) via an MMS or as an attachment in a text message. It costs users about $0.49 to $0.99 per message sent. TechCrunch has 200 invities for readers to try the service for free. Mogreet has developed distribution deals with Paramount and other studios to distribute content. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint (more carriers will probably be supported) so that users can be charged directly on their monthly bill instead of having to pay by credit card. However, both the iPhone and Gphone offer the ability to send video media, for free! by simply clicking Media > Send as Gmail > Enter contact > Send, so I do not know why anyone would want to pay to do the exact same thing.