Google has announced that YouTube will make popular movies from the Sundance Film Festival available for rental through its website starting January 22 until the end of the month for $3.99 each movie accessible for 48-hours. Movies include “Homewrecker”, “One Too Many Mornings”, among other popular films.

This marks the first time YouTube offering paid movie rentals. Google plans to expand the program, making more movies available, especially from smaller scale filmmakers.

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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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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 has just launched [blog post] YouTube Shows today, a section of the site where you can watch full-featured shows. The move comes part of a partnership with major Hollywood studios, including Sony Pictures and CBC, to bring their content to YouTube.

Google has finally reached a deal with the studios given intensifying competition from Hulu (NBC and News Corp owned) that lets US visitors view TV shows in full.

Google acquired YouTube for $1.6 billion in 2006. According to analysts, the site generates about $250 million in total ad revenue annually, and costs Google about $700 million a year in total operating costs. Google has not provided any financials related to YouTube. YouTube remains the top social video-sharing site, surpassing 100 million viewers in the US alone in January 2009.

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.

Twitter is continuing to gain more and more traction as more people than ever are now joining the social network. A very big important milestone was reached today, a Twitter share button has now been added on all YouTube video pages in the top share list alongside with MySpace, Facebook, and now, Twitter.

You can now easily tweet a video with the video title and URL included in the tweet automatically. However, the URL is currently not shortened, but YouTube will be changing this in the near future. It is also rumored YouTube may create its own URL shortening feature to accommodate the change.

Although growing quickly, Twitter’s hasn’t really established its business model yet. Twitter founder Biz Stone recently told the WSJ that premium services are under development and will be available by the end of 2009. Stone also said that Twitter has hired a product manager to oversee the development and monetization of commercial accounts. He went on to say that all existing features will remain free of charge for everyone, including for companies, but other premium features could be added for a fee. Twitter has yet to disclose any premium features under development.

The most recent VC round of investment valued the company at $255 million.

In more Twitter news, the company has now confirmed it will start offering free SMS usage for Vodafone customers in the UK.

In more YouTube news, the social video-sharing site today launched YouTube EDU, an educational section of the site focused on helping you find and watch educational content that is uploaded by educational institutions such as MIT. Videos include lectures to events, among an assortment of other videos. YouTube is set to officially launch YouTube EDU tomorrow.

YouTube 2.2 will be the upgraded version of the existing YouTube mobile app found on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 handsets. YouTube 2.2 mobile includes interface enhancements, support for portrait and landscape, and matches the quality of the video based on the device you are using. Check out the video below of the preview from CNET.

The second largest telecom in Canada, Telus, has announced plans today to invest up to $500 million in expanding infrastructure in British Columbia and parts of Alberta. The company also outlined plans to build a more eco-friendly datacenter likely to be located in BC.

Telus said, “This investment is expected to ensure a smooth transition to long-term evolution technology, the emerging worldwide standard for 4G wireless networks.” Read the full story