This week's online video news was dominated by web series talk. For instance, we have a retrospective on the BMW web series, The Hire, which was way ahead of its time. We also have some articles about a new Tom Hanks web series, the future of branded video content from Coke, and a story about a YouTube star signing a big new deal.

In many ways, 2011 was the year of the tablet, while social TV and online video partnerships enjoyed a robust twelve months as well. Looking ahead to 2012, keep an eye out for standards in tablet measurement, advanced online video deals in measurement, and an increased use of social TV for Web TV discovery. For details on my 2012 predictions, check out this week's New Media Minute.

Well, YouTube can't redesign every week, and they did that last week...

This was one of the biggest weeks in history for technology-related news, as the world mourned the passing of Steve Jobs.

Marc Scarpa, veteran director and executive producer of live interactive media events, has launched the first of it’s kind social TV network with Comcast Xfinity On Demand, called VidBlogger Nation , that brings popular local YouTube talent into the living room of millions. VidBlogger Nation is shot on location by local video bloggers in 10 key markets, including Philadelphia, New Jersey, New England, Atlanta, South Florida, Michigan, Denver, Portland, Sacramento, and San Francisco

Microsoft has bowed out stating they would not enter into the second round of bidding for Hulu. Apparently, they didn’t like what they saw and chose not to whip out a cool $2B for the video service. Meanwhile, Yahoo! has upped the stakes and Apple is ready to step in?