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The most popular site for watching video on the Internet may soon get Hollywood's most popular movies. Google Inc.'s YouTube is in talks with several major studios -- including Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate -- about streaming movies when the DVDs become available in rental stores and kiosks, according to sources familiar with the situation. The move represents a bold gambit for the entertainment giants, which have been cautious in embracing the Internet out of fear it would disrupt relationships with major retailers and undercut lucrative DVD sales.

Music videos from Green Day, Jay-Z and Linkin Park will begin reappearing on YouTube as soon as December, the result of a multiyear agreement reached with Warner Music Group Corp. The Internet's dominant video site and one of the world's largest music companies had been locked in a dispute over the value of music videos, some of the most popular content on YouTube, whose young viewers are coveted by advertisers. Licensing talks reached an impasse late last year, resulting in Warner's videos being pulled from the site.

Hollywood talent agencies pride themselves on placing their star clients into the biggest movies and TV shows. Now, add YouTube to the list. William Morris Agency, one of the largest talent firms, is in talks for a deal that would funnel its clients -- both actors and consumer brands -- into videos created for the Internet giant.

Most of the world's Internet users lost access to YouTube for several hours Sunday after an attempt by Pakistan's government to block domestic access affected other countries. The outage highlighted yet another of the Internet's vulnerabilities, coming less than a month after broken fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean took Egypt off line and caused communications problems from the Middle East to India.

Around the world, the "Carson City Council Smack" has taken on a life of its own. It happened last year when Vera Robles DeWitt, a former mayor and longtime community activist, bopped a city commissioner on the back of the head with a handful of papers as she passed her in the council chambers. The moment was caught on a 43-second video clip that spread, via YouTube, like wildfire.

Yahoo Inc. will begin showing homemade videos on its online photo-sharing site, Flickr, in a long-anticipated move that might be too late to lure most people away from the Internet's dominant video channel, Google Inc.'s YouTube. Flickr's video technology, which debuted late Tuesday, represents the latest example of Yahoo trying to catch up to Google in a crucial battleground.

One the surface, Weezer's quirky new "Pork and Beans" video, which has helped create a wave of buzz for the band's new album, is just another example of how to make a good viral video. You take an idea that people are going to talk about, mix in some famous faces, throw in an embarassing moment or two, and watch as your firework climbs, explodes, and inevitably fades out. But "Pork and Beans" is more than just another drop in the viral bucket.

Lionsgate said Wednesday that it would allow YouTube users to watch more of its movies and television shows, marking the top video site's most far-reaching deal with a mainstream Hollywood studio. The studio said YouTube users would be able to see long stretches of movies and TV shows, share them with other users and possibly edit the material or add their own content. Lionsgate will take a share of revenue from advertising viewed with the clips.

On a sunny May afternoon, teenagers dismissed from a Beverly Hills middle school gathered outside a restaurant four blocks away and gossiped about their friends. Amid lots of giggling, the conversation among the eighth-graders touched on the prom and limousines but was dominated by an unflattering assessment of a girl at school, who was called a "spoiled brat" and a "slut." "I don't hate her, it's just, I wouldn't prefer to hang out with her for a million years," one girl declared.

YouTube surfers weary of webcam rants and lo-fi homemade dance routines will now be able to watch real celebrities in professionally produced shows on the popular Google Inc.-owned video site. Partnering with CBS Corp.