Orb Tries Bringing Video to Cell Phones ... Ex Rocketboom Host to ABC ... An Obit for VHS

- Orb Networks says they're on the verge of announcing software that will let you forward Web video from Google, YouTube, and other sites to your cell phone. But according to News.com, "Orb's new programs can also be used only on advanced smartphones like Motorola's Q model or Nokia's N80 phone, and won't work for a wider audience of users with less sophisticated phones."

- Amanda Congdon, formerly the host of `Rocketboom,' one of the most-watched video podcasts, just got hired by ABC to produce online reportage. From the BusinessWeek story:

Congdon will regularly appear on the network's 24-hour digital channel ABC News Now and occasionally appear as a correspondent on the network's TV news broadcasts. She will also host a weekly video blog, or "vlog," on abcnews.com focusing on topics such as new media, politics, and the environment. "She certainly has the eyes and ears of a great many people who may have only trafficked in Internet information," says Michael Clemente, executive producer of ABC News Digital Media. "I would love to see her talking to [Illinois Senator] Barack Obama, new people with new products, and all sorts of things."

- Variety is declaring the VHS tape dead. "The format flourished until DVDs launched in 1997," Diane Garrett writes. "After a fruitful career, VHS tapes started to retire from center stage in 2003 when DVDs became more popular for the first time.... VHS continued to make as much as $300 million a year until this year, when studios stopped manufacturing the tapes."