Redback Networks announced that it had hired Dr. Alan Lippman as chief video architect and director of technology planning. According to the company, Dr. Lipmann helped invent streaming audio and video products for RealNetworks twelve years ago.

Dr. Lippman was one of the first five employees at RealNetworks working on RealAudio and RealVideo products. In 2001, he founded Trusted Media Networks, Inc. which looked to deliver high-bandwidth audio and video over networks.

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Sling Media had lots of announcements at CES 2007.

1. It announced upcoming software called SlingPlayer Mobile which lets users watch TV on their Palm Treos. It supports both Palm OS and Windows Mobile and will be released sometime in the first quarter of 2007.

2. Sling also announced the SlingCatcher, which it calls the ”Reverse Slingbox” since it delivers movies from the PC to the TV. (Similar to the Apple TV.)

3. Introduced Clip and Sling for sharing content with other users.

4. A partnership and beta test with CBS.

And well, lots of other stuff.

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How will YouTube make money? That’s the question many people wonder about. YouTube rivals are quick to point out their business models.

Dovetail, an relatively new online film distributor, announced on Thursday that it will pay filmmakers 10 cents per download for movies that they distribute on their peer-to-peer service.

Last year, a company called Eefoof.com said it was paying online filmmakers as well for their YouTube-like service. Guba and Atomfilms.com also pay. And Revver has an ad-sharing agreement with its content owners.

Details of all the payment information are somewhat sketchy, since they have different arrangements–from ad sharing to per-download. Even a mediocre video would probably just net a filmmaker a few dollars. So I guess, this isn’t quite as profitable as collecting cans, but it might be an easy way for some people to earn enough money for a grande latte at Starbucks.

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Cnet takes a look at all the products during CES this week and gives out awards for the best products. Best in show was LG’s dual hi-def player that plays both Blu-ray and HD DVDs Can’t we all get along now, in this DVD war?

My favorite of the favorites was the wireless HDTV from Samsung. It’s a 58″ plasma TV that uses no cords (well, except for the power plug). It retails for $5,799, or what I call “completely unaffordable” for most people.

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Mobile TV provider MobiTV unveiled its “multicast and unicast TV service” for the WiMax standard. It made a deal with Sprint to run a mobile TV service and partnered with music label Warner Music to push their content to mobile devices.

Reuters also said that MobiTV will deliver video ads and let viewers type in their zip code locate local vendors and advertisers.

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