Flickr, a groundbreaking Web 2.0 site when it launched but relatively quiet since it was acquired by Yahoo in 2005, launched Flickr Video, which allows "pro" users to upload 90-second video clips. Pro accounts start at $25 a year and offer unlimited uploads, although no individual video can exceed 150 megabytes.

While the 90-second limit seems surprisingly tight, especially compared to YouTube's 10-minute limit, Flickr spokesperson Heather Champ said the limit was designed for Flickr's community of avid photographers.

'Long Photos'

"While this might seem like an arbitrary limit, we thought long and hard about how video would complement the flickrverse," Champ wrote on a corporate blog. "Flickr is all about sharing photos that you yourself have taken. Video will be no different, and so what quickly bubbled up was the idea of 'long photos,' of capturing slices of life to share."

Beta tester Paul Stamatiou blogged that the 90-second limit was the subject of much debate among Flickr and its beta testers. Flickr originally wanted to impose a 60-second limit, while users wanted three minutes. The 90-second limit was a compromise that both sides appear content with.

It also appears that Flickr -- or Yahoo -- wanted a tight limit to discourage illegal uploading of copyrighted material -- a problem that has plagued Google's YouTube. Flickr wanted to "ensure that only user-created, non-copyrighted content gets uploaded," Stamatiou wrote.

The move shows an "admirable restraint" on Yahoo's part, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Research, in a telephone interview. "It would have been very tempting to try to exploit Flickr's user base to compete with YouTube, but Flickr is really a gem for them and it's to their credit" Yahoo didn't go down that road, he said.

Video Outside the Browser

Meanwhile, Adobe rolled out its Media Player 1.0 software, based on its Air platform. The player can display video streams in 1080p, 720p and 480i formats, but its primary benefit to Adobe may be as a branding platform. As part of the launch, the company announced deals with a host of content companies, including CBS, Universal, PBS, Conde Nast and MTV.

"With Adobe Media Player, we're bringing viewers and content owners closer together, with an experience that doesn't constrain them by platform or proprietary software application," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of creative solutions at Adobe. "It's a merger of TV Guide and DVR for Internet video content."

The software marks the first time online video is available outside the browser. By providing a downloadable platform, Adobe will be able to offer better quality but will "sacrifice the reach of the browser," Sterling said. The biggest barrier for Adobe is that users must download both the player and the Air framework, Sterling said.

"The space is getting very crowded," Sterling said, with YouTube, video sites from networks like Hulu.com, a streaming service from Netflix, and movie downloads from Apple. While Adobe may present an attractive centralized, high-value, branding-friendly environment, it may not be able to provide the reach that broadcasters will demand, Sterling said.