The ever-expanding array of gadgets that display online video, from tablets to Internet-connected TVs and DVD players, along with technology such as social media that facilitates distribution, has spurred new interest.

The growing trend means websites like Google Inc's YouTube, Yahoo , AOLand Hulu have a better shot at tapping the mother lode of television advertising budgets, though video ads have a long way to go before they become as dominant a part of the marketing landscape as TV ads.

Research firm eMarketer says video is the fastest growing form of online advertising, with spending increasing 46 percent last year, and outpacing popular formats such as search ads and display ads.

Google does not break out financial results for its YouTube business, but CEO Larry Page said on Tuesday that spending among YouTube's top 100 advertisers increased by more than 50 percent in 2012 compared with the year before.

There have been media reports that Facebook is developing a video ad service, and analysts will likely be looking for answers on that avenue when the social networking giant delivers its quarterly results on Wednesday.

At Yahoo, "one of our highest priorities was to create more online video experiences, because that's where the demand is for advertising," said Tim Morse, the former Yahoo finance chief who became CFO of video advertising technology company Adap.TV this month.

Advertisers are increasingly fond of video ads, Morse said, because of the similarities to TV.

"It's the closest to what they've had offline. They're looking for the same kind of medium where they can connect with consumers," he told Reuters.

TURNING POINT

Chevrolet has been running online video ads for several years, but significantly ramped up its activities and investment in 2012, said Carolin Probst-Iyer, the manager of digital consumer engagement for the General Motorsdivision.

"Last year was a bit of a turning point," she said, as Chevrolet put greater emphasis on creating original video ads and looking for new ways to distribute spots, rather than simply running existing TV ads on YouTube and TV network websites.

One recent ad for the buzz-worthy new Corvette Stingray was viewed more times on mobile devices than it was on PCs, she said.

For Web publishers, video ads are good business. While typical banner ad rates can generate a few dollars per thousand views, video ad rates can reach $20 per thousand views, said eMarketer's David Hallerman.

"All of the Internet advertising to date has come from print sources," such as newspapers, magazines and yellow pages, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney.

"We're are at a point where television ad budgets are likely to come online."

The explosion of new screens such as smartphones and tablets greatly increases the venues where consumers can watch video, whether they're at their desks or on a bus. And social networking, which makes it easy for users to share favorite videos, has given marketers added incentive to produce video ads that can gain additional exposure by tapping into the social slipstream.

YouTube's head of industry development, Suzie Reider, said marketers are increasingly developing ads that are tailored for specific audiences, making it more likely that Web surfers will actually watch them.

"We're living in a day and age where nobody has to watch an ad that they don't want to watch," said Reider. "You can skip them on the Web, you can skip them on TV."

To make its website more appealing to advertisers, YouTube has helped create hundreds of "premium channels" featuring professionally produced video as opposed to the amateur clips YouTube is famous for. And it's developed a type of video ad that users can skip after five seconds - advertisers only pay if the ad is watched all the way through.

PRICE DEFLATION?

Despite the growth in Web video ad spending, which eMarketer estimates reached $2.93 billion in the United States last year, the firm said the spending still represents only about 10 percent of the broader online advertising market.

And that is a mere drop in the bucket compared with the $68 billion that Kantar Media estimates was spent on television advertising in 2011.

One potential constraint is the way big brands and agencies organize their marketing budgets, says Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser. Online video ads are typically funded from Web ad budgets rather than a much larger pool set aside for TV.

Analysts also note that the rich rates websites collect for video ads will decrease as more Internet sites open to ads - something that's already happening thanks to technology that automatically pairs ads with videos on websites.

Still, many analysts and industry executives are optimistic about what they see as the bigger picture.

"The number of people watching TV seems to be stagnating or declining, and the number of people turning to the Internet for entertainment is surging," said RBC's Mahaney. "It almost inevitably drives these TV budgets online"

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; additional reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Perhaps not coincidentally, the debut, falls on Presidents Day weekend.

The film - which, according to the network, "thrillingly chronicles the final days of President Lincoln and the treasonous plot by one the most notorious, yet complex villains of all time" - stars Billy Campbell ("The Killing") as Lincoln and newcomer Jesse Johnson as his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Ridley and Tony Scott produced the project, with Tom Hanks hosting and narrating the two-hour film.

Following this U.S. premiere, and its 10 p.m. re-airing, the film will debut globally in 171 countries and 38 languages in March on the National Geographic Channel.

National Geographic is also working on an adaptation of O'Reilly's follow-up book, "Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot," with Scott Free Productions once again producing.

Premier League bottom club Queens Park Rangers secured a last-gasp 1-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion after Jay Bothroyd's late header.

Bolton squandered a 2-0 lead in the initial tie at home but there was no escape for Sunderland this time as Marvin Sordell scored twice after the break to earn his side a 2-0 victory at the Stadium of Light.

Bolton's reward is a home clash with Everton while fellow Championship side Leeds United can also look forward to hosting top flight opposition after El-Hadji Diouf sealed a 2-1 victory at Birmingham City to set up a clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

Premier League strugglers Wigan Athletic fielded a shadow squad at third tier Bournemouth but avoided a shock as Mauro Boselli's goal sealed a 1-0 win on the south coast.

Third tier Brentford secured a money-spinning west London Cup derby against holders Chelsea after beating Southend United 2-1 while MK Dons knocked out Sheffield Wednesday. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Toby Davis)

Lohan, 26, who did not attend the hearing, was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, lying to police and obstructing police when she said she was not behind the wheel of her sports car, which smashed into a truck in Santa Monica, California.

Lohan's not guilty plea was entered in a Los Angeles court by her attorney.

The "Liz & Dick" actress is on probation for a 2011 jewelry theft and could be sent to jail if she is found to have violated the terms of her probation.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Jane Godfrey, who will also preside over Lohan's probation hearing, on Tuesday ordered the actress to attend a January 30 pretrial hearing. A date for Lohan's probation hearing will be set at that time.

Lohan has been in and out of rehab and jail since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession.

The former "Parent Trap" child star was arrested in New York on a misdemeanor assault charge on the same day that the Santa Monica car crash charges were filed.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has not filed a criminal complaint in the assault case.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

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Querrey and Levine, both 25, first played each other as teenagers at a futures tournament in 2006 when Ottawa's Levine was a winner in three sets.

Their careers have since diverged and Querrey has lifted his world ranking to 22 while Levine was forced to qualify in Auckland on his ranking of 104.

Levine, who moved to the U.S. at age 13, recently decided he would prefer to play for Canada in Davis Cup competition. However, he is not eligible for Canada's upcoming tie against Spain next month.

Fourth-seeded Querrey had 16 aces Thursday, to go with the 19 he had in his second-round match against Olivier Rochus, to earn a semifinal spot opposite second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Top-seeded David Ferrer had an easy match into the semifinals, downing Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-1.

The space agency is holding a photo contest (entitled "Let it Snow!") to highlight its Global Precipitation Measurement mission.

The GPM mission is an international satellite mission that studies Earth's water and energy cycles. One goal of the mission is to improve the forecasting of extreme weather. "Let It Snow!" follows an earlier extreme photo contest. Find the .

The contest runs from today (Jan. 7) until Feb. 4 and the winning entry will be featured on NASA's Precipitation Measurement Missions website.

You can submit your photographs at the . Here are the submission guidelines:

Images should be in JPEG (.jpg) format in as high a resolution as possible.

Please provide as much data about the image as you arecomfortable providing.

Your name.

Affiliation (e.g. school, community group, etc.).

Location where photo was taken (country, city, state, latitude, longitude).

Any other interesting details about the photo.

NASA reminds contestants to be careful when taking pictures of extreme winter weather, which can be dangerous to get out into and photograph.

Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter. We're also onand .

Lakers fans had lofty expectations for 2012-13 after Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were joined by fellow All-Stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the off-season but the once mighty franchise has failed to gel, slipping to a 15-17 record.

An ageing line-up has not been helped by a spate of injuries and three different head coaches, though the return of veteran point guard Nash from a leg fracture for the last six games certainly gave the team a much needed lift.

"We just have to get better starts," D'Antoni told reporters after Lakers team practice at their El Segundo training facility on Saturday. "Whatever we're doing isn't working right now.

"And defensively, we need to work harder. We lose our energy on defense sometimes because the offense sputters."

The Lakers lost a tense battle with their city rival Clippers 107-102 on Friday after clawing back from a 19-point deficit early in the fourth quarter at the Staples Center.

FALLING SHORT

In their previous game they also fell short, going down 103-99 on their home court against the struggling Philadelphia 76ers on New Year's Day after trailing by 11 points in the first quarter.

"We competed," D'Antoni said of his team's spirited revival against the Clippers when Bryant finished with a game-high 38 points. "We came back and we had a shot at the end to win.

"We're always shooting under pressure, down eight or 10, and the ball has to go in. Then you're down 15 or 17, and it's Oh man'. We're struggling with that a little bit.

"So there are spots where we're really good and there are spots where we seem to dissolve a little bit as a team. We have to find guys that can make shots and we have to get back to that."

The Lakers have very little time to get back as they host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday and their three-time defensive player of the year Howard has billed himself a "game-day decision".

Center Howard put up 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers against the Clippers on Friday but hurt his shoulder in a tangle with Caron Butler and woke up on Saturday in some pain.

Howard skipped team practice on Saturday and received treatment from the Lakers' training staff but D'Antoni was not too worried, saying the center's chances of playing on Sunday were "good."

Bench player Jordan Hill, who sprained his right ankle against the Clippers, was listed as "probable" for Sunday's game against the Nuggets.

The Lakers, who have lost three of their last four games, have gone 10-12 since D'Antoni took over from interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)

The simultaneous introduction of the two services highlighted the wide-open nature of Brazil's $12 billion e-commerce market. Low Internet penetration and a swelling middle class have spurred bets on strong growth for years to come.

Amazon will begin selling its Kindle e-book reader in Brazil in coming weeks for 299 reais ($140), the e-commerce powerhouse said, ending months of speculation that it could arrive by acquiring a major competitor.

Brazil's biggest bookstore chain, Saraiva, is trying to sell its online business, but a person familiar with Amazon's strategy told Reuters in October that the U.S. company would stick to its focus on organic growth in foreign markets.

In Brazil, the Kindle will take on Samsung and Apple tablets that often cost as much as twice their U.S. retail prices due to import tariffs, steep taxes and inflated local production costs. Local bookseller Livraria Cultura sells its Kobo e-reader for 399 reais.

The rival Google Play service will offer e-books and movie rentals on computers and mobile devices running Google's Android operating system.

($1 = 2.11 Brazilian reais)

(Reporting by Brad Haynes and Alberto Alerigi Jr.; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

The film shows waterboarding and similar techniques as important, if not key, to finding bin Laden in Pakistan, where he was killed by Navy SEALs in 2011.

A Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the CIA's detainee program found that such methods produced no useful intelligence.

The CIA's acting director, Michael Morell, recently contradicted that finding. In a statement last month to employees, he said that while the film was wrong to depict harsh techniques as key to finding bin Laden, those interrogations did produce some useful intelligence.

"Some came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well," Morell said.

In a letter to the CIA this week, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., John McCain, R-Ariz., and others asked Morell to back up his claim and to share documents showing what the filmmakers were told.

They asked him to provide what information was acquired from CIA detainees and when. "Prior to, during, or after the detainee was subjected to the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques? If after, how long after?"

The senators contend that that the CIA detainee who provided the most accurate information about the courier who was tracked to bin Laden's hiding place "provided the information prior to being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques," according to a statement Thursday from Feinstein. The senators sent the agency a similar letter last month.

The CIA says it will cooperate.

"As we've said before, we take very seriously our responsibility to keep our oversight committees informed and value our relationship with Congress," CIA spokesman John Tomczyk said.

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Dozier can be followed on Twitter (at)kimberlydozier.