It's been a week since we announced that a new version of channels is coming, and we wanted to give you an update on our progress. Well over a million of you have now opted in to the beta, and many of your channels are looking really good - we were just admiring shotscience 's and muzik4machines 's designs. Your feedback over the past two months has shaped - and will continue to shape - the evolution of this whole site and particularly your channels.

Many of you have been asking for an increase in the size limit of your uploads. We're happy to announce that the size of standard uploads has doubled from 1GB to 2GB. The increase means you can upload longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera. In addition, the team's implemented some new features to make it easier for you to show these videos off to the world.

You may remember the inaugural edition of Adopt a Feature , for which you made videos about AudioSwap , Country Pulldown , Insight , Playlists , Quick Capture , and Subscriptions . These videos generated 818,698 views )they're all collected here ( and a bunch of them even got featured on our homepage. At the end of the two month run, thecomputernerd01 was crowned the Adopt a Feature king,

For a few months, we've been testing a feature for partners that lets them add "Call-to-Action" overlays to their YouTube videos to help them drive traffic to other websites. Many have used the feature in creative ways, such as collecting signatures or driving song downloads . Today we are making Call-to-Action overlays more broadly available by launching the feature as an option for anyone who uses Promoted Videos. Just go to ads.youtube.

Ever captured a natural disaster or a crime on your cell-phone camera? Filmed a political rally or protest , and then interviewed the participants afterward? Produced a story about a local issue in your community? If you've done any of these things or aspire to, then you're part of the enormous community of citizen reporters on YouTube - and today, we're launching a new resource to help you learn more about how to report the news. It's called The YouTube Reporters' Center ,

President Obama is taking your questions this Wednesday in a special online health care townhall event at 10:30am EDT. With healthcare at the top of the President's agenda, he is opening up the White House to questions via YouTube. Create a 20- or 30-second video question and submit it as a reply video to the video below )go here to get started(. He'll answer some of the most popular questions during the event, which we'll stream live from the White House YouTube channel.

In the last six months, we've seen uploads from mobile phones to YouTube jump 1700%; just since last Friday, when the iPhone 3GS came out, uploads increased by 400% a day. This growth represents three things coming together: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvements to the upload flow when you post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows your videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through your social networks.

Summer is in full swing and that means summer movie season is right around the corner. Get a sneak peek at upcoming blockbusters by checking out our new Trailers page in the Movies section of our site. We have previews for some of the season's most anticipated films, like "Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince" and the new Twilight movie, "New Moon." We're adding new trailers frequently, so check back often. Cheers,

A few months ago, we launched our YouTube channels redesign in beta )first via a secret opt-in URL that many of you discovered, then as a visible opt-in link(. Hundreds of thousands of you are now using the new version, have contributed a lot of useful feedback, and have helped make the new channels beta stronger and faster. Here are a few cool examples of great new channel designs: IceflowStudios , Vlogbrothers , ThadewGrum and The White House .

Last week, we highlighted several videos uploaded straight off the streets of Iran, as protests raged and the Iranian police force, the Basij, cracked down. And if the graphic footage that was uploaded to YouTube by Iranian citizens over the weekend is any indication, it appears the situation there has only gotten worse. On Saturday, mass fighting broke out in Tehran - hundreds were reported injured, and at least several dozen were killed.

Have you ever wanted to volunteer but weren't able to find an opportunity that felt right? Have you ever considered using your video-creating skills for a cause you care about but didn't know exactly how to get started? Well, search no more. Starting today, you can become a YouTube Video Volunteer - and we'll help find you a great nonprofit organization to work with right here on YouTube.

Set aside the lame ties, bad aftershave and other dubious gift ideas and deliver what dear old Dad really wants - a laugh or two. On the homepage today we're sporting a spotlight module dedicated to Father's Day funnies. We've brought together comedians ranging from homegrown YouTube personalities like ShaneDawsonTV and Spricket24 to sketch comedy groups like TotallySketch and TheLandline .

Since the new iPhone hit stores this morning, we've seen thousands of videos uploaded to YouTube from the new device. )If you didn't know, now you can shoot and upload videos to YouTube directly from your iPhone.( To see just how easy it is to share your iPhone 3G S videos with the world, check out this video we shot with - what else - our new iPhone 3G S. Now go upload some videos!

It has been one week since Iran's contested presidential election, and YouTube has been flooded with footage from the streets of Tehran and other cities, documenting the civil unrest that is unfolding there. In the past few days, many Iranians have participated in violent demonstrations , held silent rallies to protest the elections, and grieved for those killed as a result of deadly clashes with the Basij, Iran's auxiliary police force. In the past 36 hours,

Lately, the team has been pushing out features and fixes as they're ready in "mini-pushes" rather than waiting for the big, numbered releases that occur once a month. Here's what's gone out in the last few weeks: * The Wonder of "Wonder Wheel": Next time you search for a video on YouTube you may notice a link on the right-hand side of the page labeled "Wonder Wheel." This is a new beta search option from Google.com,

What is democracy? It may be a simple question, but as current events in Iran have highlighted, the answer can be complicated depending on where you are. When the U.S. State Department asked the question during its Democracy Video Challenge , it got over 900 submissions from 95 countries. A user from Zambia likened democracy to a smoothie of blended philosophical ideas.

Last Friday marked a long-anticipated Election Day in Iran to choose the next Iranian president. While the voting process itself ran smoothly, widespread violence has since broken out in protest of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim to a decisive victory over challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi supporters, who believe Ahmadinejad rigged the election results, refuse to accept the verdict and have been openly protesting since Saturday.

[Cross-posted from the Google Blog ] As you might have noticed, there's a lot of fascinating stuff that happens on YouTube every day. For example, did you know that a nine-year-old recently used YouTube to successfully campaign to save his local kickball lot? Have you seen the video of a Guatemalan lawyer who predicted his own assassination on YouTube moments before it happened?

Last week, YouTube Senator of the Week Chris Dodd )D-CT( asked you for your input on the health care legislation that Congress is currently drafting. You responded enthusiastically on the Senate Hub , contributing over 500 unique ideas on health care reform and casting over 26,000 votes on these ideas, making this the most successful round of Senator of the Week to date. Today,

After viewing and voting on an incredible group of dunkers, you've spoken and chosen the winner of YouTube Slam Dunk Challenge , a competition honoring the most talented hoopsters on YouTube. We're proud to announce WhiteFlightBD as The Best Dunker on YouTube! Here's his winning video: WhiteFlightBD will receive a prize package including signed gear from our panel of super-judges Chris Bosh and Jalen Rose,