OK, we launched the new MaineToday.com design exactly 6 weeks ago today.

Now that you've had some time to use it, what do you think?

I know it was a shock for many to see news "disappear" as a central function of the MaineToday.com brand. If you're a news-oriented person, hopefully you've found yourself spending more time on our sister sites of the Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, where the newsrooms are really kicking butt with news updates and interactive features.

If you're not a news-oriented person, hopefully you're finding the new MaineToday.com to be an easier place to find things to do, to post your own photos and stories, to see what other people are sharing. Admit it: sometimes you check out Shannon Bryan's blog just because you need a reason to laugh out loud at work.

OK, have at it. What do you like? Hate? Post your thoughts below:

We've been experimenting with video for a while now, going back to 1996 or so. Anybody remember Casco Bay Online? Here's a page from 1997 that's in the Internet Archive, including a video feature.
(I'm glad they saved it, because we sure didn't.)

In 2007, we're doing lots more with video, including the blogs of Wendy Almeida and Roger McCord, experiments by our summer intern, Nick Brennan, and of course Shannon Bryan's video of her "training" on the Beach to Beacon course. Video -- both content and advertising -- is a hot topic around our industry.

But where is all this heading, and do people really watch video on the web? Blogger Howard Owens has pulled together a nice summary of recent research, finding, for example ,"More than half of those surveyed (51%) indicated that they watch video online at least once a month, 27% watch at least once a week and five percent watch video online daily."

Howard's Compendium of online video research is well worth a read.

We're interested in your thoughts, so share them below. What kind of video do you think would be most useful or interesting on our sites?