VideoSurf is a new search engine for web video. But unlike most video search engines, which let you find the video you're looking for and then leave you on your own, VideoSurf can point you to specific content inside a video.

For example, say you're searching for Battlestar Galactica episodes. You just type the name of the show into VideoSurf and it will pull up a list of episodes and clips from online video sites like YouTube, Hulu, and DailyMotion. But what if you only want to see episodes featuring Lucy Lawless? At the top of search results page you'll see a number of boxes with actors from the show. Select the one you want, and VideoSurf will filter your results and only display videos featuring that actor. What's more, when you hit play, you'll see a timeline at the top of the next page letting you know the moment when that actor appears.

VideoSurf's facial recognition service isn't perfect. I did detect one or two instances where the wrong person came up in a thumbnail. But it's pretty darn good.

You can also filter search results by video source, or category (for example, TV, movies, news, or entertainment).

VideoSurf is in private beta. But you can signup on the company's web site to request an invitation.

While YouTube is still the big name in online video, there are hundreds or even thousands of web sites displaying videos online. Two companies launching at DEMO this week are offering two different approaches to the problem of finding videos you might like even though they're scattered across the web.

Invision.tv is sort of like an electronic program guide for web video. When you visit the site you can either scan through a list of popular programs from popular web sites like YouTube, Comedy Central, Hulu, or CNN. Or you can enter a search term and scan through the videos that come up. You can watch videos in the player, rate videos or share them with other users.

While Invision.tv is somewhat useful as a search engine, it's a bit annoying to use as a video player. The video display window is tiny compared to the program guide window. And while you can watch some videos in fullscreen, some web services don't let you watch embedded videos in fullscreen mode. So while you can blow up low quality YouTube videos, high quality Hulu streams have to be watched in a tiny window. You're probably better off just watching the video on Hulu's web site.

If Invision.tv is like a program guide, ffwd is more like the remote control. The site lets you pick TV shows, web video channels, and topics you're interested in and then provides you with a steady stream of videos that should meet your interests. The algorithm seems like it could use a little work though. When I said I liked The Daily Show, I was presented with a rather dull clip about the economy from Bloomberg. When I said i liked Futurama, I saw a clip of a cute girl singing a really annoying song. I guess because both are supposed to be funny?

While there's certainly a need for a good way to sift through the millions of videos online, neither of these sites quite fit the bill. They're hardly the first two companies to launch online video search engines though. Blinkx, OVGuide, Truveo, and others have been at it for a while. How do you make sense of the madness? Let us know in the comments.

[via ReadWriteWeb and VentureBeat]

Have a hard time keeping up on stocks, sports scores, birthdays, gas prices, and pretty much everything? Alerts is a new service launching at DEMO that will send you email or SMS alerts for a wide range of items so you can get updates without remembering to check a calendar or visit a web page.

While there are a number of other services out there that offer email alerts for news items, stock updates or other information, Alerts aims to bring everything together in one tidy package. You can manage all of your alerts by visiting the alerts web site which looks a bit like a personalized homepage like iGoogle or Netvibes. Except all of the widgets are alerts you've set for yourself.

You can choose to have alerts sent once or on a recurring basis. You can either choose from a set of custom alerts or write a note that you can have delivered as a text message to your phone at a later time. You can even set a wakeup call for yourself. There's also a "do not disturb" option that lets you temporarily pause all alerts.

[via VentureBeat]