On Monday morning, I helped Beet.tv executive producer Andy Plesser host his latest roundtable discussion on the future of online video, at The Guardian’s Kings Place HQ.

In this video, Andy hears from The Economist executive editor Daniel Franklin that the “book-like” experience of e-readers and iPads can reboot considered, long-form journalism in the age of snackable web articles…

Twitter client HootSuite, which recently raised $1.9 million in funding, has now made an acquisition, buying up Android app developer Swift App. HootSuite says that Swift App was behind the development of HootSuite’s own Android app, which was released last week. The company says the acquisition “means quicker development for the growing Android market.”

HootSuite’s dashboard—which is also available via the web and an app on the iPhone—lets multiple people manage a single (or multiple) Twitter accounts and drives about 3.5 percent of all Tweets, according to Twitstat. Financial details of the deal were not released.

Local newspapers may actually have an easier time charging for content than national and international news brands like the New York Times (NYSE: NYT). And what’s the biggest threat to paid music? Well, probably not piracy. These were among the assertions by panelists on paidContent2010’s The Truth About Subscriptions, who included Steve Brill, co-founder of Journalism Online, David Hyman, CEO of MOG, and Jeff Price, president and publisher of The Sporting News. Price also offered some details on his new subscription plan. The panel was moderated by Staci D. Kramer.

Full uncut session

It’s long been known that Nokia’s had a hard time selling its popular devices in the U.S.

But its latest smartphones coming have a series of enhancements that it hopes will make it more competitive. The phones will run the latest version of the open source operating system, “Symbian^3,” which was demonstrated yesterday to reporters in San Francisco. David Rivas, Nokia’s VP of Technology Management, said the new version includes significant usability and performance improvements that may drum up more interest in its products in the U.S., reports The New York Times.

—Tremor Media: Mark Pinney has been promoted to COO from CFO. He joined Tremor Media two years ago, having come from AOL’s Platform-A (NYSE: AOL). Earlier, he was CFO and chief privacy officer for Tacoda, also an AOL property.

—TVGuide.com: Christy Tanner has been appointed GM, responsible for the company’s strategy and day-to-day leadership. She previously was SVP of marketing and editor-in-chief for TVGuide.com. Prior to joining the company, Tanner was director of business development and marketing for Newsweek Budget Travel. TVGuide.com also announced three SVP promotions: Sasha Eysymontt will lead engineering, Brandon DiMassa will head up business development and Kirsten Rasanen takes on product development.

—The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Company: Robert Christie has been named SVP of corporate communications, reporting directly to President and CEO Janet Robinson. Christie previously led brand and crisis communications at Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) & Company as VP of communications. Prior to that, he spent four years at Sony (NYSE: SNE) Electronics.

—Associated Press: As expected, AP has named Nick Ascheim as GM of AP Digital, focusing on AP Gateway and reporting to Chief Revenue Officer Jane Seagrave. He earlier was a VP at NYTimes.com and before that, was CEO of networking/dating site TheSquare. AP also made two other promotions, as Daisy Veerasingham will now lead business development and partner relations for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as SVP. Sue Cross will assume the same title for Americas.

—Cablevision: Lisa Rosenblum is now EVP of government and public affairs. In this new position, she will continue to oversee all legislative, regulatory and public affairs matters. She reports to COO Tom Rutledge.

Early adopters take note: Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is taking pre-orders for the iPad at 5:30 a.m. Pacific on Friday.

Last week, Apple announced that March 12 was the magical day for per-orders, but never specified a time. Now, it has been confirmed that electronic ordering will begin bright and early, according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, which says its readers have been asking in droves exactly what hour the tablet will go on sale.

Remember, the WiFi-only device won’t ship until April 3, and the 3G version will come sometime later that month. No release date has been announced for other countries.

Looking for real-time data of its own, the FCC (yes, the regulatory body in Washington, D.C.) has released a mobile app for iPhone and Android. Don’t worry, the feds aren’t interested in listening to your phone conversations, rather they say the purpose of the app is to provide “Americans with additional information about heir mobile data connection and to create awareness about the importance of mobile broadband connection quality.”

Essentially, the app clocks how long it takes to download and upload data to the phone. The release of the two apps come just days before the Commission is set to release its new national broadband plan on March 16, which will heavily stress the need for mobile data networks.

A big name addition to WolframAlpha’s executive team. Barak Berkowitz, who headed blogging firm Six Apart until he left two-and-a-half years ago, is joining the search startup as managing director tasked with leading the “growth of WolframAlpha’s business.” Specifically, WolframAlpha says that Berkowitz will help the company build new partnerships and also establish a “significant presence” in Silicon Valley; WolframAlpha’s headquarters are in Champaign, Illinois.

MSNBC is continuing to try make better use of social media as a distribution tool with a small effort that ties its @BreakingNews Twitter account to a dedicated Facebook page. It’s not clear how much Facebook fans want real-time news mixed with their friends’ status updates—as opposed to following @BreakingNews on Twitter themselves—but this can best be seen as a small step in MSNBC’s bid to become more credible as a social media news source in its own right.

LivingSocial, which develops various social apps and also runs a group-buying service, has raised $25 million in a second round of funding led by U.S. Venture Partners. The company’s flagship app is LivingSocial, which lets users indicate and share favorite things on social networks.

More recently, however, a second service—LivingSocial Deals—has gotten more attention. It provides local deals daily to subscribers via e-mail and Facebook that only go into effect when enough people agree to buy a product. LivingSocial says it will use the new cash in part to expand the number of cities where the deals exist to “dozens” by year-end.

»  Disney CEO Bob Iger doesn’t dismiss the notion of selling ABC (NYSE: DIS). [AdWeek]

»  After having suffered salary cuts last year, the OC Register staff has been rewarded with bonuses. [LA Observed]

»  Defunct sports publisher Fan Action is suing Yahoo’s Rivals.com for $35 million for allegedly poaching their writers. [ MediaPost]

»  Excited for the iPad? You’re probably a 25-year-old pop culture junkie. [Mashable]

»  All 199 “newsspeak” words and phrases banned by Tribune CEO Randy Michaels—in one sentence. [NPR]

»  A spotlight on the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, an online nonprofit focusing on investigative journalism. [AJR.org]