Still, while all of this heavy activity was happening on the Internet, there was a bicoastal movement that put some anti-SOPA/PIPA foot soldiers in the public space of New York City and San Francisco. In NYC, New York Tech Meetup organized an impromtu rally this afternoon outside the offices of U.S. Senators Schumer and Gilliband while, on the other side of the continent, protesters in San Francisco rallied in Civic Center Plaza outside of the mayor’s office.

Using the tags #NoPIPASF and #nytmSOS, supporters who attended the events shared many photos and thoughts via Twitter this afternoon.

From San Francisco (and, uh, yeah, that really is MC Hammer):

And from New York City:

And at this year’s Web 2.0 summit, Hammer announced the imminent launch of his own search engine – WireDoo.

Set to officially launch sometime in December, WireDoo is currently in pre-beta. WireDoo.com simply prompts visitors to sign up for email alerts when the service becomes ready to use. But Hammer gave Web 2.0 a taste of what to expect.

Hammer explained that WireDoo is a “relationship-driven” deep search that he describes as “searches that go beyond the generalities, that give you more relative information in a consistent way, in one environment.”

For example, say you searched for a home. Along with the traditional results – the listings with real estate companies, the location – you will also see related content like information on surrounding schools, neighborhood activities, nearby restaurants, etc. Click on that related information and you will go even deeper. Say you clicked on nearby schools, you might see related information about GPA averages, teachers at the school, transportation and more.

He noted that “it’s about relationships, beyond the keywords.”

WireDoo is going to have to show up to the party with something incredibly special to take on the likes of Google, Bing and Yahoo – but who knows? Maybe Hammer is hiding something awesome in those parachute pants.

Here’s Hammer discussing his new search engine:

And here’s this…because I absolutely tried and failed to resist it:

And judging by the ubiquitous cobranding, we’re guessing, to cross promote Joel Comm’s new book, Twitter Power.

Starting at noon Eastern and running until midnight, the tweet-a-thon will be simulcast on Ustream, a mobile phone live-streaming video site. The tweet-a-thon is expected to produce thousands of tweets from participating celebrities. (We imagine a certain British newspaper is inaccurately tabulating the carbon footprint of such an event as we speak.)

The celebrity roster lists the aforementioned music, film, and TV stars, but isn’t short on Internet celebrities like Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo, Pete Cashmore, and Charles Trippy. Some other celebs you may know include movie producer Gary Goldstein, author Mark Joyner, CNBC’s Alexis Martin Neely.

Ken Surritte, CEO of WaterIsLife.com, will discuss how half of the world’s population is in need of clean drinking water.
 

Enter DanceJam.com.

DanceJam is a user generated vertical viral video site designed specifically around what else, dancing. Currently in beta mode, you can see short clips of selected videos in a Flash movie on the home page, but you’ll have to give your mouse a rest if you’re anxious to start browsing and viewing such timeless videos like “Rowdy Krumpin”, “Liquid Dance YESSS”, and “Michi Dance”.

DanceJam is accepting uploads, so if you want to be one of the first to show off your Napoleon Dynamite inspired dance routine (with your corporate logo as a back drop no doubt) warm up your video camera.

Stanley Burrell is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of DanceJam which is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.

Vertical viral video backed by celebrities is nothing new. If you’ll recall, comedian Will Ferrell launched FunnyorDie.com as a comedy based vertical viral video site back in 2007, and got a lot of traction with his viral video hit “The Landlord”.

I’m personally hoping MC Hammer will dust off his dancing shoes and add his own video to help promote the site.

In a world of Gmail, YouTube, Google Search, Adsense, and Blogger it’s good to see someone taking a step into the ring who doesn’t have an office in Mountain View, has better moves than Sergey, and has a better wardrobe than Eric.

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The site will launch in mid-January and hopes to become a popular place for people to watch and share videos focused on dancing. The video dance site will have a model similar to YouTube and plans to generate revenue through Internet advertising.

Similar to reality program "Dancing With The Stars" DanceJam will feature head-to-head competitions where contestants submit videos that will be judged by viewers. The site will also offer information on a number of dances including the Boogaloo and the Krump.

Hammer’s partners in the venture include Geoffrey Arone, chief executive officer, co-founder of social web browser Flock, and Anthony Young chief technology officer.

James McQuivey, a media analyst with Forrester Research is skeptical that DanceJam will attract visitors away from YouTube, which had 1.7 million dance videos in its index in late December.

"When people are looking for any video, whether it be about skateboarding, dancing or a science project, they don’t stop to think about where’s the best place to find it. They just start off by going to YouTube," McQuivey said.