Big thanks to the Brooklyn Cyclones who invited Amber Lee Ettinger to throw out the first pitch at their game last week, and to Bill Sobel for setting it up. Her toss and some of the other pre-game footage is below.

Our first Barely Political video (”I Got a Crush on Obama”) came out two years ago last month and I’d like to think of the 200 million views our network has had since then, at least a few hundred came from President Obama.

Pics below of the Barely Political squad and some of the Next New Networks crew as well. Happy July 4th!

Todd Morningstar writes features for  the Next New Networks websites and users, maintains the web platform the powers the sites, and works on services within the flash player that our media is distributed in.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

I moved to NYC to have fun while trying to see if I could find a job, not expecting anything. Being a fresh college grad, I wandered in here purely for interview practice for a position I didn’t want at all. I was hired that day for a completely different position that I still hold 2 years later, Software Engineer.

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

Not really, I suppose I could go with Brian Posehn’s big YouTube hit, “Metal By Numbers.” Either that or Upright Citizen’s Brigade “Supercool” episode.

Do you own a television set?

Heck no. I don’t collect vintage antiques.

What’s some of your current music rotation?

iTunes last played: Sasha & Digweed, Dubstep.fm Podcast, Testament, Kyuss, and Mercyful Fate.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

What is a Miss California?

Thank you.

JF Musial produces Next New Networks’ automotive team.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

Back in 2005, my good friend Alex Roy approached me and wanted to know if I was interested in helping him fulfill a lifelong dream: He wanted to break to coast to coast driving record from New York to L.A. which stood at 32 hours 7 minutes.  Growing up to classic car movies like Vanishing Point and The Cannonball Run, I was well aware of the famous illegal cross country races of the ’70s.  No one had attempted to break the record since the last runs in 1983.

Alex, knowing he needed a team that varied in skill sets, asked me if I could plan and prepare the appropriate technology that would help him and co-driver David Maher break the 32 hour record by at least an hour.  A year later, after multiple failed attempts, they did it.  New York to Santa Monica in 31 hours 4 minutes.

The team celebrated but we all knew we had to stay quiet until the statute of limitations were up one year later.  During that year of silence, Alex wrote a book on the experience while news outlets like the New York Times, Wired Magazine signed NDAs and prepared their articles.  When the team went public with the accomplishment, Alex even made his way onto The Late Show with David Letterman.

I kept the secret of the record breaking run from friends and family for years.  Once we went public, I had my name in a book, magazines, and blog entries across the web.  There was no turning back at the point.  I freaked out thinking I was never going to get a job within any industry being associated with something so illegal. I was totally wrong.

In the summer of 2006, Alex was introduced to Emil Rensing, a fellow car enthusiast, fan of the record breaking run, and Co-Founder of Next New Networks.  Emil picked at Alex’s brain to find out how exactly he and Maher broke the record. The end result: Alex introduced me as the “brains” of the operation. Emil immediately wanted me part of his newly formed automotive team at Next New Networks.   I somehow associated myself with one of the most illegal road races in the history of the United States and landed myself a job at an internet start-up producing cool car videos.

Do you own a television set?

I do own a television set, but to be honest, I only watch the CNN International or BBC America.  I hate the new age of television, especially within the United States. When a reality TV show became essential to every channel’s line-up, I knew from that point forward the industry was screwed.

What’s some of your current music rotation?

I honestly don’t have a straight answer.  I just listen by genre, based on my mood.  Internet radio is my best friend.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

Do you have any way of getting rid of my Los Angeles parking tickets?

Thank you.

Jed Simmons runs the distribution efforts and business development for Next New Networks.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

In 2005, having left the Sundance Group (Robert Redford) where I had been COO, I was working on a series of really great traditional TV and digital projects. One project led to a desk with Fred Seibert at his NY based Frederator Studios. (Fred and I had worked together in rebuilding Hanna-Barbera when Ted Turner bought it in 1991; I was the COO). That project became Serious Eats and that desk became my window into what Fred and Emil Rensing were thinking about for video on the internet. That thinking became Next New Networks and the idea to launch 101 targeted television networks for the internet. As we developed the idea, I found my self in love with Next New Networks and committed from the start. I became a co-founder with Fred, Emil, Tim Shey and Herb Scannell. When it came time to take titles, of course, I became the COO. Off to raise money I went and to the offices of Dennis Miller at Spark….more later!

By the way we debated calling them podcasts, channels, or stations. And smartly we settled on networks.

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

I am a big ice hockey fan (I still play). It is hard to get enough hockey on traditional TV. The web has opened up so much for all sports fans - goals, games, rivalries, local, and debate. There is a fight between two of the NHL’s big enforcers that would never be featured by the NHL but made its way to YouTube. Not only is it a great battle between two of the best but it also shows a behind the scene look into how fighting is such a normal part of the NHL game. Take a look. You got to watch it all the way through.

Do you own a television set?

Television set? Yes, quite a few. Even have one of those old ones in the kitchen that has a VHS built into the bottom. Why get rid of it!!!

What’s some of your current music rotation?

My Pandora stations (especially my Springsteen one) and whatever my kids have on their iTouch’s and surprisingly it is a blend of lots of hip hop, folk, and even some classic rock. I love the music that is out today and that we have incredible access to favorites from the 60-90s.

What question would you ask Miss California?

No questions - just advice - read the Financial Times daily it really is a great look at the world through balanced eyes. Get the printed version in pink or go to FT.com.

Bye!

Thank you.

Justin Johnson is in charge of promos and packaging at Next New Networks.

What was your path to Next New Networks?

My path to Next New Networks was paved with luck, chance, and lots of emails. I was originally referred to create promos for Channel Frederator by my buddy Jake Lodwick (founder of CollegeHumor). I didn’t know much about what a “promo” was, and came into it perhaps a bit confused, but I knew how to make short silly videos and that seemed to do the trick.

After around a year of spotlighting the audience at CF, and having just moved to San Francisco from Florida, I was called upon by Fred, Tim, and Emil to grab breakfast out in Palo Alto. I was told “Hey! We’re starting a new company!” and “We want you to move to New York City” in what seemed like mere moments after I had fully unpacked my things from Florida! I said I needed a couple more months in Cali, but come February of 2007 I was unpacking again, this time in the East Village.

All in all, an incredible cross-country adventure!

Do you have an all-time favorite episode of (non-NNN) internet television/video?

Currently, my girlfriend and I are obsessed with the “Gale Beggy” series on College Humor. I hope to see more from this weird character soon.

Do you own a television set?

We do — we watch a handful of things on the Tivo, but mostly just stream TV and movies from Netflix’s on demand service which is pretty awesome.

What’s some of your current music rotation?

I just purchased the new Phoenix album. Diggin’ it. I’ve also had a recent obsession with the pop sensation that is Lady GaGa. It’s like aural crack. Awesome for jamming out to in the middle of the day when energy is running low. I’m not sure Ryan, who sits next to me and has to hear muddled Lady GaGa all day, would agree.

What question would you ask to Miss California?

I’d ask her if she wants to be a guest on Channel Frederator.

Thank you.

Next New Networks gets a profile in NY Times Magazine from Times TV critic Virginia Heffernan. Here’s an excerpt:

“In the end, inspiring the poignant fantasy of another life is the closest these videos come toward telling a bigger story. Like MTV in its heyday, Next New is proudly hit or miss. Viewers don’t go to it for any one video; they tune in for a sensibility, a lifestyle. The scene at Next New is techy, of course, but it’s also wholesome and nostalgic and low key and inventive and whimsical and frugal and enterprising.

There’s a lot more in the full article–which also included the beautiful photo illustration by Kevin Van Aelst above–and we hope you’ll check it out. Our thanks to Virginia for watching, and seeing something brand-new in what we do.

Late last night, the Next New Networks development team launched what we might as well call 2.0 of our web platform, even though we’ve only just begun.

Visit any of our Next New Networks websites (a short list is below) and you’ll see some immediate improvements–a clean, well-thought out design, upgraded viewer accounts to include avatars and personal information and give us feedback when they “like” an episode, and our main focus: lots of ways to browse episodes on every page and to cross-promote other content from Next New Networks. And what’s even better is on the back end: robust content management that’s integrated with Tubemogul Pro, Visible Measures, and Freewheel, giving us one click publishing for all of our networks and industry-leading ad serving, tracking, and reporting.

[Wait, there's more! Keep reading this post »]

Catch Indy Mogul host Erik Beck (our man of the many Webby and Streamy awards) as a special guest on several episodes of Science of the Movies, Thursdays at 10pm on Discovery’s The Science Channel (in HD where available).

Erik’s first appearance, in “Horror Movies - Effects that Scare,” debuted Thursday night (you can catch it again Friday, June 19th, at 10pm), and judging from comments on the Indy Mogul blog, it’s a hit. Above’s a trailer for the episode, and stay tuned to Indy Mogul’s Twitter feed for updates on more TV appearances.

Congrats, Erik - you looked great in HD.

The mission was simple.

Create an original promo video every single day in the month of May. Why? Because “day” and “May” rhyme. Also, we’ve got a lot of talented folks sitting around the office, and our promos are a quick, fun way to get involved with the on-air portion of our productions.

THE TEAM

Matthias:
NNN editor by day, recent employee of the month, amazing chef

Jacob:
Intern, wear-er of slick cowboy shirts, omni-present guest star [Wait, there's more! Keep reading this post »]

We put out a lot of videos here at Next New Networks–a LOT of videos. But if you rarely get to see our CEO, Lance Podell, it’s because he’s out building our revenue and relationships and helping us constantly behind the scenes with how to better run every part of the company, from day to day issues to long term strategy.

This week Daisy Whitney and Andy Plesser of Beet.TV came by the office, and interviewed Lance about how the business of Next New Networks is doing. I thought he did great — if only we knew someone who could get this guy a regular web show!

p.s. Daisy interviewed me, too, though I wasn’t nearly as good so early in the morning.