In the long term, it’s probably a bigger deal that Apple’s creating the first mobile platform that people I know outside the mobile business actually seem excited about developing things for, in a way people never got excited about Java or XHTML or WAP or BREW (never heard of any of those? Exactly) with the iPhone 2.0 software update and the new iPhone 3G. Really looking forward to seeing the first wave of socially-networked, GPS-enabled, high-speed iPhone applications and all the great entrepreneurial opportunities they’ll create — Piper Jaffray has estimated there’s a $1 billion business in iPhone apps in 2009.

But in the short term, the biggest deal for me looks like MobileMe. I don’t love the name — if it sounds like something Microsoft would name a product, that’s because it is.

But as a feature I’m really looking forward to it, and I don’t even need to buy a 3G iPhone to benefit from it, I can use it with my good old iPhone Classic. Here’s why: in a normal week, I can’t be bothered to sync my iPhone more than once or twice, but these days, I absolutely live by iCal. I don’t have an assistant — if I schedule a meeting or a call, I put it in iCal and set a reminder. If I have a task to do, I create a to-do and set a date and priority. If I’m out, I pull up my iPhone calendar to see where I need to be next. But that doesn’t work if you don’t sync your phone every day. Add to the complication that I use three different Macs regularly — one at home, and a Mac Pro and a laptop at work — and even with regular .Mac syncing it gets hard to keep everything up to date.

For a while, I was tempted to move completely to Google Calendar, but that’s not ideal when you don’t have an Internet connection. So I’ve created a crazy quilt system using a plugin called BusySync to sync my three different computers’ iCals with a Google Calendar account. It works pretty well: when I’m out, and my iPhone calendar isn’t up to date, I can pull up Google Calendar via a mobile phone or over a web browser, and my coworkers can subscribe to my free/busy information in Google Calendar or iCal without too much trouble. Plus it syncs in real time over the Internet as things change, instead of on a once-a-day schedule via iTunes or .Mac, both of which always seem to take forever to complete a sync.

MobileMe will let me throw the whole system out: any time I update a calendar entry or to-do on any of my computers, or my iPhone, as long as I have a data connection, everything else will be updated seamlessly, if all works as promised. And I imagine it won’t be hard to find some way to keep a Google calendar updated too, for any friends I have who prefer that.

I’m a little bummed the .Mac brand is going away. I’ve been a subscriber for years, still use my mac.com email as my main personal address, and like the name a lot more than MobileMe or the new “me.com” domain. But on the plus side, I’m happy to see that much of the visual design of MobileMe was done by two of my favorite designers in the world, Meg Frost (of Cute Overload fame) and Bobby Andersen. Bobby did a bunch of design work for Next New Networks (including the site for Ultra Kawaii) and Tumblr (including the amazing Dashboard icons) before going to Apple, and I won’t lie: we tried our best to hire him here instead. But it’s a once in a lifetime chance to work directly with Steve Jobs in the Apple designer priesthood on a key project, and it looks like Bobby’s knocked this one out of the park, from the screenshots I’ve seen so far. Congrats, Bobby, and I can’t wait to try it.

Have you ever watched Indy Mogul and thought to yourself, “Hey, this Erik guy is one sharp looking dude”? Well, you’re not the only one. Daisy Whitney from TV Week thinks so too. She’s compiled a list of The Hottest Male Web Hosts, and our very own Erik Beck is up against Eric Gunnar Rochow from Greenhouse. So if you’ve ever entertained those thoughts, now is the time to let those feelings rush forth. Vote Now! Polling ends Friday, May 2nd.

GO ERIK!

It was a great weekend for politics here at NNN. This weekend we were all over the moon to see our very own Amber Lee Ettinger aka Obama Girl make a cameo in the opening of Saturday Night Live’s return episode after the Writer’s Strike. To quote Barely Political’s creator Ben Relles it was ‘beyond exciting’. Great job Amber and Ben.

And as the icing on the cake Noam Cohen in the New York Times did a great piece on Josh Marshall today and his winning of a George Polk Award. As soon as bloggers are considered, we know Josh will be up for a Pulitzer.

A few months ago Indy Mogul was interviewed by Kevin Sites for Yahoo’s People of the Web. Kevin followed the team around for the whole day as they made the Swamp Monster episode. If you ever wanted a great behind the scenes look at Indy Mogul then you should check out this article and video. Kevin manages to capture the essence of Indy Mogul which is all about inspiring upcoming filmmakers. And of course there are some great quotes, such as when he refers to host Erik Beck as the “MacGyver of no-budget movies”, and in the accompanying video which starts out with, “Move over Spielberg”!

We are truly grateful for the recognition of our work and it reaffirms what we saw when we started this network - that Indy Mogul serves a community of upcoming filmmakers who are growing up with access to the Internet, and all the distribution opportunities that implies, coupled with cheaper means of production. Our success is due to the community that makes Indy Mogul possible, and we look forward to continuing to be the number one destination for DIY filmmakers and inspiring the next generation of Spielbergs.

Over at Veracifier we’ve partnered with TheUptake to sponsor their citizen coverage of Super Tuesday. Above is a player that will have a mix of live (starting at 7) and recorded coverage throughout the day from people all over the country, including online video cool kids Chuck Olsen and Jackson West. Check it out on the Veracifier site with our Super Tuesday blog.

Who isn’t gushing over the new MacBook Air? Well, not everyone — but heck, there are always some complainers. The response has been relatively positive. In Meredith Viera’s case, that’s an understatement, as Engadget recently noticed.

Technology comes and goes, and I for one don’t think we mark the passing of old technology with as much ceremony as it deserves. That’s why I was thrilled to see the Indy Mogul team take a masonry drill to one of the old iBooks in the office. The ending is the best part.

So now that we’ve drilled it, which NNN employee (or other celebrity) do you think should lick it? Let us know.

Congrats to Ben Relles and Amber Lee Ettinger and the Barely Political crew for making many year end “Tops” of 2007 lists. Ben brought some great characters into the world this year but none more newsworthy than “Obama Girl”. My favorite: Obama Girl listed as one of 2007’s Most Influential Woman with folks like Hillary Clinton. First, it was the internet, and now it’s the world! Check out some of the lists and related press:

Google: Top 10 Video of the Year
This was selected by Google based on a number of factors.

People Magazine: Top Web Videos of the Year
(Print Ediiton) Obama Girl was top video listed

MSN: List of Most Influential Women of 2007
She was #6 on the list along with Hilary Clinton, Tina Fey…

AOL Best YouTube Moments
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2007/12/18/best-youtube-moments-of-2007/

AP: Top Cultural Moments of the Year
They listed Obama Girl in June section.

Here in New York it’s just getting colder and colder, but Dan Meth tells us, don’t be sad, ’cause watermelon nights come back every year.

I really love this episode of the Meth Minute 39, recently featured on YouTube and NewTeeVee, and have been looking forward to it coming out since I first saw them working on it many months ago.

I’m especially happy to see that the video is one of the top ten most favorited videos on YouTube this week (pictured), and among the top 10 entertainment videos in countries all over the world. I think that qualifies it as an instant classic, and I hope people will be watching and sharing this episode for many summers to come. Congrats Dan and everyone who worked hard to help him make this episode.

I had the pleasure of representing Next New Networks at the 2007 Winnies this past Friday in L.A. Many thanks to the organizers: Irina Slutsky, Lan Bui, Vu Bui, and Bonny Peirzina. They pulled off a fantastically fun night!

There are a TON of photos on Flickr, and Cinespace was packed. I think I saw just about EVERY familiar interweb face I know.

I’m looking forward to more events with the community, and hopefully throwing some on behalf of NNN to meet more talented producers in this progressive space.

-MDF

l to r: Tim Street, Ask A Chola, Hayden Black, and Michelle with Lan Bui in front

Zadi Diaz with Michelle

[photos via luismuna.com]