I’m lucky enough to work in an industry that’s loaded with talent, and I had the chance to talk about Apple’s announcements with a crazy-long list of pros that includes Chris Breen, Michael Johnston, Chuck Joiner, John F. Braun, Terry White, and Bryan Chaffin. We talked about the good and bad with the new iPhone, gave AT&T the smack-down for fumbling on MMS and tethering, and got all worked up in anticipation of Mac OS X 10.6.

It was a true uber geek-fest, and a great reminder that I really do have the best job in the world.

Behind the scenes true fact: I was completely hopped up on Codeine when I did the iPhone Alley podcast thanks to a nasty little gum infection. End result… I’m not that different when I’m drugged or sober. Go figure.

Sandee tackles a single print or design concept in each concise podcast, and she does it with her own unmistakable flair. Whether you’re new to design, prepress or production, or an experienced pro, Sandee’s bound to have something cool to share with you.

You’ll also get a little instant gratification since the podcast is available now, and the book doesn’t come out until some time in May. Everyone deserves a little instant gratification, so head over to Sandee’s Web site or the iTunes Store and check out what she has going on.

Aside from the brain-scrubbing videos, YouTube rocks. It’s packed tight with entertainment, training, video blogs, promotional videos and more. You can’t ask for a better deal as a viewer: YouTube rocks.

For the people providing all that tasty content, YouTube’s ultra easy-ness means that you don’t need a rocket science degree to figure out how to get your message, entertainment, or drunk videos out to the world. So what’s not to love?

It’s the branding. Every time someone views a video you upload, they see the YouTube logo — great branding for YouTube, but not so much for you because your content is branded as YouTube and not just you. That’s not a big deal to everyone, but if controlling your brand, even if it’s a video podcast, is important to you, then it’s time to pay attention to your branding. Viewers should remember your logo, and not YouTube’s logo.

If I’m going to steer the brand conscious away from YouTube, the least I can do is offer some alternatives. How about Vimeo or Viddler. I especially like Viddler because they make it easy to embed your own logo in your videos, but both offer simple ways to add video content to your own site.

Here’s a great example of controlling your brand: Don McAllister’s ScreenCastsOnline. I don’t know who hosts his videos, and it doesn’t matter. Everything carries the ScreenCastsOnline brand, and there’s never any doubt who is in charge of the content.

Of course, there’s always a trade off because life sucks that way. In this case, the trade off is that while you have more control over your own branding, you’ll probably have to work harder to get people to find your work. YouTube is pretty much ubiquitous, so that’s where everyone goes first when they want to find a video. Yeah, I do it, too.

Think about who gets the branding benefit from your hard work. It might be YouTube, but it could be you.

And now I’m heading over to YouTube for some 2 Hot Girls in the Shower time. No, it’s not what you’re thinking. Get your mind out of the gutter.