Bay Area
The Brides of March is this Saturday (3/14)
Image © Paul Burd
It’s that time of year again. This Saturday (3/14), The Brides of March will be hitting the streets of San Francisco. It’s a must-see if you live in the Bay Area. Check the site for meeting time and locations.
Star Trek Movie Marathon at The Castro, March 6-8
Woohoo! The Castro Theatre here in San Francisco is having a Star Trek Marathon, March 6th through the 8th (2009). They will be showing Star Trek 1-6, starring the original cast.
Of course I’ve seen all the movies, but it will be great to see them on the big screen, again. Here’s the show times currently listed from the site:
Friday, March 6th (double feature):
Star Trek The Motion Picture – 2:15pm, 7:00pm
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – 4:45pm, 9:30pm
Saturday, March 7th (double feature):
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – 2:30pm, 7:00pm
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – 4:35pm, 9:05pm
Sunday, March 8th (double feature):
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier – 2:45pm, 7:00pm
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country – 4:50pm, 9:05pm
Photowalking with Miss Aniela in San Francisco
©2008 Miss Aniela
For a long time now I’ve been a big fan of the photographic work of Natalie Dybisz, better known on the internet as, Miss Aniela (pronounced ‘Ann-yella’). She’s a fine-art photographer based in South East UK, who originally received a lot of notoriety on Flickr for her self-portraitrs. She took multiple shots of herself in the same space and then combined them. Since then she’s primarily stayed in the self-portrait genre, but has expanded her work quite a bit.
I just read on her blog that she’s coming to Seattle (Jan 31st), San Francisco (Feb 2rd & 3rd), and Los Angeles (Feb 4th), and she’s inviting all who want to come, to a studio shoot and some photowalks. She’s posted her full schedule, here. Although I’m not normally one for group photography, I’m going to try and make one of the photowalks here in San Francisco. It would be great to get the opportunity to meet her.
If you live in the Bay Area, and you’re into photography, you should try to make it out. Maybe I’ll even see you there.
If you’d like to know what other photographers I like, I have a long list over at my photoblog.
Wow, the price of gas sure dropped quick!
The gas station on the corner by our house is selling gas for $1.83 per gallon. It seems like just a few months ago that it was pushing $5 per gallon here in San Francisco. It boggles my mind that the price could drop so quickly. Of course, it also boggled my mind listening to the oil companies say they had to raise prices due to supply, at the same time they were posting all-time record profits (scum suckers).
As much as it annoyed me that it took almost $50 to fill up our little Toyota Echo, I actually thought high gas prices were a good thing. I felt bad for those people who legitimately had to drive large vehicles long distances, but I think it made most people re-evaluate their driving habits. People began to realize they could actually drive less, take public transportation, carpool, and possibly even walk occasionally (heaven forbid). They also started to reconsider what kind of car they may buy next time around.
I’m a little worried that people tend to have very short memories. Falling gas prices may mean that many people go back to their same old bad habits. I hope not.
No on 8! Google… you are so on my shit list!
California Proposition 8 seeks to revoke the rights of same-sex partners to get married. I am firmly against Prop 8! I believe in equal rights for everyone!
This morning I read this post on The Dieline, where Andrew Gibbs talks about how Google allowed “Yes on 8″ ads to be displayed on his site for California Visitors. I immediately checked my site, and sure enough they were here too. Ironically, they were right next to my post about how Apple publicly condemned Prop 8… and I agreed with them. I immediately took Google ads off of my site.
It’s kind of a strange situation… Google has also publicly condemned Prop 8, but apparently they are still willing to take money to advertise the opposite view. I’m not exactly sure if I should be pissed at Google, or should I praise them for allowing Free Speech on a topic that they don’t agree with. One thing is for sure, I don’t want the ads on my site. I’m a little annoyed that an ad of this nature would be posted to my site without a little more consideration. I don’t put these ads in the same category as random product ads. Google ads will not be back on the site until these ads stop.
If you have a blog that runs Google ads, you may want to check out your site to see just what is appearing. You may need to have someone here in California look for you.
UPDATE: I didn’t realize this, but there is a filter for Adsense that allows you to remove any ads that link to a specific URL. Learn more here. I’m still going to leave the ads off, at least until after the election.
Apple Says No on Prop 8
In a fairly bold announcement, Apple today voiced its official opposition to Proposition 8. If You’re unfamiliar, Prop 8 seeks to revoke the rights of same-sex couples to marry in California. Good for you, Apple!
“Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8″
WordCamp ‘07
Are you going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area on July 21-22? Are you a Wordpress user? Then you may want to check out WordCamp 2007. Its a 2-day conference for WordPress users and developers.
I went last year and had a great time, and learned lots of new stuff. I’ll be going again this year.
Last year WordCamp was free, but this year they’re charging $25 per person, to help offset costs. Personally, I think it’s well worth it. You get 2 days of great information, a cool t-shirt, and free food. Where else can you get that for $25?
If you planning on going, I would sign up soon. The hall isn’t tremendously big, and as of this morning, 124 people have already signed up.
Melted Highway
Early yesterday morning a 250-foot section of our highway melted and collapsed after a gasoline tanker truck rolled over and exploded. Fortunately it happened so early that there was virtually no one on the freeway. The driver of the truck was the only person injured.
Our local CBS station has the full story, including video coverage, on their site. There’s also a map available, with alternate routes listed.
We were so lucky this happened early Sunday morning. If it had happened during a busy part of the day, this would have been so much worse.
Mac Meet & Mingle
If you’re here in San Francisco, you may be interested in the Mac Podcaster Meetup, and Mac Mingle, both happening tonight (link).
Mac Podcaster Meetup is 6:00-7:00pm, at The Apple Store (map), and it’s open to the public… just show up. Mac Mingle is 8:00pm-midnight, at Jillians (map), but you have to have a Macworld badge to get in. Details on both events can be found here.
I’m going to try and make it to both tonight, so maybe I’ll see you there.
Macworld 2007
Today is the official start of Macworld, San Francisco, 2007. Although, for most of us the real excitement starts tomorrow, with the keynote address, and opening of the exhibit floor.
I must say that I am surprised at Apple’s lack of decoration this year. In the main Moscone Hall (where the keynote will be), there’s just a single banner. It’s the same one they’ve been showing on their homepage since the 1st. Normally, they have at least 3 banners. I guess they really don’t want to give anything away this year. Or, they’re waiting until the last minute to hang the ‘real’ banners.
Anyway, what would Macworld be without predictions. I think we’re all expecting pretty big things this year. First, we have this banner that says ‘The first 30 years were just the beginning’, implying a big announcement this year, and we also have a keynote address that will be 2 hours long (9:00am – 11:00am pst tomorrow). Typically, they’re only an hour. Hopefully, they are going to announce some cool things, and we aren’t just hyping ourselves into inevitable disappointment.
I personally think we’re going to see a lot tomorrow. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some kind of updates across all the products… but here’s some specific predictions:
‘iPhone’:
Yes, I’m in the camp that says this year it’s actually going to happen. I personally hope it’s more along a PDA line, and not just an iPod phone. If they announce it, I’ll be first in line to get one. Anne Marie gave me an Apple gift card for Christmas specifically for that purpose. :)
‘iTV’:
I think we’ll see a new demo, with more specifics, and possibly get a release date, but it won’t be available this month.
Displays:
I think there is a chance well see a new display, but not for the computer. The perfect companion to the ‘iTV’ would be a shiny new flat-screen, for the living room. It’s not that their current displays wouldn’t work, but the base is all wrong for your home entertainment center. I think Apple would make a display with a more invisible base (low and hidden).
Wide-screen iPod:
I’m on the fence about this one. I would like to see this come out, but I’m not sure if we’ll see it tomorrow.
Macs:
Mac minis, iMacs, Macbooks, and Macbook Pros will see a slight bump in processor speed, but no significant changes will be made. I’m firmly in the ‘NO’ camp for the possibility of black Macbook Pros. I personally would buy one, but I think Apple wants to maintain a distinct visual difference between Macbooks and Macbook Pros.
The only significant update will be to the Mac Pro. I think we’ll see a new processor, and quite possibly a new design. The current box is left-over from the G5 Powermac, and I think Apple has been planning to change it.
We’ll probably see a new processor in the Xserve, but that’s not really a consumer product, so I don’t pay much attention to it.
Mac Tablet:
mmmmm… I doubt it, but anything is possible. Given that tablets have been around for years, and no one really seems to care, I doubt Apple would go in this direction just yet. Although, I could see them doing an ultra portable Mac (Macbook mini?). I personally would love to have a Mac that is smaller than a laptop, but bigger than a PDA, for travel.
Leopard:
We’ll see a new demo, but I wouldn’t look for OS 10.5 Leopard to hit store shelves until at least July.
Software:
I think it’s a given that we’ll see iLife ‘07 and iWork ‘07. I also have little doubt that iWork will finally see a spreadsheet application. I think the biggest update to iLife will be in the iWeb application. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we see some kind of global media browser, kind of like ‘Bridge’ from the Adobe Creative Suite, for better media management.
I also think we’ll see updates to Final Cut Studio, but I have no specific predictions.
.Mac
We’ll probably see updates to .Mac. I think they’re going to do to iCal what they did for Mail… make a complete online version of iCal, so you can truly access (and edit) your calendar from anywhere. I think a storage bump is in the cards too. We may see some specific features for the new iWeb as well.
There you have it! Those are my official predictions. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. I would give anything to go to the keynote. :)
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