January 2007 - Chris Ullrich dot net
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January 2007

Chinatown Pictures and Flickr Meetup

Posted on January 30, 2007

Went and met about 50 other photographers in Chinatown last Saturday. It was part of the first Flickr Meetup of 2007. In case you don’t know, Flickr is a cool photo sharing community where people post photos and talk about photography and whatever else strikes their fancy. Its a great place to see some cool photographs and meet some interesting people.

At the meetup, we walked around and shot some photos and also had some lunch. A nice bunch of people. Here are a few of my pics from that day.

Chinatown Neon-1

chinatown neon

Union Station Light-2

union station light

Rain Drops Closer-1

rain drops close

A Minor Update and Some Cool Pictures

Posted on January 21, 2007

In case anyone was wondering I have been busy of late. Yes, I know what you are thinking: “what’s with all the excuses?” Well, what can I say except that for some reason I seem to be somewhat in demand. Not so much in demand I guess, but more like time crunched. I have commitments to several things these days: writing for cinematical, comic book resources, running the other business and many other things.

Plus, as of last week I am now the technology editor at LAist so that means they are gonna expect more from me as well. No more just writing what I want whenever I feel the “muse.” Now, I gotta come up with some tech stuff each and every week or else they won’t give me my hard-earned buckets o’ cash. Well, buckets is probably too strong a word. What’s a word that means one small step above absolutely nothing? I don’t know but whatever it is, its small.

Anyway, I’ve been working on all that stuff so this blog, as always, ends up suffering for it. I really wish there were more hours in the day or, more to the point, that I wasn’t such a lazy procrastinator. That way, I could actually make time and have time for all the things I need to do in my life. Perhaps there are some tidbits of info from somewhere in the vastness of the internet where I could get help with my problems? If only that were true. I’ll look around and if I find anything, I’ll get back to you.

In other news, this past week I went to the opening night festivities for the Photo LA show and saw quite a few interesting photographs. I always wish I would make more time to take pictures so seeing these photos I was hoping would inspire me to do it. I think it helped a little but time will tell. I just don’t feel inspired to create as much as I used to. I’m not sure what that means but I don’t like it very much. I hope its just a temporary thing and will pass. Let’s hope so.

So, take a look at some of these photos and try to get inspired. I will too.

Ace

Guice-1

Eastman-1

Callahan-1

iPod Stroller and Mac World Expo

Posted on January 5, 2007

Pico-Ipod-1

Now I just need something to put in the stroller. Any suggestions (besides an iPod)? Also, I will be heading off to San Francisco next week to pay homage to the Apple Gods at MacWorld Expo. As I often do, I’ll probably wind up seeing Mr. Apple himself Steve Jobs around the show floor.

So, if you have any questions for him that you would like me to ask, fire away and I will see what I can do. After all, we’re close Steve and I. One year I actually said “Hi” to him and he nodded back. So you see, we’re tight. Other than that, it should be a rather interesting show full of all kinds of announcements and whatnot. Just to start things off, I have a couple of predictions:

1. A new iPod with Video and perhaps even 802.11n wireless to connect it to the next item on the list.

2. The iTV or whatever they end up calling it. Connect your TV to your computer and watch stuff. Fun. But I already do that with my Tivo and now I’ve also got a Slingbox (thanks Dad) so I’m not sure what this will do for me. Although, it would be cool if it did HD. I bet it will or else what’s the point? If it does do HD then expect to see HD programming available at the iTunes store as well.

3. Updated iLife Suite (aka iLife ’07). New apps including a spread sheet program (ala Microsoft Excel) and improvements to iPhoto and the rest of the gang including more Photoshop-like features for iPhoto and better RAW file handling. I also think Apple might wrap all the stuff its done for Aperture into iPhoto and make one nice photo editing suite for the Mac as part of iLife.

4. Last but not least (and here’s the tough one) a new iPod/PDA/Phone that will most likely debut on Cingular first but may even have an unlocked version at first as well. Either way, definitely will be GSM (sorry Verizon and Sprint folks). This new device will not be called the iPhone now that that name is gone (if it ever was available in the first place). No, this new device will be called a name Apple has already spent millions of dollars getting people to know and remember. What’s the name? The iPod.

Ok, that’s it for now. But if I get a chance I’ll drop some more predictions on ya Monday — the day before the Keynote by Steve Jobs where all will be made clear.