The Seventh Annual Edwardian Ball was held last weekend at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Rae and I went to the show two years ago — which was held at the Cat Club — and have returned after a year’s absence. Once again, we celebrated Petrice’s birthday with Kai, Susan, and Bryan at Fina Estampa, a Mexican, Spanish, and Peruvian restaurant on nearby Van Ness Avenue.

Someone asked me recently if digital cameras sales have overtaken film camera sales. I’m not sure about worldwide sales, but it’s certainly the case in the Bay Area. There’s been an explosion of digital camera ownership over the past six years that shows no signs of slowing down. This year, I noticed many more digital SLRs in the crowd; check out others’ photos on Flickr and the Edwardian Ball website.

I recently picked up a backup Digital Rebel XTi, and my shoulders have been enjoying the fact that it’s smaller and lighter than my normal camera. Image-quality doesn’t quite rival the 1D, but it’s good enough for informal nights such as these. In hindsight, I should have brought my ST-E2 flash transmitter, as it would have helped immensely with focusing in the low-light conditions at the Music Hall. Pre-focusing with the 24/1.4 at f/2 is twice as difficult as you might think!

That said, does an image need to be sharp to be effective? I’ve been reading Henri-Cartier Bresson’s A Propos de Paris, a collection of Bresson’s photographs in Paris taken over the span of 50 years. His photographs are great not because they are tack sharp but because they are critically sharp.

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Yesterday was the 13th Anniversary Stanford Newton User Group meeting. We’ve been holding it at the Printer’s Inc. Cafe ever since the beginning in 1994. During that time, many stores have come and gone on South California Avenue in Palo Alto. Last night, time ran out for Nora’s Cafe, located next to Cho’s and Kinko’s. I was walking off my dinner at The Counter with my friend, Bryan, when I noticed that the insides of Nora’s was completely empty! I found out from the people cleaning the place that the owners of Nora’s had not been paying their rent. Doh!

I’m not sure how long Printer’s Inc. Cafe has left; over the years, their prices have increased and their hours have reduced. A lot of Stanford students used to come to Printer’s Inc. to study and to satisfy their coffee fix. Today, with many on-campus eateries to choose from, most students are staying away from California Avenue.

Present at the SNUG meeting included Peter, Flash, Lunatic, Dave, Glen, and Lewis. We’ve represented the core of the group for the past six years, I reckon. The big topic of the evening was, of course, the iPhone from Apple. Flash, Glen, and Lunatic were seriously considering purchasing one when the iPhone becomes available in June. A few meetings ago, Lunatic was demonstrating how a future Apple device would be made today. He took his iPod, plopped it down on top of the Newton’s screen, and said, “Newton sized screen in a device this big.” Sure enough, iPhone sports a 320×480 screen in an iPod-sized case. Though it’s doubtful any third-party will be able to write apps initially, I hope one day that Paul will work his magic and port Einstein to the iPhone. We’ll have to ditch our styli in favor of our fingers, but I think we will be able to manage.

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Now that my beloved Chargers have lost, I don’t have to worry about racing back up to the Bay Area on Sunday. We’re attending and shooting a wedding down in LA this weekend. Although it’s been cold up here, the forecast calls for sunny skies and decent temperatures. We’ll see everyone back in a few days! Go Colts! Go Saints!

Following the iPhone’s introduction last week, Leander Kahney from Wired emailed me to solicit thoughts about the product and the Newton. He posted his article yesterday which features quotes from several individuals from the Newton community.

In my email, I was generally very positive about the iPhone, but I was concerned about the apparent closed-system approach Apple seems to be taking regarding third-party development. No doubt some third-parties will be able to write applications for the iPhone, but the process will be more like the iPod than like the Newton. I wrote that the “Newton has lived on far past its termination date largely due to the amount of high-quality third-party software (and hardware) available.” Other phones — Treo, Blackberry, Windows PocketPC Smartphones, etc. — allow for third-party applications, why not the iPhone?

All that said, remember that the iPhone is just the first of potentially many products from Apple. If anyone can resurrect the spirit and functionality of Newton, it’s Apple. I suspect that in a year’s time, they will have worked out the kinks in the product and OS to allow any software developer to write apps for the device. They’ll start first with Dashcode and iPhone widgets and gradually move towards building in project support into XCode.

I for one would love to develop for the iPhone, and I hope we get the opportunity to do so. Come June, I’ll be taking a hard look at purchasing one to replace my cracked-screen Sony Ericsson t68i. The iPhone might not replace my Newton was note taking purposes, but it will be something I can carry everywhere without having to bring my man-purse. Of course, the F-3XB also holds my camera, wallet, and keys, but things will be much lighter with just the iPhone and not the Newton.

Speaking of the Newton, for Christmas, my cousin gave me a “brand-new” MessagePad 2000. His workplace was doing some winter-cleaning, and he came across a mint-condition MP2000 still in the box. This was the one that came with the external keyboard and carrying case. I think it retailed for $999 back in 1997!

Leander linked to a cool The Joy of Tech comic that echoes many Newton owners’ feelings about their Newtons:

I’m so disappointed with the Chargers loss to the Patriots yesterday. We had the game in hand, but a combination of heartbreaking events led to their demise and exit from this year’s playoffs. I really felt this team would go to the Super Bowl, but it was not meant to be.

Many people in and out of San Diego are calling for Marty’s head. Listen, he wasn’t the one dropping cupcake passes, inteceptions, incurring personal foul penalties, and fumbling. He has preached one play at a time for as long as he’s been coaching, but yesterday, we weren’t listening. Player after player in the locker room said that the fault lay with the players. If AJ Smith fires Schottenheimer, who’s going to replace him? Nick Saban? Art Shell? I don’t think so. Schottenheimer’s a winner, and like Bill Cowher before him, he’s going to get his glory at the Big Game sooner or later.

Next year, we’re going to reload and win the Super Bowl — one game at a time. As for this year’s Super Bowl, I’m now rooting for either Drew Brees or Peyton Manning. Down with the Patriots!

For the next few days, I’ll be at CES in Las Vegas. I’ll be returning on Thursday, still with time to head up to MacWorld in San Francisco to see what goodies Apple will be announcing tomorrow. It’s highly anticipated that Apple will release an Apple-branded phone, something I’m in need of since breaking the screen of mine a few weeks ago. My phone still works, but half the display is non-functional; fortunately, I’ve already memorized all the necessary button presses to access speed dials, save numbers, etc.

I used to run competitively in high school, and I even completed a half-marathon when I was thirteen! Then, the freshman fifteen — pounds, not miles — came around, followed by post-graduation ballooning. The long winter months of the past several years have forced my body into a lengthy hibernation from which my summer exercise routines have not been able to overcome. As a result, I’m many pounds over my preferred fighting weight. One of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2007 is to get into better shape.

The easiest way to lose weight, aside from a week of solo backpacking, is to run. Even during high school when I was decently good, running has always been a painful sport. I’m well acquainted with shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and other running-related ailments. In 2002, I got fitted with a pair of custom orthotics, which made walking long distances and running more comfortable. This year, I’m trying out two new techniques designed to make running more comfortable and easier: POSE and ChiRunning.

Both POSE and ChiRunning avoid heel-striking and favor either forefoot or mid-foot landing during each stride. Both techniques also tell you to pull or kick up your legs instead of pushing off the ground. From the videos that I’ve seen, you can use any running shoe with ChiRunning. Proponents of the POSE method prefer light-weight, thin-soled shoes like Puma H Streets. I bought a pair of H Streets a few days ago, and I learned that Felix is also replacing his running shoes with them too!

The H Streets are really light at 5.8 ounces, and running on them approaches the feel of barefoot running. One interesting thing I’ve found is that I can run in these shoes without my orthotics, and I feel fine. If I were to run in my normal running shoes without my orthotics, I would soon be experiencing pain along the bottom of my foot and shins. I guess typical shoes encase the foot in such a way that it can’t move naturally. Learning a new running technique takes time, and although I feel like I’m more efficient, there’s no doubt plenty of room for improvement. Such improvement will lead to the fulfillment of my ultimate goal to lose substantial poundage!

Last week, Edna, Erik, Rae and I went to the SeaWorld Adventure Park while in San Diego. I hadn’t been to SeaWorld in years since I was a kid. I have fond memories and photographs of me playing in Captain Kid’s World, which in the ensuing years has been renamed as Shamu’s Happy Harbor. Several attractions were closed last week, including the Skytower, Penguin Encounter, and the Seal and Sea Lion Feeder Pool.

There were a ton of people at the park, with lots of parents, kids, and strollers. When they leave their strollers outside of the stadiums, what’s to stop someone from strolling away with their strollers?

Attractions and exhibits that we saw included Wild Arctic (Polar Bears and Walruses), Manatee Rescue, Shark Encounter, Forbidden Reef, Aquarium de la Mer, World of the Sea Aquarium, Believe Shamu Show, Dolphin Discovery, and Clyde and Seamore’s Holiday Show (Sea Otter and Sea Lion). In addition, we attended an impromptu insect and lizard show, which was one of the highlights of our day. It was fun touching the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (I would never touch the roaches in my garage!), the fat-tailed gecko, and the lizard snake creature. We found the shows to be really short, only twenty minutes long. For some reason, I always remembered them being much longer. Maybe as a kid, time felt longer than it does today. It’s possible that the Shamu Show was shorter due to the trainer accident that occurred a few weeks ago. The trainers did not stand on top of Shamu during our show.

At the Shamu Show, we had the (un)fortunate opportunity to sit in the front three rows. The first dozen rows are humorously referred to as the Soak Zone. As you might imagine, one of the attractions at SeaWorld is getting showered by all of the various aquatic animals. The Shamu Slam included four killer whales slamming their tails into the water, forcing a veritable wall of cold, 55 degree water into the crowd. My camera, with its weather seals, survived the downpour, but we did not. Edna, Erik, and Rae seemed to have gotten the brunt of the water. I wore synthetics, which were able to dry out much more quickly than the cotton clothes Edna and Erik were wearing.

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A bug was discovered in Annoture’s Aperture to iView annotation process yesterday. I’ve released a quick update to Annoture which resolves this issue. All users of 1.0.2 will be notified of the update the next time they launch the application.

We hosted a low-key New Year’s Party at our house on Monday night. We ushered in 2007 with lots of food, some spirits, and good conversation. It was good just to relax with friends after our long 9-hour drive back up from San Diego, where Rae and I spent the week with my family.

On Apple’s website, there’s a banner proclaiming the first 30 years (of Apple’s existence) were just the beginning. Every year, people around the world make New Year’s Resolutions, and I’m no exception. For me, the first 31 years have passed me by, and I’m excited about the future ahead. I’ve made a list of resolutions for myself this year, some of which I’ll be sharing on the website in the coming weeks and months. Here’s to everyone who has made one for this year: we can do it! Have a plan, stay diligent, and work on it piece by piece, day by day. We’ll look back on 2007 and marvel at all we were able to accomplish! Start now, however, cause 2007 is going to go by in a flash!

Here are some photos from our New Year’s Celebration.