Once again, another over hyped announcement from Apple has come and gone. Steve Jobs and his marketing wizards indoctrinated swooned the masses with their latest cash cow - the highly anticipated iPhone 4.

As a PC hardware junkie, who performs SMART UPGRADES on a timely basis, it makes me giggle when people fall prey to over zealous marketing hype. I begin to shudder when people spend hundreds of dollars to get the latest Smartphone, especially on a yearly basis. Potential customers whine about being locked into untimely contracts, along with predatory pricing from wireless carriers, so they can lay claim to the latest gadget.

For most consumer electronics, there will always be new technology releases every year.  Each release will have a price/benefit ratio that will determine performance and, most important of all, the overall user experience.  The same can be rationalized for commodities such as a Smartphone.

Given the new features of the iPhone 4, a yearly upgrade cycle is not always beneficial for a majority of consumers.  After all, most users will not utilize every hardware or software feature to the maximum nor does the iPhone 4 cause a huge lifestyle shift over the previous iPhone 3GS.  It’s a meager evolution of previous iterations with no huge jumps in technology.

Unless a new Smartphone forces a big shift in lifestyle, save your money and stay away from the yearly upgrade trap. What’s really important is the ability to maintain your wireless plan or allowing it to expire. Furthermore, choosing the right contract or plan is a lot more important than buying a new Smartphone. And like it or not, each new release, including the iPhone 4, will inevitably become unfashionable within a course of a year.

Believe it or not. Black Friday 2009 was a pretty quiet time for me.  No, I didn’t line up throughout the night as documented in previous years. Yours truly decided to stay away from raucious crowds and overbearing line ups.  I purchased a lot of stuff online and, most important of all, from the comfort of my own home.

Like the old saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait”. As a big fan of Left 4 Dead 1, I was grasping to get a hold of the newly released Left 4 Dead 2. After numerous bouts of impatience, I finally purchased a digital copy thanks to a Black Friday sale on Steam. The game was bought at a significant markdown. 

I’ll try to post a review in a couple of days.  Right now, I need to shoot some Zombies!!!

I consider myself a pretty good cook. But when it comes to baking, I’m pretty lackluster and downright horrible. Perhaps one of these days, I’ll summon enough talent to bake these super cool Mario Bros. candies. The detail and quality is absolutely stunning! All these tasty treaty were hand baked by super talented pastry chef Ana Fuji. And yes, she has Pokémon characters too!

Source: Ana’s Flickr Stream

Since I only work 1 to 2 hours a day, there’s plenty of time for me to pursue other leisurely activities, like sleeping in every morning, watching paint dry, and most important of all, playing video games.  After a couple days of intense meditation and soul searching, I finally gave in to my evil desires (again).  Yes, I purchased another gaming laptop .  However, this is one laptop that you won’t find at a typical electronic store.

As a hardcore PC gamer, I need cutting edge technology to compete on the virtual battlefield.  Owning the fastest equipment is the only way to stay ahead of the competition.  This is why I recently purchased the hot looking Alienware M17x laptop.  Even though Alienware was purchased by Dell a couple of years ago, the company remains true to their roots by building super fast gaming machines for their respective audience.

A Monstrosity Known as the Alienware M17x

To be honest, the Alienware M17x is overkill for most computer users.  Don’t expect me to write essays, watch YouTube videos or post Tweets on this machine. With dual nVidia GTX 280M video cards and a beefy quad-core processor, this hefty amount of hardware is built for one purpose; to keep frame rates high and graphical settings at a maximum.  My previous gaming laptop is still very fast but pales in comparison to the Alienware M17x.

This is a bad-ass machine!  If you want portable gaming with the power of a high-end desktop, the Alienware M17x is a crazy perfect choice for hardcore enthusiasts (at least till the next upgrade cycle).