Stephen Fung DOT NET Update – US Turkey Day Edition

First off, happy turkey day to all our Yankee brothers and sisters across the border. I know that some of you are probably already camping out in front of your favourite stores to snag some of those “Black Friday” deals. If you’re wondering if what you’re camping out for is worth it, head on over to Shopping Price Engine and punch up a few of your chosen deals to see if they camping out in the freezing cold overnight. Canadian shoppers do the same thing every December 26th. We call it Boxing Day.

Being Bribed By AMD…

Last week, AMD flew myself and some other media outlets down to Lake Tahoe to check out the launch of their new “SPIDER” platform. I’d never been to Lake Tahoe before so I was really looking forward to checking it out. Although it was sunshine for the two days that we were there, it was too cold for Bikinis and not cold enough for Snow Bunnies. Instead, the crowd was more “geriatric” in nature and there was extreme danger of “Cougar” maulings. It looked to be the perfect spot for Las Vegas Casino retirees to end up at.

Despite the lack of a party crowd, the view was certainly to die for. I have never seen such a view that was so breathtaking that it looked almost unreal. It was like my little Canon SD850is could do no wrong. Besides the view and the limo pick up from the airport, we also got treated to a full dockside BBQ complete with steaks and this peach cobbler that made me go back for seconds, thirds and fourths. It made me do it, damn it! 😆

Hardware? Oh right! They’ll be shipping out my “Spider Platform” in a week or so which will include a couple of their new 3800 series GPU’s, a 790 series board, and a Phenom processor. The event did allow us some hands on testing of their hardware platform, but I would prefer to install my own “un-optimized” OS and do some comparisions on home turf before passing judgement. However, as you’ve probably heard from the reviews of the Phenom processor, it hasn’t been the “Phenomenom” that a lot of AMD fans were hoping it to be. However, there were some really great features of this new platform that should give it some mass market appeal. I think it was smart to play the platform card to smooth over the bumps with the CPU side of the launch.

All Set For CES 2008!

This week, I got my “International” press badge for the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Just FYI, the only thing that makes it “International” is the little red ribbon. Yay! I’ve actually been ready since I got back from COMPUTEX this past summer. I had my room and flight booked before they jacked the prices up. It’s hard to believe that they can charge $250 US a night for even the Imperial Projects just because CES is in town. What a rip!

CES 2008 will also mark the return of the “Night Before CES” party. Last year was Futurelooks’ first time sponsoring the event and I’m really looking forward to sponsoring it again. The event will take place on January 6th, 2008 at the Absolut Vodka Suite inside the Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino. If you’re going to be in the neighbourhood, contact me and I’ll put you on the list.

More Free Stuff at Futurelooks!

This week marks Week Six of Eight Crazy Weeks of Giveaways over at Futurelooks! Up for grabs is a Thermaltake Water Cooling System and a VGA Cooler. Don’t forget to sign up for the Newsletter for the bonus draw sponsored by Saitek.  Last week we gave away one of these. Beats silly eBooks any day of the week 😉