Hey, I've read and enjoyed the conspicious-consumer preenings and posturings ("Investment Purchases!") in Fast Company a time or two--but I don't take it too seriously, any more than the fashion magazines I sometimes pick up. I guess the hottest new electronic toys are for boys the way Louis Vuitton $600 plastic handbags are for girls. Shopping porn.
A catalogue from Hammer-Schlemmerer (sp?) does the same job for free, though.