You know that you're a tech addict when…

...the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning (anytime whatsoever, really), is pick up your java capable cell phone, sign onto ebuddy from it, take it to the loo, and talk to people who do the same thing.

...the first thing that goes through your mind when you receive a large wad of cash is whether you can buy your next tech gadget- if you can, should you wait for prices to go down so that you can buy additional tech gadgets?

...you're at a social gathering among friends, colleagues or otherwise; the subject of some gadget or the other has come up, and you find yourself blabbering on and on about the pros, cons, specifications and every technical detail you can think of, five minutes after which you've realized that you're still talking, and the only one there is your best friend, who's also a tech addict, and the other 5 listeners are enjoying a laugh at the other corner.

...you can't stay away from tech stuff for too long. Not being near any gadgetry makes you very squirmy, fidgety and paranoid, and more than just a bit impatient.

...you go to sites like www.engadget.net, www.theinquirer.net, www.techspot.com, etc, on a very regular and hourly basis. You may also be doing this instead of being logged into ebuddy first thing in the morning.

...you drool at the prospect of a laptop computer with an octacore Nehalem processor, and 8 megabytes of L3 cache.

...you become enraged, and thoughts of death and murder run through your head, because your tech junkie friend just got the cellphone you've been in love with since it's conception, and noyouaren 'tthefather but thatdoesn'tmeanyoucan'tfeelforit! YOU CAN'T STOP OUR LOVE!!

...one of the more exciting activities you enjoy is bringing home tech stuff and then unboxing them with the utmost care and affection. Alternatively, you ravage through the packaging and reach for the gadget like a hungry beast. Further alternatively, you like watching videos of other people doing it…

...you take out your cellphone and log in to one of the aforementioned websites. After having surfed through them for around five minutes or so, you realize that something isn't right. Something's very very wrong. You look to your left, then you look to your right, and you see that your girlfriend is staring at you with a look of pure hatred and murder on her face. Technology is your poison.

...you feel as if you're naked, stripped to the bone, your mind is turning to jelly, and you just lost a very important part of your life when the internet is down.

… you are always dying for a fix. Technology and anything related to it is your crack.

By Emil (ssemil@gmail.com)

Was there really the need for resurgence in 'online communities'? If Facebook wasn't enough, now we have ACTUALLY FUNCTIONAL sites for 'hot' boys and girls of Bangladesh. These 'hot' people band together and try to make friends with each other and pass judgment on how 'hot' they really are. Commoners, who join this site, find it extremely useful for wasting the rest of their useless lives. But what do such sites actually aim to offer? Let's explore.

What's Hot?
Believe it or not, despite what you see, everyone who has their picture or profile at such a site, truly believe that they are hot. Being hot has become a lifestyle for them. The dictionary definition of hot is coolly disregarded and 'hot' now means 'someone very attractive.' Well that's pretty much what you will be led to believe until you dare to enter such sites. The definition of 'hot' in these web pages is 'Worthless, unemployed, desperate and forever single.' Don't take our word for it, but do go and check it out to share our belief. Now that we have the definition out of the way, let's move on.

The Activity
There is no activity. Basically it's about reading about other people's interests and see how uninteresting they are, finding out how they hate books, how cool they are because they barely wear clothes, how hip they are because they can swear and pass lurid comments which are perfectly acceptable in their own little pathetic universe and basically discuss how useless they really are. The idea of discussing how hot strangers are escapes even the most sensible of men. Especially when they aren't literally or not even literally hot, unless you accept the above definition.

Who's Hot?
Anyone who is a member is instantly labeled hot. Then imaginary beauty contests are held where the winners are declared the ultimate losers in the real world and the people who take the time to vote, seeing they have plenty, are known as the universal losers. Shirtless and skin tight homo sapiens are abound, rampaging the pages of such sites and normal people who have a life can have a good time puking around if they choose to surf around such places.

In the end, it is the dumbest thing to do if you have a life and any dignity at all. There is no point exposing yourself to gather 'flattering' comments and if you are lonely, you probably deserve to be if you chose respite in such sites or you can find more decent ways of making actual friends and not 'one-timers'. But hey for those looking for a good laugh, the hot sites of all these cool people, middle-aged losers and super geeks, is just the place to go to.

By Osama Rahman

Kidstars

A Twelve Year Old's Valentine's Day

Being the kind of girl who always has her crush's name entwined with hers on her hand, obviously the articles about Valentine's Day in Rising Stars inspired me to write an article myself. Though I've read a lot of articles from people who actually have a chance of going out with a cute guy on Valentine's Day (i.e. people in their late teens) I've never read anything written by an onlooker who has no chance of walking hand in hand through the streets with the boy of her dreams until she's at least three years older. So I've decided to give you Valentine's Day from a twelve year-old's point of view.

Being the age and at the kind of school where only one girl in my class has a boyfriend, the best I can hope for from Valentine's Day is a note slipped into my locker by a hand I really wished belonged to someone else. And even that's unlikely unless my friends do it for a joke. But that being the highlight of the 14th (which also happens to be a Saturday, so I wouldn't get it until Sunday) I'm going to focus on that for a while.

Often I find myself looking in the mirror at my reflection, wondering if I'm pretty enough to get a card. And if I do, whether I'll be able to understand whether it's real or written by my best friend's hand. She wouldn't understand what a cruel prank that would be to me because she probably doesn't yearn for a card that much herself. It doubtless seems really desperate to be longing so much for a silly piece of paper, but it would signify that I was good enough, and would definitely raise my self-confidence.

Then there's the music and daydreams. Constantly listening to romantic songs and imagining being with that special person...Actually I don't do that much, as I listen to all my favourite songs all the time and I'd much rather be acknowledged as pretty than actually go out with any of the boys in my class.

If you have a beautiful older sister, like I do, then you'll definitely see her getting a card, a long phone call or a gift. Last year I helped a friend of hers arrange to give her a gift secretly, on her boyfriend's behalf (he was out of the country). Although that would make you feel a little jealous, you could have fun with it too. If my sister was here now (she's not in the country) then I would tease her A LOT, try to listen in on her conversations, send her fake cards, and whole load of other stuff to utterly irritate her, just because it's not fair that's she's old enough and I'm not. Then there's the fun at school…teasing, asking strange people to be your Valentines, and pranks.

Teasing: I'm definitely planning to call up my friend (the one with the boyfriend) and tease her to death about what her boyfriend might do for her. Tease anybody else who I think might have a crush on somebody. Make extremely random couples of people in my class and laugh about it with my friends.

Valentines: When you're twelve, mostly, your Valentines always seem to end up being girls. It's quite funny to yell at your friends across the room to ask if they'll be your fourth Valentine. If your twelve, you should try, it's more fun then just moping around because you don't have a real Valentine. Then there's always the perennial fake Valentine Card trick to pull.So that would be the day of roses, hearts, turtledoves, kisses and entwined hands from a pre-teen's point of view.

By Squeaky Clean