Where's the beef?

In the old days, when tv commercials could be innovative and people would stop and stare and say, "Hey! That's really innovative.", the fast food franchise Wendy's came out with one of the most innovative, quick, witty, slang terms that lasted for a long time. "Where's the beef?" was asked by a little old obnoxious lady/grandmother and quickly entered into the everyday conversation of America. The old woman, Clara Pellar, would stand alongside another actress and ask "Where's the beef?". Wendy's was drawing attention to the lack of burger found in the competition's burgers. Fast forward from 1984 to present day and the same is being asked about the new, innovative phones on the market today. In our short-term awe of today's quickly changing technology the question we ask ourselves when a new model or update comes out is "What's different?" Isn't that pretty much the same phone I already have? The ads placed strategically every 30 seconds on your tv and computer and phone and billboards and buses and magazines and even YouTube videos tell us we don't need different as long as we remain cool. Of course remaining cool only costs between $50 - $300 for phones and $200 - $2500 for computers. Wendy's played it safe back then only asking customers to spend a $1 or more for the coolness factor. Steve Jobs had no qualms asking us to spend hundreds because there was beef in the new phones he was offering. Today, almost six months from the purchase of the newest and greatest phone to ever see the android/apple market, we look at our $199 investment and say, "This is just not fast enough and the camera just doesn't have enough pixels. Forty years ago, when I still believed in a fat guy showing up with plastic toys made by elves with tools as common as a hammer and pliers, I would sit in awe for one morning out of 365 and imagination would overtake me. Now, forty years later, I simply can't wait a few weeks for a price drop in the latest and greatest technological wonders. I am expected, like a good consumer, to keep the madness going. Even now, typing on this old dilapidated $1000 laptop, I am un-impressed like I was several months ago and my mind turns to thoughts of ebay and cnet tech for the latest updates. What the heck is wrong with me? And You? Are we that de-sensitized to the appreciation of that which glitters? Can we possibly sit through another ad and say to ourselves, "This is good enough for what I need" and smile with satisfaction? The question remains how hard am I willing to work to waste another paycheck on the latest gadget to come out of apple headquarters? Or South Korea? Or China? Apparently I am still willing and happy to do it. The HTC One has hit the shelves and this one is totally different. The old phone had a speaker on the back. The newest version has two speakers. Can there be any debate? My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.