I spend at least eight hours, most of my working hours, from Monday to Friday, in front of a computer. Checking my office email, responding to office and Web-based instant messages, surfing the Internet, and reviewing work manuals. And do my job, which is editing works by industry analysts.

Upon getting home, usually a few minutes before midnight, it’s my home PC’s turn to have my full attention. I spend about a couple of hours more working on my weekly columns and articles about the latest developments in the IT world.

For some years now, my daily life seems to have to do with IT and the gadgets and toys that, in various ways, make the digital world a lot more exciting than its analog counterpart.

And yet, while I am always ready to drop whatever I am doing at the moment just to spend time with a new gadget, I never let those devices dictate how I live my life.

I have some friends and family whose lives are ruled by gadgets. One became a slave to the mobile phone; in particular, texting.

A few years ago, he would spend the whole night practically texting the hours away.

Struggling to stay awake while the rest of the world is asleep, he would be sending and receiving SMS and watching those messages broadcast by a TV channel.

Another friend, on the other hand, has been spending all his money and maxing out his credit cards in order to get his hands on the latest mobile phones, MP3 players, and other tech gadgets.

In cases like these, gadgets no longer are the enabling devices their designers and makers envisioned them to be.

Hotter Walkmans

Exploding batteries aside, the iPods and iPhones continue to be the world’s coolest portable media players and smartphones, respectively. These Apple products continue to post sales figures that leave their competitors gasping for air and desperately in need of life-support systems.

In Japan, however, the iPod was outsold by the Walkman for the first time in four years.

This rare victory over its competitor Apple gives the struggling Japanese electronics giant a most pleasant and welcome break from a rather long series of bad news. Sony, which last year suffered its first annual loss in 14 years, is expected to remain in the red for a second for the first time in 50 years.

Personal

My wife celebrated her birthday a few days ago. For the mother of my sons, my life companion and source of strength and joy: Happy birthday.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.