Unfortunately, we all know this does happen because there’s at least one person in every group of friends that sets the bad example. That’s why my little Lexi Fung wakes up with Daddy every day and heads to the office to work. In fact, she’s the one that kicks Daddy till he wakes up. See, she’s already taking charge! And as you can see in the video, she’s quite good at scheduling her day out and getting things done!

I’m hoping that if I teach her right, one day, she’ll be out of my house by 18, become an accomplished Olympic Athlete, and be wealthy enough to be a Dragoness on Dragon’s Den. I set the bar high for my little one

It really is a great charity event and I’ll definitely look forward to next year’s event a little more. Especially if they bring back that awesome beef tenderloin at the buffet! With my new found fame in the UK, I’m wondering if I will be invited to drive the “Reasonably Priced Car” on Top Gear UK? It’ll be the only way to find out if a Geek is faster than a Stig!

The original article from the BBC is posted here. Now if only I can redeem myself after the disastrous Hog Shack Cookhouse’s Flat Line Burger Challenge!

Futurelooks – MEGATechie news and reviews for techie people.

I always thought that MEGATechNews had the potential to be a great little spot for quality bite sized chunks of tech news on a variety of topics, from computers to consumer electronics to weird tech that captures the imagination. While the site has been really good at being a repository of news posts for all the great sites that link back to the content produced at Futurelooks, it wasn’t until I decided to post a story about a “finger mouse” from COMPUTEX 2007 that it dawned on me that one day, MEGATechNews could be as great, if not greater, than Futurelooks. That story was actually DUGG to the front page on DIGG. However, being one man with all my time devoted to Futurelooks made it impossible for me to create the quality of content I wanted to maintain at MEGATechNews. Then at CES 2011 this year, things started looking up for the future of the site.

Deals Are Really Made at CES

During the week of CES this year, we actually posted a few things that totally fit the gadget focus of MEGATechNews and sent it out to our affiliate sites. The response was fantastic as over night, traffic tripled on the little site that no one really looked at. I had also floated out bids to have some direct ads finance the growth of the site and long term supporter of Futurelooks, ZALMAN, stepped up as our first advertiser. You can see the banner in the 728×90 spot at the top so make sure you check out the great products they make.

In the meantime I’m working on closing other deals that will ensure that we get to grow MEGATechNews and give it the love it deserves. But the biggest competitive advantage that MEGATechNews has is the 10 years of relationships that I’ve built at Futurelooks. While many sites fail within the first year, this one has almost everything it needs to succeed.

The “Kwan” Factor

Michael has worked with me for a very long time and he’s written for many tech related sites including MEGATEchNews and Futurelooks where he specializes in mobile products including laptops and phones and gadgets. He is known for a no nonsense, straight to the point evaluation style that would really work well for this new site. Something that he could continue developing as the new Managing Editor. While he is best known as a “freelance” writer, I knew that he was perfect for this post when he finally liked it and put a ring on his long time sweet heart. Clearly he’s not just a freelancer that hops around. He could commit and that was the last thing on my checklist before making an offer.

If you want to write for a fresh new gadget blog, you might want to keep an eye on MEGATechNews for your chance to shine soon!

Like It. Follow It. Subscribe to It.

Michael’s first post as “The Man” gives us all the things we need to keep up with MEGATechNews. We’ve given it the power of Twitter, Facebook and soon YouTube. So make sure you go out and social media up with the new site. Give him all the support that you’ve been giving Futurelooks and make sure you let him know every day that he’s doing a fantastic job because at the end of the day, I might be around in the background, but this is his ship. I’m just the the “Number One” to his “Jean Luc Picard” on this voyage.

Futurelooks – Digital Lifestyle and Technology for the Masses. Home to reviews and articles on cool electronics, computer hardware and gadgets.

This past Saturday during our regular DotComPho time, we decided to change venues. But this new venue had a food challenge. Of course, being the one who tackled the 12 Egg Omelet, 4 lb Bowl of Pho, and Burritozilla, I stepped up to the plate to take on Hogshack’s Flatline Burger Challenge; a monster two patty double burger topped with two individual grilled cheese sandwhiches that replace your standard garden variety buns. If your maths are up to snuff, that’s four slices of thick bread and cheddar cheese inside. Add to that two more slices of cheese to cover the individual patties, special home made mayo, four thick cut tomato slices and romaine lettuce and you have a very tall order. Oh…one more thing…

The challenge dictates that you need to take a side dish. That could be their awesome hand cut fries or a garden or caesar salad. But the kicker of this challenge is time: 5 minutes is all you get to complete this meal. If you take it all down in the challenge time, you get it for free!

What The Hell Is a Hog Shack Cookhouse?

Richmond, BC is better known locally for its mainly Chinese population, bad drivers (most of which bribed for the licenses), and some of the best Asian cuisine in North America. But just outside of the city lies the small seaside village of Steveston. Though more known for its fresh seafood, Hog Shack Cookhouse is definitely something different and something good different at that. In fact, they are the first and only BBQ Cookhouse in the Steveston area. I mean, who doesn’t like BBQ?

The Hog Shack sits in what used to be a Greek Restaurant known as Correlli’s. The owners bought the the place and installed cooker out back and the rest is history. But remnants of the past still remain as the original owner still works there as part of the wait staff.

Menu wise, the Hog Shack has all the great BBQ goods like brisket, sausage, pulled pork, ribs, you name it. But they also pay homage to the excellent local seafood by including some great Southern inspired dishes as well as some great takes on classics like fish and chips. However, today we weren’t here for that because we had come to take on their Flat Line Burger Challenge!

On Your Marks! Get Set… EAT!

I have never been well known for speed eating contests. Having a gag reflex makes it very hard to go faster than one can chew. I guess I’ll never be good in a hot dog contest, but I can go for quantity within a reasonable time frame. My strategy was to deconstruct the burger, going for the protein patties first, then the grill cheese, splitting them and dunking them into cold water ala Kobayashi, then gobbling up the greens as fast as I could with strategic bites in between to moisten the palette.

Unfortunately, the greens weren’t the moist iceberg lettuce variety so there was no moistness to be had. The dry greens needed dressing and I only had 5 minutes. See the whole thing to down below…

UPDATE: Stacey from Metro Van Food also made a video for us to gawk at. Check it out below…

Trying to take down the tomatoes at the beginning caused a bit of a delay and I was too exuberant with the patties, causing a backup in the pipe. Going back and doing this all over again, I would have definitely folded the patties and left the ruffage for last. Assuming I pass the hurdle of the burger itself, I would have chosen fries instead because in terms of speed, it would have been faster to attack them versus trying to chew dry greens. Not to mention, win or lose, Fries are much tastier at the end of the day.

Thanks Hog Shack Cookhouse for your encouragement. I will indeed be back to claim my place at the Flat Line Challenge 2011 Competition on Canada Day!

At CES 2011 this year, I did something that I didn’t expect. I actually won the Build Your Own PC Race for Charity. Despite coming in second and fourth before in 2008 and 2007, I was never really a heavy weight contender to win. Nor did I feel that I would be able to repeat any of my past successes. It’s a very Canadian way to think about things isn’t it? But after thinking back to the things that transpired before the four minutes and nine seconds of racing, there were some key things that I did this year that might have created an opportunity for me to take the win this year.

No Pressure. No Panicking.

I arrived late to the event because I wasn’t even sure I was going to go because I wanted to go with the rest of the Futurelooks Team to go race go-karts at another event put on by MSI Computer. So I casually strolled in, and was the last one to grab my number. I had actually panicked the organizers because I didn’t correspond with them at all the week or so before the event. They even tried calling me minutes before I showed up right at the sign up. But of course, it was for charity and I had to make an appearance. I wasn’t expecting to win. I just wanted to see if I could finish up quick enough to get in a race at the Go Kart track before the other event closed up.

I Did What I Was Good At

As many of you know, I like to eat. So the first thing I did was hit the buffet and stuff my pie hole. I took so many portions of the beef tenderloin that the lady carving recognized me and loaded me up. I was literally “mooing” by the time we were called for the racers meeting. Of course, I took another new plate of food to the racers meeting. You know. Just in case I was hungry.

I Tried To Listen

At the race meeting, everyone had their notes out. I shoved them in my back pocket so I didn’t get au jus or lobster risotto on them. I also pocketed bread sticks and bread so that I could sop up the remaining au jus. Since this year’s racers uniforms were BBQ aprons, there were some great front pockets to hide food for mid race snacking. I didn’t hear a thing because I basically chewed through the whole meeting and the crunch of the bread sticks didn’t help.

iJustine was actually behind me busy studying her instruction sheet in the above picture. The race attracts media celebs from all mediums.

I Went Back For More Food

Before they started introducing the racers, I B-Lined back to the buffet table, got another plate of food, and shoved more bread sticks into my handy BBQ racing apron. The links to the videos I’ll be posting will show some strange lumps in my apron. No, it’s not because I was excited. That’s actually food

I Ate While Looking At The Instructions

Once I got to my station, I decided to look at the instructions, accompanied by my stash of bread sticks and a Corona. I figured that another plate of food would get in my way so I raided the bread stand. I had so many bread sticks it was actually hilarious. I think Kevin Pollack, the comedian they hired to entertain us before the race, actually looked over a few times to see where the hell I was hiding so many because I was always chewing on something.

The systems we were building were actually pretty decent for a charity event, sporting AMD Radeon HD 5830 video cards, 4GBs of DDR3 memory, a GIGABYTE AMD 880 series board, a Phenom X6 processor, and both an SSD and a platter based hard drive. In previous years, they used really crappy Thermaltake cases that must have been their bottom of the line because they were so thin. This year they used CoolerMaster HAF 912 cases and they were solid. Really enjoyed building in them and most importantly, everything fit properly inside and didn’t bend like those other cases.

Kevin Pollack did his thing for 20 minutes, and I had enough food for 20 minutes. WIN!

Think About The Food

Throughout the race, I couldn’t stop thinking about how good the beef tenderloin was and wondered if I would make it back to the buffet before they cleaned up. So naturally, I had to go as fast as I could and completed my build in four minutes and nine seconds. Second place was four forty four and it looked like my time was over two minutes faster than last year’s winners. When I’m hungry I have to eat!

Unfortunately, because I won, I had to hang out and get pictures taken, and get interviewed by the organizers, and by BBC, and by any other news outlet that needed a statement or a picture. Didn’t quite make it back to the buffet unfortunately.

What To Do For Next Year

So clearly, additional preparation and psyching myself out isn’t the way I roll. I seem to do best completely winging it and with a full stomach, while showing up as late as possible, deciding only to come an hour before the event starts. I guess this is horrible advice for people looking for a secret strategy but it seems to be one that works for me. I guess that’s why they had to make up a quote for me for the official press release:

“This was my third year participating in the race,” said Stephen Fung. “I came in with a strategy and was determined to build the computer in record time. I consider the Build Your Own PC Race a highlight at CES.”

I chuckle every time I read that. But I guess it sounds better than what I WOULD have told them

Here are a few videos that I found from the event including one from CMHD.TV, CoolerMaster’s own in house channel:

I guess I’ll be there again next year. But maybe I’ll show up a bit earlier just to get my eat on. I hope the money I won and the computer I built goes to good use helping out the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.