Control the urge and hold off on high tech

Patience is a virtue. For everything there is a season. We will sell no wine before its time. Leggo my Eggo. Relax, don't do it.

Throughout history, it seems every generation has coined a phrase specifically designed to simply calm itself down. And although it might seem a hopeless gesture in the get-it-now-or-sooner-if-you-can 21st century, I think it's time Digital Slobs added another temperance-tinged idiom to this venerable list, to control our tech-buying Pavlovian responses. Here's a humble, Pig Latin-ey first draft:

"Ixnay on the adgetsgay before Labor Day."

Clearly, if ever there was a time not to buy tech, it is now. With both the run-up to Black Friday deals (for old stuff still on the shelves) and Christmas-shopping announcements (for new shiny stuff about to take its place) only weeks away, things are at low ebb for bargain hunters and early adopters alike.

Just like the film industry, consumer tech works in cycles, and the blockbusters are over or, at least, the next crop is still in post-production. As a general rule, when most of the new movies coming out have subtitles, there's probably nothing best to be had inside a Best Buy.

Why this truism has yet to make it into the Farmer's Almanac is beyond me.

It's a digital fact of life as old as digital life itself, and I have the personal childhood emotional scars to illustrate it.

By the late summer of 1978, my mom caved to my relentless whining and bought me a white plastic hand-held Mattel Electronic Football game.

On the first day of school, however, I realized my impatience had a high price. Several of my friends had just bought Football II. It was identical to my toy, with two vital exceptions: It let you pass the ball, and it was green, as in "green with envy." Nice touch, Mattel. Well played.

But just a few years ago I forgot this early life lesson and bought the iMac G5 in September, weeks before rumors swirled about iMacs being updated to run on Intel chips. Long story short: Last week my hardware was too "outdated" to watch Olympic athletes online (or at least the thick banks of smog through which I'm told athletes occasionally penetrated).

With all this in mind, here's my short-term purchasing advice:

Want to buy anything Apple? Don't. Macrumors.com and Appleinsider.com are filled with hints that several somethings sleeker and better (and in the case of iPods, cheaper) are just around the corner.

Want to buy an HDTV? Don't. Walletpop.com and Gizmodo.com both report that excess inventory means another price drop is on its way sometime in the next few weeks. And expect yet another price fault line to give way nanoseconds after Turkey Day, if not sooner.

Want to buy a gaming console? Don't. Rumors are flying that the PlayStation 3 price will soon drop, though Sony denies it. Meanwhile, gamespot.com reports retailer GameStop is working on the assumption that a $50 price cut on both Xbox 360s and PS3s is inevitable "going into the holiday season."

Face it. It's August. Don't go out and pay top dollar to watch some French flick you must later pretend to understand. Just sit tight, rent "The Bank Job" and wait for the other gadget-enabled shoe to drop.

Curt Brandao is the Star-Bulletin's production editor. Reach him at cbrandao@starbulletin.com. See also: www.digitalslob.com