The power of lightness, the essence of beauty.

If you, dear reader, were to tell me after I had purchased the original iPad Mini that I would make the jump to the larger and heavier iPad Air a little over a year later, I would have scoffed at your remarks. Why wouldn’t I? The iPad (or future iterations thereof) is a heavy, bulky, and overpowered piece of gadgetry. I already have a MacBook Air for all my portable computing needs, so why in the world would my next tablet be the larger and more expensive iPad when I could wait for the retina iPad Mini? Hell would have to freeze over before I would make that change.

A year later, hell has frozen over.

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Last week, I finally pulled the trigger. Convinced that my 2010 MacBook Pro had seen better days and unimpressed with the arrival of more spinning umbrellas of death in Mavericks, I knew I had to make a decision. Either buy a new laptop or upgrade the internals.

The latest MacBook Airs with its 10+ hr battery life made me yearn for something better than the 4-5 hours I was seeing. Combined with the speedy SSD, how could I go wrong?

One night, while perusing the Apple subreddit, I came across a post by someone who had recently upgraded their MacBook Pro with more RAM and a new SSD. Inspired by his experience, I conducted some further research to see the prospects of following suit. To my surprise, SSDs have become more affordable since I last checked. A 250GB SSD could be bought for around $200. Why pay five times that amount with a new rig when I can simply replace the one part that can provide the biggest benefit?

With that said, this is what I did:

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See how happy they are to buy your old iPhone?

Over the years, I have sold a number of my electronics on eBay such as my beloved Gameboy SP, a Gamecube, and an iPod Touch. Most recently, I helped my sister sell her “old” 2011 Macbook Air, which was by far the most expensive and nerve-racking sale I have ever made. I prayed that whoever ended up with the laptop wasn’t some scam artist looking to pilfer credit card information, passwords, and other personal information that I inadvertently failed to make unretrievable. There are only so many horror stories an amateur online seller can handle before the paranoia kicks in.

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BEEP!

I had just finished moving into my new apartment in college when I first heard the sound. Pausing and looking around, I failed to identify the source. That’s when the unmistakable noise returned once again.

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As with any major Apple event, today’s iPhone 5C/5S announcement was without much surprise for those who follow the rumor mills. For instance:

• iWork apps (Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iMovie, iPhoto) will be free for iOS
• The 5C. The “C” stands for color and not cheap, unless you’re willing to pay $500+ for the unlocked version.
• iPhone 5S, as in sensor
• Fingerprint scanner

But with every Apple announcement, companies often ask themselves, will Apple eat my company today? So, without further ado, let’s run down the list of the biggest losers from today’s event.

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