Non-computer stuff I go LG. TV is LG, Blu-ray player is LG and phone is LG. My soundbar will be LG. They all work perfectly together.
On the PC side of things, for graphics cards it is AMD and Sapphire. I've had nothing but great products from them.
Favorite band of all time is Korn, there for I also like Slipknot, Rammstein, Red Fang, Protest the Hero and stuff like that. However, I just discovered Sleigh Bells and am loving them.
Panel shifting = paddle shifting? Assuming so, I would say no. I work as a mechanic for a living and I have never seen/heard of that ever being done. Of course anything is possible if you throw enough money at it, but a car with paddle shifting is an automatic with electrical switches to tell the computers to change gears. If you wanted to add padel shifting to a true manual transmission you would have to run a new hydraulic line or cable and it's so not worth it.
I won a Limited Edition Call of Duty 2 from Xfire. They had a chat with the developers and I was chosen to be a part of it, then the 10 people who asked the best questions won a copy of the game. I won.
Disclamer: I do not own any of these consoles.
XB1: Trying to change too much at once. It is the future but you have to take it slow. People don't like change.
PS4: PS3+. It's a more powerful PS3, what most people wanted. When it's 2016/2017 it will be interesting to see if people realize what the Xbone was trying to do.
WiiU: A mistake. The Wii was a sucess because so many none gamer people bought it, then soon realized they don't care for it. Now they're trying to do it again but non-gamers didn't care for their original Wii.
If by coolest you mean fastest than that would be a 370Z Twin Turbo that came into my work. The coolest car I have ever been in, but not driven is the Gumpert Apollo.
I became interested when my PC couldn't play CS:S so I saved up some money and bought a X800 Pro. Seeing such a huge upgrade made me want to keep upgrading the rest of the PC.
I was in a high speed police chase, the only other cars on the road were school buses. There were also giant t-rex's. One of the t-rex's lowered his mounth to the road and I drove inside and busted out though his tail. I woke up shortly after.
I don't know the exact amount, but I would say next to nothing. $38 for the month of December. No AC or heat. The summer months can reach bills of $280 (Arizona)