Maybe, just maybe, we’ll find out in a later episode that each V spaceship is actually part of an evil AT&T plan, but a side effect is that each ship actually improves cellular reception. Most iPhone owners would probably welcome alien overlords if they could actually use their phones around New York, San Fran, LA, Boston, and the rest of the major US cities.

Yes, I know this is one week behind as the episode aired last week. But I just watched it last night. Somehow I got one week behind.

Features

• iPod touch & iPhone compatibility
• USB syncing
• PC speaker mode
• 3.5mm aux in
• MSRP of $399.95

Pros

• Sounds great
• Can charge and sync iPod/iPhone
• Classic B&W look

Cons

• Likes to become unresponsive after syncing
• Limited on-device controls
• Top shelve is a dust and fingerprint magnet

The very first thing I noticed when I took this speaker dock out of the box was that this boy is sexy. Me like. But then again it’s a Bowers & Wilkins product so it better look the part. The iPod touch almost floats above the the concave chrome shelf and can be rotated into landscape mode for Cover Flow.

Even the small remote is classy and functional. It has basic playback controls along with a power button and input switch. The Zeppelin mini itself only has a power button and volume control. It really should have an input button as well. The moral here is don’t lose the tiny remote

Just like the original Zeppelin, this speaker dock is the best in its class. I put it up against the similarly-priced Bose SoundDock Portable and Altec Lansing systems and it clearly had better highs and lows. B&W put the good stuff in this little dock.

Actually the sound is pretty good for such a small package. Base comes through nice and full while the highs are crisp. It helps the rear-facing port if the speaker dock is placed in a corner or in front of a wall. But even when placed in the middle of a table, it delivers the goods.

The Zeppelin mini is nearly flawless until iTunes is involved.

This speaker dock is one of the few that can actually sync an iDevice and play back media via a type-A to type-B USB cable. It sounds great on the spec sheet, but syncing an iPod/iPhone often causes the speaker dock to freeze up and become unresponsive. Even when if iTunes is closed and the iPod is removed, most of the time the Zeppelin mini will need to be power cycled.

If iTunes doesn’t see the iPod though, everything works as advertised. You can easily switch the audio on the Zeppelin mini between playing back the iPod or media off the computer. But as soon as the iPod pops up in iTunes, everything goes to hell.

Conclusion

I’m torn here. I love the B&W Zeppelin mini’s sound and look. I’m even fine with the $400 price tag considering those two factors, but it just doesn’t work well when you try to sync your iDevice. Maybe the function would work better on a Mac than my Windows 7 machine or it’s something that can be resolved with an iTunes update. But I could see myself wanting to throw this thing into a wall if it was my main iPod syncing dock.

My advice here is to proceed with caution. Obviously the $400 price will turn a lot of people off anyway, but if it doesn’t faze you, buy the dock from a retailer with a good return policy. If it works for you or you don’t mind pulling the power cable after syncing your iPhone, keep it. If you get the urge to smash it like I did a few minutes ago, return it. But keep in mind that at least it sounds great, which is the most important factor when buying an iPod speaker dock anyway.

Anyway, we’ve got three pairs of MittenBerry gloves for your texting pleasure. To win, read on.

First, here’s what these things are:

A modern spin on the mitten, the Mittenberry keeps your hands warm and your relationships warmer. Its supersoft wool will have your hands thanking you, even on the coldest winter days. And a quick flip of the thumb flap lets your thumbs do the talking. A winter must-have, the Mittenberry is the perfect complement to the iPhone, BlackBerry, or your device du jour. We guarantee it will be love at first sight. You’ll be smitten with our mittens.

Next, comment below. We’ll pick three winners at random to own these gloves. I don’t think you HAVE to get pink, but you can if you want to.

The average universal remote is $150 so the price isn’t too bad, but at the same time, it does utilize the iPhone’s touchscreen and hardware to power the remote (read: shouldn’t it be cheaper?). The RedEye remote may be a solid option for those who are already looking for a universal remote and don’t already have one. At the same time, at a lower price point, I could see this going from a nice-to-have for iPhone owners to a must-have, given the quality of the device.

I’m still putting the RedEye through a variety of well-thought-out (not) and rigorous (not) tests, so we’ll hold off for a full review. For now, hit the jump for more pictures and impressions.

RedEye was previously in private beta for testing purposes only, but is available for purchase as of today at their website.

The RedEye device itself has great design, and I was impressed with the quality of the hardware. It probably shouldn’t be stuck in the middle of a living room wrestling match, but it could probably handle an accidental ass-squishing or two. Unless of course your 300 lb. Aunt Edna decides to take a seat on it.

First impressions: I’m happy to say the device works – which is, well, fairly important. It connects to your iPhone via Wi-Fi and doesn’t seem to have any significant latency from pressing the button on your iPhone to firing a signal off to your TV/DVR/Blu-Ray player. That said, I’ve only tried it on Dish Network’s awful set-top box thus far, which already has a ridiculous lag time. Setup was a bit difficult, but that’s to be expected given that it’s a universal remote. The RedEye definitely has great potential, and as long as it delivers on some core universal remote features, it may just be worth the hefty price tag. Check out the pics and promo video below.

Short Version: Equal parts backup battery and iPhone dock, Dexim’s $55 P-Flip Foldable Power Dock serves as a nice daily desk accessory and then easily pulls double duty as a portable travelling companion.

Review:

Guess what? There are a million iPhone accessories. And it’s not easy to stand out in the crowd if you’re a company that makes iPhone accessories. But sometimes the best course is to offer a simple solution that addresses more than one need for the common iPhone owner and to offer your product at a decent price.

In this case, Dexim has merged a small, unobtrusive iPhone dock with a portable backup battery. Exciting? Not really, but it doesn’t have to be because, at $55, you’re getting two accessories in one for close to the price of most competing backup battery offerings.

The dock is compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GS and all generations of the iPod touch. The battery pack is 2000mAh, which is about 1.5 times the capacity of the iPhone’s internal battery. So you get about a charge and a half out of the dock. A full recharge of my iPhone 3GS took about an hour and a half.

Dexim rates the product as capable of 8 hours talk time, 15 hours of video, 15 hours of gaming, or 60 hours of music. I can confirm the 60 hours of music claim. I set my phone into airplane mode (turns off all data connections) and let it play music nonstop starting Friday night after work and noticed it had finally petered out on Monday morning. Side note: going without a phone for an entire weekend is weird for most of Saturday morning but becomes pretty nice after a while.

The dock folds down to a very manageable travel size and can itself be recharged with a mini-USB cable. If you dock your phone into it while it’s charging, you’re able to synch with iTunes and all that good stuff.

The main downside is that if you use any sort of protective case, you’ll have to remove it in order to charge up your battery on the go. That’s the tradeoff for having a backup battery that doubles as a dock, though. Also, the $55 price tag may seem a bit high at first glance but considering that a fair amount of competing backup batteries go for around $50, the added bonus of the docking feature makes for a pretty decent purchase.

P-Flip Foldable Power Dock [Dexim]

SolarVoice 908 Features

• up to five hours talk time; infinite standby time in sunlight
• A2DP for streaming multimedia audio
• innovative ear buds specifically designed to allow air to reach the ear canal, which eliminates “plugged-ear” sensation and fatigue
• multi-point connection allows simultaneous pairing with two mobile phones
• MSRP: $74.99

Pros

• charges via USB, A/C, or sunlight
• A2DP support allows you to listen to music when not on a call
• extremely comfortable

Cons

• Pricey
• extremely slow solar charging

SolarCharger 906 Features

• about the size of a deck of cards
• can store charge for up to one year
• charges in four hours via USB, 22 hours in direct sunlight
• MSRP: $59.99

Pros

• charges via USB, A/C, or sunlight
• works in extreme temperatures: stores charge up to 158 degrees F, charges devices at up to 127 degrees F
• includes adapter plugs for many common accessories

Cons

• included cables are “charge only”, and not regular USB data cables
• assortment of connectors aren’t easily managed
• extremely slow solar charging

Review

Speaking solely for myself, I’m not particularly keen on Bluetooth headsets. They have a certain utility, but I’m not often in situations where that utility is really necessary. If I were, though, I think the SolarVoice 908 would be my headset of choice. The earbud really is extremely comfortable to wear, and just as the marketing material suggests, I never experienced the “plugged ear” feeling that I get with other headsets.

In most respects, the SolarVoice 908 is a pretty run-of-the-mill headset: sound quality is okay, but not superb; it’s lightweight and comfortable; and the buttons are too small to use without looking at the darned thing. The fact that it can be charged by sunlight, though, is a pretty big draw. It comes with a little cradle that you can mount to your dashboard, or office window, so that you can easily let it soak up the rays when it’s not in your ear. Solar charging is extremely slow, so you’re not likely to rely solely on solar power to keep this thing going. The notion of “infinite standby” is neat, but requires “optimum sunlight”, which isn’t likely to happen for most folks, most of the time. It’s a nice fall-back, though, and may help you out if you’re the kind of person who forgets to plug in their devices regularly.

The features that sway my opinion of the SolarVocie 908, though, are the A2DP support and multi-point connectivity. If you’re going to have a Bluetooth headset stuck in your ear, it might as well be doing something. A2DP support lets you stream media from your fancy smartphone, allowing you to enjoy (regrettably mono) music. It’s handy for audiobooks, too! And multi-point connectivity means you can keep the SolarVoice 908 paired with two devices simultaneously. That’s probably not a big deal to most people, but it’s a nice feature to have, if you ask me.

The SolarCharger 906 gets a very big thumbs up from me. It’s small, lightweight, and extremely useful. It’s the kind of accessory I really don’t mind carrying around with me, because there’s almost no penalty to doing so. When I need it, I can pull it out of my manbag and charge my devices.

The SolarCharger 906 charges pretty quickly via USB (about four hours), and provides more than enough juice to keep my iPhone going for a couple of hours. If I’m on a long drive, or visiting friends, I can simply leave the unit on the dash of my car, or propped in a window somewhere to soak up some solar energy. Full charge by sunlight takes 22 though.

This would be a good device to take camping, to be sure. Leave it out to charge while you hike, or hunt, or do whatever it is you do when you’re in the woods, away from your computer. You could then power an iPod or other media player to keep you entertained through the long, dark night. It might also be a lifesaver, should you need to make an emergency cellular call after a couple days in the rough.

Juggling the various adapters included with the SolarCharger 906 is a nuisance, and it would have been nice if some more elegant storage mechanism was provided. Instead, you get a clear plastic box, with individually wrapped adapters. Also, keep in mind that the cable provided with the device has a micro USB connector, but does not carry any USB data signaling. It can only be used for charging devices. In order to minimize the number of cables you tote with you, set theirs aside and use a regular USB data cable: it’ll allow the SolarCharger 906 to charge your devices, and allow your devices to connect with your PC as expected.

Product Pages: SolarVoice 908 and SolarCharger 906

Today is Cyber Monday. It’s like Black Friday but with more indoorsiness. And while Black Friday is more of a brick-and-mortar, you’re-there-in-person type of thing, Cyber Monday is all online and there are far too many stores and deals to completely cover. Here’s a head start on some of the better deals from the bigger sites, though.

You’ll find pretty good deals at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Dell. Newegg, Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples have a few gems as well. Apple’s got a few discounts but only on accessories. Buy.com’s list is pitiful, as is Radio Shack’s. Target’s not offering a whole lot of electronics deals for some reason but there’s some decent pricing on other stuff.

Amazon.com

• 8GB iPod touch for $158 (link)
• Creative Vado HD camcorder for $89.99 (link)
• Garmin nuvi 260w GPS for $114.99 (link)
• Nintendo Wii plus $20 Amazon.com Gift Card for $199.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

BestBuy.com

• 19-inch 720p LCD TV for $159.99 (link)
• Garmin nuvi 205w GPS for $104.99 (link)
• 15.6-inch Acer Aspire Laptop with 4GB of RAM for $399.99 (link)
• EA Wii games for $20 off (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Walmart.com

• Nintendo Wii Bundle (system, extra controllers, game, accessory) for $249 (link)
• eMachines 15.6-inch Windows 7 laptop + extras for $368 (link)
• Sony Bravia 32-inch HDTV for $398 (link)
• 8GB iPod nano + accessory kit for $145 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Dell.com

• ST2410 Full HD 24-inch LCD monitor for $184 (link)
• 1.5TB Western Digital 3.5-inch hard drive for $99.99 (link)
• Inspiron Zino HD desktop starting at $299 (link)
• TomTom One 130 GPS for $79.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Newegg.com

• Intel Core i5 desktop with 4GB of RAM for $649.99 (link)
• ASUS 18.5-inch LCD monitor for $79.99 (link)
• Garmin nuvi 205 GPS for $89.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

OfficeMax.com

• eMachines 18.5-inch LCD monitor for $69.99 (link)
• Buy one, get one free on all ink and toner (link)
• Samsung 23-inch TV/Monitor for $249.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

OfficeDepot.com

• Toshiba T135-S1310 13.3-inch ULV notebook with 9-hour battery for $599.99 (link)
• Ativa 21.5-inch LCD monitor for $139.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Staples.com

• Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 for $29.99 (link)
• Acer 21.5-inch LCD monitor for $109.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Apple.com

• Monster Beats headphones for $269.95 (link)
• MoGo Talk for iPhone for $116.95 (link)
• Eye-Fi 2GB Geo SD Card for $53.95 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Buy.com

• TomTom One 130 GPS for $82.49 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

RadioShack.com

• TomTom XL 330-S GPS for $99.99 (link)
• Full list of deals here…

Target.com

• Full list of deals here…

Really, it’s as simple as picking up a spool of conductive thread, sewing a few loops, and tying it off. Do you think you can handle that? Now, conductive thread is pretty coarse, so you shouldn’t try this on your fine kid leather gloves, but any pair of cheap wool or cotton gloves should hold up just fine to a bit of poking.

[via Lifehacker]

Remember the iTwinge, that crazy slide-on plastic sheath for the iPhone that would give you a physical keyboard by overlaying real buttons on top of the virtual ones? This is just like that, except it’s clear, rather than opaque black. Oh, and it requires you to stick a bunch of adhesive crap all over your iPhone.

Read the rest of this post >>

TouchMyApps has the hot tip on those 4,000 iPhone stolen in Antwerp. The iPhones are now being fobbed off in Russia and salespeople are a little wary of getting their gear confiscated and or shut down.

The owner of shack at a local computer market who wishes to remain anonymous, confirmed that a lot of the nearby shops have already started to feature the Belgian phones, though not all of the owners decide to strike a deal with the thieves. The main concern is that Interpol is already on the case, and with serial numbers in hand, will be able to confiscate a large portion of the phones. Another matter – Interpol is likely to demand the that the phones’ IMEIs be disabled, making them worthless for Russian networks, and in turn drawing the ire of many customers. At the same time, not everybody tracks the latest news and the resellers who still haven’t heard about the theft often gladly fork over cash in order to stock the phones.

If you buy an iPhone in Russia, confirm the model number doesn’t end in NL. Your stuff could be shut down remotely if it is.

If we applied Moore’s law to the art of DJing, we would probably get something like Amidio’s Touch DJ app. Gone are the software DJ’s who replaced the original vinyl DJ’s. Now you can spin beats on your iPhone or iPod touch without listening to them. Wait, what?

Touch DJ utilizes a innovative new method of mixing that they call visual mixing. Essentially, the app displays the waveforms of the two tracks side by side, and separates the bass pulses from the rest of the track. This way, you can see where the beat lands and sync your songs without having to hear them beforehand.

You get everything else you would want from DJ software, live sampling, looping, pitch bending, tempo control, etc. It has a separate MP3 / M4A library from iTunes, meaning you have to import your tracks into the app before you can use them. But Touch DJ equally sets the volume level across each of them based on RMS power. It’s available now from the iTunes store.

Go ahead and take that second helping of bacon-broasted mashed potatoes and high-fat gravy this Thursday, friends, because even if your tummy gets big and round like a steamed black bean bun, there’s an app for that.

Fitness apps for all!
iPhone fitness apps have come a long way since Nike+iPod. The addition of GPS opened entirely new vistas for running and biking enthusiasts and the iPhone’s video and audio capabilities made it fun to use the iPhone in the gym. Here are a few of my favorites.

PumpOne FitnessBuilder

FitnessBuilder offers [$9.99] 500 little workouts for you and allows you to stick to them by forcing you to record and possibly report them to friends when you’re done. You open the app, select a work out – there are a number of sets for various workouts including shorter sets for busy folks – and then you can record your reps and weight for posterity.

If you’re ripped like me you don’t need all 5,000 of the pictures and videos then you can just use the app to figure out what to do between hits of Muscle Milk. However, if you need some help in the gym this is definitely the way to go. One of my favorites and well worth the investment.

iFitness

iFitness [$1.99] is one of the first workout programs for the
iPhone and includes a method for creating your own workouts as well as a list of ready-made workouts for the lazy.

The app is less visually attractive than FitBuilder but it is considerably cheaper than the PumpOne offering.

Trimble AllSport GPS

Do you like to do all sorts of things? Running? Dancing? Hiking? Hang-gliding? Space walking? The Trimble AllSport GPS [$4.99] has you covered. The app allows you to select multiple activities including hiking, biking, skiing, and even driving. When you start a run it will map your exercise as you go and even allows for basic music control inside the app.

RunKeeper Pro

RunKeeper Pro is one of the first apps to use the iPhone’s GPS capabilities to track your runs. To use it, you start it up and press start. Then you run or bike. That’s it. You can then view your workouts online and share your runs with friends.

The app comes in two versions, Free and Pro [$9.99] and the Pro version includes voice prompts as well as photo and status updates from the road. The Pro version also allows you to set a special iPod playlist for your workout.

My Therapy Exercise

My Therapy Exercise [$19.99] might not be for everyone but it is an interesting addition to the fitness canon. The app includes 170 exercises for folks who may need to take things a bit slower due to injuries or illness. The system allows you to work on your therapy exercises at home and then email a trainer or doctor tour results.

It’s a bit pricey but it’s a very specific tool for a very specific purpose.

Using the Gas Cubby iPhone app to increase your fuel economy and keep your vehicle properly maintained can save you money and help the environment… but, if you’ve learned anything from CrunchGear, it’s that saving money isn’t much fun unless you can blow it on something cool and completely over the top. Well, one lucky CrunchGear reader gets to have their cake and eat it too. App Cubby, the developer of Gas Cubby, is giving away a Viper SmartStart kit to one lucky CrunchGear reader. If you own a car and an iPhone, surely you’ve heard about and have been lusting after Viper’s new technology that allows you to lock/unlock, open the trunk, and even start your car right from your iPhone.

And for those still behind the curve on using your iPhone to improve fuel economy and keep track of maintenance, Gas Cubby will be on sale for only $4.99 until Cyber Monday.

To enter, leave a comment below with your vision of “car 2.0.” How can mobile apps better integrate with vehicles to make your driving experience more fun, safe, efficient, and economical?

Note: CrunchGear and App Cubby will be awarding the winner a $500 gift certificate (the retail price of Viper’s SmartStart kit) to Best Buy. The winner will be have to handle compatibility, installation, etc.

We’ll pick a winner on Wednesday.

Congrats to Emanuel, our winner.

Porn is all about instant gratification. A business reliant on bringing its customers the goods fast, this industry has always had a history of being on the forefront of new technologies as they emerge for better products and faster distribution. Revolutionizing porn and how its enjoyed with the adoption of the VHS home video, the porn industry grew from a seedy underground sex scene into a $10 billion dollar a year business. Nowadays, the very same industry that once helped mainstream VHS win the battle against Betamax in the 70s and 80s, is facing the problem of staying relevant in today’s “I need it NOW” society. Porn, one of the earliest adopters of e-commerce and Internet broadcasting, is being threatened by the very instant gratification that has made it so profitable. Torrents and free video sites have seriously threatened the porn industry’s business model. Now anyone with a web cam and computer can be a porn star on the Internet. Are people willing to pay for porn anymore? What is the porn industry doing to set themselves apart from all the amateur porn makers out there? Looking towards future tech like mobile streaming, smart phone apps, and instant downloads to VOD systems, porn leaders are changing their business model in an attempt to stay relevant and profitable.

Sony’s Betamax video format was introduced in 1975, to be followed by JVC’s VHS a year later. Arguably a better video format, Betamax never took off much in part thanks to the porn industry’s involvement with the distribution and sale of VHS videotapes. It was said that porn was scarcely available on Betamax, possibly because of Sony’s stance against its production. On the other hand, porn was readily available on VHS because it was a cheaper medium for distribution, ultimately helping VHS win the battle over betamax in late 1980s. Offering consumers affordable movies to rent and movies to own, VHS helped build porn into a $10 billion dollar industry, and it made porn an at-home experience rather than forcing the consumer to visit a strip club, peep show, or adult movie theater. Enter the Internet and e-commerce in 1995, and the low-cost DVD in 2001, porn was becoming cheaper, more available, and easier to duplicate. File sharing became common place and the very technology that had made porn available to the masses both online and for rent threatened to take down the entire industry. Another threat that arose was the celebrity standard: the homemade sex tape. In a world where anyone can make a porno or be a porn star (re: Paris Hilton, Carrie Prejean, Pamela Anderson), how can porn as an industry compete? Porn producers have been forced to adopt higher production value and find new ways to reach their audience aside from the standard pay-per view or DVD model.

One new frontier in their quest for profitability is HD video. Consumers love seeing their favorite porn stars in HD because it makes them feel like they’re a part of the action more than ever before. Porn stars on the other hand? Not so much. Time to bust out the HD makeup. The same porn actresses that made seedy sexy, are being held to a higher Hollywood standard now that they’re in HD. Aside from new makeup, lighting, and post production techniques, porn directors like “Joone” are giving porn stars tips to stay HD ready, “I tell the girls to work out more, cut down on the carbs, hit the treadmill.” In an industry that made bleach blond, super tan, and “realistic” action from every angle the norm, could porn become more like a Hollywood film? Does this mean the end of hardcore as we know it with a movement towards over produced soft core style hardcore scenes in an attempt to set themselves apart from the amateur porn film makers? Aside from that – higher production costs also mean that porn is going to get pricey and no one wants to pay for pricey adult entertainment when you can get a fix for free online.

Aside from pursuing HD and better production value, porn makers are looking for new ways to monetize their product. One way they’re doing this is by jumping on the Video on Demand trend. Video on Demand is not new when it comes to porn, but it is becoming more athe norm when it comes to renting and viewing adult content movies online and on your TV. Creating online adult channels through VOD systems like Vudu, porn makers are breaking into VOD for instant distribution. Although, porn has not been fully integrated into the VOD scene. Companies like Sony aim to bar porn’s entry into VOD markets especially when it comes to Playstation 3. Aside from VOD, porn producers are looking to cash in on smartphones, iPhones, iPod Touch, and game consoles that can stream media or download media. Catering to the mobile phone industry are prepackaged micro SD cards that store porn to be viewed on any smart phone or computer. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have also revolutionized the conversation around porn. Once a dirty secret, Twitter users such as @AdultNewsWire aggregate porn news and spit it out to their list of followers to create an actual conversation around porn and its lovers. There are also the hard-to-find adult video games that always aim to titillate an adult gamer like Bonetown for instance, which featured a cameo by larger than life porn legend Ron Jeremy. Once an industry that had enough power to sway an entire nation towards VHS technology, the porn industry is now struggling to stay in front of new technological trends. Some may argue that technology has grown too big for the porn industry. But is the produced porn industry relevant when there is so much porn available online for free? The majority of us don’t really pay for porn anymore. If I wanna watch porn, I am probably going to go to a free site like RedTube or YouPorn for my fix. But then again I’m not too picky. However, the less technologically savvy or more old school consumer who are more willing to pay for their porn, will play a big part in keeping the porn industry alive. But between the new way and old way of getting your fix, as long as porn production companies stay ahead of the curve (no pun intended) with new distribution and sharing trends that keep these companies relevant in how entertainment is enjoyed, then porn as an industry will be just fine.


Guest columnist Lydia Leavitt writes about sex and, oddly enough, social media. For more information on the latest intimate technology, check out 69adget.com.

Short Version: You want to listen to Fergie in the kitchen. Don’t worry, I understand. Fergie and cooking eggs just go together well. If you’ll be piping Fergie off an iPhone or iPod, you’ll probably want a compatible speaker system.

Like anything in the audio world, the price tag on dedicated speaker systems for the iPhone or iPod can be surprisingly cheap ($30-40 bucks), or mind-blowingly expensive ($500+, like the Bose SoundDock 10). Most tend to work their way into a comfort zone of $129-$159.99 – and at an MSRP of $149.99, that’s exactly where you’ll find the Klipsch iGroove SXT. Originally released in 2007, the SXT has just been re-released with improved sound quality and compatibility with the latest iPhones and iPods. It’s not perfect, but with dual 2.5-inch subwoofers, it packs a good amount of boom for your buck.

Features:

• Dual 2.5-inch woofers in ported enclosure and dual 0.75-inch horn-loaded tweeters
• Features 3.5-mm auxiliary input
• Remote Control

Pros:

• The sound quality matches the price perfectly. It’s not going to blow away $200+ systems – but of any speaker I’ve heard under $150, this one takes the cake
• It looks great
• S-Video output for video/slideshow playback on compatible iPods

Cons:

• No volume indicator
• No FM radio

Review:

There I was in the kitchen, still rockin’ my pajama pants from the night before. Half a dozen eggs were left in the carton, the pan was just beginning to smoke, and the Klipsch SXT was just begging for me to hit the play button. I shot the go-ahead signal across the room with the remote control right as the first egg splashed down.

Listen up ya’ll, cause this is it. The beat that I’m banging is de-lic-ious.

Yep! I was listening to Fergie. Do I like Fergie? Oh hells nah. In fact, she drives me absolutely bat shit insane – but that’s exactly why I’d picked her for this test. If a stereo could make Fergie’s sinus-backed voice sound good, I’d give it a thumbs up. And sure enough, Fergie sounded pretty damn good. The sound was filling the room better than I’d expected out of the tiny box, with a decent amount of bass pounding out of the dual 2.5″ subs.

I dug around for a few speaker systems for the sake of comparison, and, from a sound quality standpoint, the Klipsch SXT seems to fit exactly where they’ve priced it. It blows away the $80-$90 iHome clock radios we had laying around the office, and sounds quite a bit better than the almost identically priced JBL On Stage 200ID. It fell a bit short against the JBL On Stage 400 series — but considering that that 400 series costs nearly $100 more, that’s pretty much what was expected.

Dedicated iPod speakers tend to be ugly chunks of black plastic, but that’s not the case here. The SXT is essentially one big glorious speaker grill, accented with a bit of silver plastic around the edges. It manages to be color neutral without looking cheap, so it ought to fit well in just about any room you throw it in.

Snap back to the kitchen – pajama pants, eggs, etc. No one was home (and thus, no one was around to make fun of my music selection) – might as well crank it up, right? I hit the volume up button – it got louder. I hit it again – it got louder again. So far, so good. The volume level was hurts-so-good loud at this point, but there wasn’t even a hint of distortion yet. I hit the button again and… nothing. I’d capped out the volume, but had no way of knowing as there isn’t any sort of volume indicator.

There also isn’t any FM radio. Considering that most people would presumably use this in rooms where they don’t otherwise have an audio system — and that it’s almost standard amongst lower-end systems — this is a bit disappointing. Alas, FM radio almost always gets abandoned once the price tag goes up, presumably because FM radio is the last thing you want (besides AM radio) when you want to be pushing quality sound.

If you’re looking for an iPod/iPhone speaker set that smokes the sub-$100 sets and the majority of stuff available around the same $150 price tag, the Klipsch iGroove SXT ought to fit the bill.

Product Page

Short Version: A universal notebook adapter with retractable cabling that extends to almost ten feet in length, comes with nine adapter tips, and features two USB charging ports.

Features:

• 90-watt universal notebook adapter
• Nine adapter tips
• Retractable cables extend to provide 9.5-feet of total length
• Includes two USB charging ports
• MSRP of $99.99

Pros:

• No tangled cables
• Built-in USB charging ports
• Decent system compatibility

Cons:

• Not all that compact, despite marketing claims that it’s “up to 60 percent smaller than competitors.”

Review:

When it comes to universal notebook adapters, it’s important to keep a couple things in mind. First, the term “universal” is a bit misleading as you’ll be hard pressed to find the Mag Safe adapter tips used with most of Apple’s notebooks. But that’s more of a legal/patenting issue than an omission by universal adapter manufacturers.

Second, most of them are priced pretty similarly so it’s a good idea to focus on certain features that appeal to you. The 90-watt ReTrak Universal Notebook Wall Charger, for instance, sports two built-in USB charging ports and a retractable cabling system for $100 as its way of differentiating itself (there’s also a 70-watt version available for $80).

When I first wrote about this item back in October, I saw the product photo and thought, “Hey, this thing looks pretty tiny.” And, indeed, it’s billed as being “up to 60 percent smaller than competitors.” Here’s the product shot:

You’ll notice that the retractable cord doodads in the above photo appear to be small compared to the main adapter housing. In real life, though, they’re not nearly as svelte – see the photo I took at the top of this post for a more accurate depiction.

So my initial reaction after actually opening the packaging was more like, “Oh, it’s about the same size as most of the other adapters I’ve seen.” It absolutely may be a bit smaller than some adapters out there, but I’m not sure where that 60% figure came from. That must have been a gigantic adapter that was used for comparison.

For the sake of our own comparison, here’s the adapter next to a 90-watt Sony adapter (on the right) and a netbook adapter (on the left). As you can see, it’s actually kind of big. Remember that you get the two USB charging ports, though, and the retractable cabling extends out to almost 10 feet in length without getting tangled up in your bag.

Both retractable cables can be detached from the adapter, which is a nice feature, and you get a little carrying bag for transporting the main parts of the adapter and the tips. As for compatibility, the adapter works with various notebooks from Acer, Compaq, HP, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, and Dell (see the full list here).

The product works as advertised – I tested it with a 13.3-inch Sony, a 15.6-inch Gateway, a 15.6-inch Sony, and even an 11.6-inch Acer netbook, as well as several USB devices (iPod, iPhone, MP3 players, PMPs, pocket camcorders) with no problems whatsoever.

Bottom Line:

Even though it’s not actually all that compact, the ReTrak universal charger’s tangle-free cabling, broad system support, and nice added bonus of two USB charging ports helps it to stand out from similarly-priced adapters. If you’ve got a handful of notebooks and a pile of portables that have made travelling an unbearable mess of adapters and cables, this ReTrak adapter can help to simplify things considerably.

Product Page [EmergeRetail.com]

At the suggested retail price of $129, the PogoPlug offers a lot of bang for the buck.

Here’s the full press release, for your enjoyment:

Second Generation Pogoplug™ Unveiled Today

Next-generation Hardware Design and Software Provide Enhanced Storage, Multimedia and Social Media Capabilities

San Francisco, Calif. – November 20, 2009 – Cloud Engines, Inc. unveiled the second generation of the award winning Pogoplug multimedia sharing device today giving consumers more flexibility to store personal content safely in the home and access, manage, and share it from anywhere on the Internet. The new Pogoplug hardware sports a new design boasting multiple USB ports supporting up to 4 external drives for expanded data capacity. The new Pogoplug also gives users improved sharing capabilities, an easy drag-and-drop interface to create engaging multi-media slide shows, seamless media playback, and enhanced sharing with friends on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Pogoplug acts like a gateway from your home or office through the Internet. It allows you to access, share and even stream your personal digital media directly to anybody, anywhere in the world. Your content always remains physically in your home or office, making it secure, convenient and available on your terms. Pogoplug is perfect for those individuals with increasingly mobile lifestyles and small businesses in need of simple, inexpensive mobile data access solutions.

“The reaction to the Pogoplug has been incredible. By listening to user feedback and following our own product roadmap, we are bringing a great second-generation product that gives our customers access to a host of new features that both improve the function of the Pogoplug, and add to the fun of using it as well.” said Daniel Putterman, CEO of Cloud Engines, Inc. “We are committed to giving our customers the best way to access their data from anywhere in the world, pushing the envelope with both product quality and design aesthetic. The result is what you see here today.”

NEW HARDWARE
The new Pogoplug design retains the simplicity and ease of use of the original while listening to consumer feedback and adding the ability to directly connect up to 4 external hard drives at once. The resulting product boasts an improved design with greatly improved functionality for users with multiple drives and an increasing need for easy synching and sharing of their digital libraries. This upgrade turns the Pogoplug into an even more prominent feature in the modern digital home or small business.

NEW FEATURES
Automatically Synchronize Photos, Videos, Music and Other Selected Content
Users can synchronize their Pogoplug with their PC or Mac to automatically import new content from popular applications such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and iPhoto. This feature allows Pogoplug owners to “set it and forget it” and always have access to new photos, videos and music from anywhere on the Internet.

Drag-and-Drop Music and Photo Slideshows
Users can easily create and share fun and engaging slideshows using their stored photos, videos and music. Creating a slideshow with Pogoplug is as simple as drag and drop, and sharing these slideshows is just as easy as ever. Once a user’s link is shared and viewed, their slideshow will immediately begin with the photos, videos and music they selected, playing seamlessly in the viewer’s browser.

Easier Sharing with Pogoplug Address Book
Pogoplug Address Book greatly improves the speed and ease of use of sharing with a user’s friends and family. Pogoplug automatically remembers all email addresses entered in a user’s previous shares – even if that share no longer exists – and makes them available in an easy to use address book to make sharing truly one click away.

Global Search Across Multiple Drives and Pogoplugs
With support for multiple drives on a single Pogoplug (and multiple Pogoplugs on the same account) Pogoplug has added “global” search support across all of a user’s Pogoplugs and drives. Search filters are now a distinct feature, allowing users to view all of their photos, videos and music in a single organized view, or to search for a specific file across all Pogoplugs and drives.

Organize Your Music, Photos and Videos
Pogoplug automatically displays music by Album, Artist and Genre, and shows cover art for quick access to a user’s favorite music. Photos are now displayed by photo timeline and videos are only a click away, including the ability to watch a preview in the thumbnail itself.

Play movies directly from my.pogoplug.com, or even to the iPhone
Pogoplug now supports the playback of videos directly from a Pogoplug, with support for the most popular cameras, video cameras and mobile phones. Movies can be shared and viewed directly from the Pogoplug website – or even from an iPhone!

Pricing and Availability
We are currently taking Pre-Orders for Pogoplug at www.pogoplug.com Units will ship before the end of the year – just in time for the Holiday Season. The Pogoplug has a suggested retail price of $129, with no additional service fees.

USEFUL LINKS

• Pogoplug web site: www.pogoplug.com
• Product photos: www.flickr.com/photos/pogoplug
• Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/pogoplug
• Pogoplug online community: www.pogoplugged.com

ABOUT THE POGOPLUG
The Pogoplug is a device that connects up to 4 external hard drives to the Internet. It is designed for consumers who have an external hard drive and have high speed Internet. Consumers can securely access and share all of their content [Files, Photos, and Video] from any Web browser or enabled mobile device with no additional monthly fees. Free your inner drive.

ABOUT CLOUD ENGINES, INC.
Founded in 2007 by experienced entrepreneurs from the digital media and security industries, Cloud Engines is located in San Francisco, California. The company was formed with a mission to change the way personal content is stored and distributed over the Internet. The Cloud Engines philosophy is that by making a product simple, open and affordable, the community will participate in making it better. For more information, please visit our Web site, www.cloudengines.com.

The Little App Factory seems to have a big problem on their hands. The company received a letter from Baker & McKenzie, representing Apple, asking that The Little App Factory change the name of one of their most successful applications. Why? It has the word iPod in it.

iRip (formally known as iPodRip) was originally written in 2003 at the MacHack developer conference in order to fulfill an obvious problem with the iPod. Basically, iRip lets your copy and transfer your songs from iPod and iPhone to your computer. The app itself has been downloaded more than five million times, and has helped users transfer more then one billion songs to their computer.

The Little App Factory CEO John Devor emailed Steve Jobs regarding the issue. Amazingly, Jobs replied.

The original email:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

My name is John Devor and I’m the co-owner of a small Mac shareware company named The Little App Factory and a long-term Apple customer and shareholder. I doubt you’re aware but we recently received a letter from a law firm working on Apple’s behalf instructing us that we had violated several of Apple’s trademarks in our application iPodRip and asking us to cease using the name and Apple trademarks in our icons.

We have been distributing iPodRip since 2003 with the aim of providing a method to recover music, movies and photos from iPods and iPhones in the event of a serious hardware failure on their Mac which leads to data loss. Our goal has been to provide the highest quality product coupled with the highest quality service in a bid to resolve some of the angst that is generated by such an ordeal; service befitting of an Apple product. In this department we think we have succeeded as we have approximately 6 million customers, many Apple employees, music artists and other notable people in society. In fact I’d argue that our customer service is the best of all competing applications in our niche as many of them are scams and frauds that leave Apple customers with a terrible taste in their collective mouths. We fear very much that tens of thousands of Apple customers looking to recover their own music and having heard of our product via word-of-mouth or otherwise, will instead find a product produced by one of our competitors, and will wind up the victim of a scam (one closely-named competitor charges a hidden monthly fee, for instance).

It is quite obvious that we mean Apple no harm with the use of the name iPodRip, or of the inclusion of trademarked items in our icons, and in fact I believe that we have been providing an excellent secondary service to Apple customers that has potentially caused you many repeat clients. In fact, we are quite aware that Apple support and store staff have recommended our software on numerous occasions as far back as 2004 so we have felt that we were doing something right!

With this in mind, we are in desperate need of some assistance and we beseech you to help us to protect our product and our shareware company, both of which we have put thousands upon thousands of hours of work into. Our company goal is to create Mac software of the highest quality with the best user experience possible. I myself dropped out of school recently to pursue a path in the Mac software industry, and you yourself have been a consistent inspiration for me.

If there is anything at all you can do with regards to this matter, we would be most grateful.

Best,

John Devor

And Steve’s reply?

Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

So, not wanting more legal problems then already needed with Apple, The Little App Factory changed iPodRip to iRip, and also have been forced to remove the iPod icon in Evom, an app that lets you convert and transfer movies from your computer and the web.

Earlier this year, The Little App Factory acquired RipIt, a popular Mac app that lets you archive DVD’s directly to your Mac.

The Olive 4HD does more then just play your media though. The self contained server inside the black (or silver) box will rip your media using Olive’s proprietary DAC, and then store it on the 2TB drive contained within. Reportedly, the sound quality delivered by the Olive 4HD is 250 times the resolution of a standard CD. The Olive 4HD retails for $1,999 and comes with 12 free HD audio tracks from their partner, Chesky Records.

from the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 19, 2009

Leading music server manufacturer Olive Media Inc. today announced the introduction of its first HD Hi-Fi Music Server for home stereo systems. Creating the HD category for digitally recorded music, the Olive 4HD matches recording engineers’ golden standard of 24-bit sound and 192 kHz sample rate, offering listeners music at more than 250 times the resolution of CDs.

“Most digital music solutions severely compromise the quality of the music experience,” said Dr. Oliver Bergmann, founder and CEO of Olive. “Our new HD music server delivers a new listening experience that allows music lovers to enjoy the best of both worlds—the convenience of digital music management and the quality of HD sound. This is the way music sounds as it is recorded.”

Easy to set up, configure and navigate, the new Olive 4HD serves as a control center that can access any digitized music library. A two terabyte hard drive stores up to 6,000 CDs, or 20,000 high resolution 24-bit tracks. Music can easily be copied to the Olive 4HD via the built-in CD mechanism, or from a PC or Mac through its wireless or wired network connection. The breathtaking music reproduction is handled through Olive’s proprietary high-resolution Digital-Analog-Converter (DAC), featuring Texas Instrument’s best-of-breed 192khz/24-bit Burr-Brown PCM1792A.

Olive enforces its commitment to HD by partnering with Grammy Award-winning Chesky Records, producer of high-resolution audio recordings. Twelve tracks from Chesky artists are included free with the Olive 4HD, providing over an hour of audiophile-grade music.

“To achieve the highest quality audio means recording at 24-bit,” said Chesky Records founder David Chesky. “CDs cannot reproduce what we capture from musicians during a recording session, and MP3 files degrade the quality even further. But with the Olive 4HD it is now possible to replicate the experience of that golden master recording at home, in full 24-bit.”

As part of your home entertainment system the Olive 4HD connects directly to a stereo receiver. Music libraries are easy to navigate through the integrated touchscreen, or, using the unit’s built-in HDMI interface, on a TV. Olive also offers a free iPhone/iPod Touch application that allows users to control the HD Hi-Fi Music Server from anywhere within the home network. Beyond standard music information such as artist, album, track title and cover art, the Olive delivers extended metadata, describing music more accurately and tailored to its specific genre. This allows users to find the right music, quickly.

The Olive 4HD can be integrated into a home network with its Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n connection, which also allows for direct download of music. Adding the Olive 2 Hi-Fi Player allows users to access their music anywhere within their home.

Pricing and availability

The Olive 4HD Hi-Fi Music Server is available in the US directly from Olive (www.olive.us;1.877.296.5483): $1,999 (2TB). It includes 12 of Chesky Records’ best HD tracks for free. Olive is available world-wide through a network of authorized distributors.