Short version: Don’t buy it at the MSRP of 70 bucks, but for around $40 bucks around the internets, it’s a great alternative to Apple’s own dock. You lose the audio line-out, but you gain an extra USB 2.0 port and a 6-in-1 card reader.

Overview and Features

Take an iPod or iPhone dock. Cram in a card reader (with support for Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SD, SDHC, xD and CompactFlash) and a 2-port USB hub. While I’d love to say more about it than that, I’d have to start making stuff up.

Pros:

Aesthetically, it looks like a MacBook Pro and an iPod dock got drunk and had a baby making session. The majority of its outside is made up of an aluminum (or, at least, aluminum-ish) material, with the remaining parts made up of white plastic. It oughtta match perfectly with the late 2008 MacBooks and Macbook Pros/Airs, and it’ll look just fine paired up with anything else. Up until I powered it on, I thought they made all the right visual design decisions. (More on that bit about powering it on in the cons section)

As an iPhone owner who travels almost constantly, the idea of freeing up the ultra-precious space currently occupied by the standalone USB hubs and card readers is a magical one. Think about it: now I can fill those pockets with candy instead of stupid extraneous accessories. Both of these aspects of the dock function as one might hope – the card reader reads cards dependably, and the USB 2.0 hub.. hubs.

Griffin includes a bunch of dock-adapters in the box, so you won’t have to spend 6 hours online looking for the best deal on that $1.99 component needed to make it fit your iPod properly. It’ll support the iPhone (3g/2g), iPod Touch (both generations), the Nano (2nd Gen, 3rd Gen[Fat Nano], and 4th Gen[Tapered Edges]), along with the Shuffle, iPod Video, and iPod Classic (80GB/120GB). Folks with iPod Photos or older models are out of luck, but seeing as the vast majority of those have probably already met their end due to a dead battery or hard drive, I doubt that’ll disappoint too many people.

The back of the dock features an 5v DC power input, which gives the USB hub a bit more juice for devices that require powered ports.

Cons:

Earlier, I mentioned that the Simplifi loses some points in the visuals department once it’s powered on. Here’s why:

Call it nitpicking (because it definitely is), but seriously: Blue LEDs?. That’s like sticking neon lights underneath a sports car. The Simplifi was obviously built to match the looks of the metal MacBook line, which has long used white LEDs. It does a great job of it, till you power it up – then BAM, LETS RAVE!!

The included cable is surprisingly short – about a foot and a half. That’s no big deal for anyone looking to keep the dock right beside their computin’ box, but for people looking to put it somewhere it can stay indefinitely without getting in the way (for me, that’s about 3 feet away), it’s way too short. Fortunately, it’s just a standard mini-USB, so finding a longer cable shouldn’t be too hard – but it also shouldn’t be necessary.

Of all of this, the only thing I’d consider to be a significant shortcoming is that the 5v DC input we mentioned earlier only powers the USB ports – not the iPod docking port. This prevents it from serving as a iPod/iPhone charger unless it’s plugged into a powered-on computer, which is really too bad. As this makes it fairly useless away from a computer, this also means they’ve dropped the audio output found on Apple’s dock.

Conclusion:

I wouldn’t pay the suggest retail price of $70 bucks for it. That said, you can find it for around $40 bucks, which is just 10 ducats above the official Apple dock. I’d say that’s a perfectly reasonable pricetag for the convenience of an extra USB port and the card reader, as long as you don’t mind the lack of line-out and the out of place lighting. Those things aside, it has definitely found a place in my laptop case.

Welcome to CrunchGear’s Gala Best of 2008 Awards featuring the Best Gear, Gadgets, and Software of 2008. Best of all, we tallied your responses and collated them in the People’s Choice awards. Now that I’m wearing my tux, let’s get right to the awards.

Best Browser
Google Chrome
People’s Choice
Firefox
While we agree that Firefox is probably the best browser out there, we’re talking about the best browser of 2008. Chrome is what a browser should be – speedy, elegant, and easy-to-use. Sadly, it’s not cross-platform so only those running XP or Vista and join in the fun. As web professionals, browsers are important and Chrome gets our vote this year.

Best Console Experience
New XBox Experience
People’s Choice
New XBox Experience

Oh, man, awarding the Best Console Experience to the New Xbox Experience got a whole lot easier after we saw Sony roll out PlayStation Home, which, nearest we can tell, is a boredom simulator. The NXE didn’t change too radically what already made using the Xbox 360 so enjoyable; a spit shine, if you will. We think the avatars are 100 percent lame, but they don’t get in the way of Xbox Live or anything.

Best Game, Cross Platform
Left 4 Dead
People’s Choice
Grand Theft Auto IV

Really, does Valve do anything wrong? You and three friends running for your lives against a horde of debt collectors zombies while The Director toys with your pointless existence. Multi-player gaming at its best.
As for the People’s Choice, y’all sure do like beating up hookers and driving into helpless pedestrians, don’t you? We wouldn’t call the game perfect—really, no analog control of Niko? Mario had that in 1996!—but it’s certainly a fun, mindless romp, at least for a little while.

Best Game, Nintendo Wii
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
People’s Choice
Mario Kart
We award this to Brawl—an actual video game and not some weird Wii Taxes concept—in lieu of any truly big Wii game, like Twilight Princess or Metroid. It’s fun, sure, and now has Snake and Sonic, which is a plus. As a rule of thumb, though, you’re more likely to find us on XBL than playing Wii Fit, if you can even call that a game.
But, hey, Mario Kart is fun, too, especially now with that plastic wheel controller. Online multiplayer helps extend the sell by date.

Best Game, Xbox 360
>Gears of War 2
People’s Choice
Gears of War 2

Some of us may hate the game for no specific reason—Nicholas, mostly—but it’s hard to find a better Xbox 360-exclsuive game than this. (It’s hard to find an Xbox 360-exclusive game, period, but that’s another story.) As sequels go, it paints by numbers with the best of ‘em: running, gunning, ducking, etc. One thing: fix the bugs, Epic.
It seems you guys thought the same thing, too. If nothing else this helps show that, outside of Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo-funded endeavors, on their respective platforms, system exclusivity is dying.

Best Game, PS3
LittleBigPlanet
People’s Choice
Metal Gear Solid IV

Make no mistake about it, this is the reason to own a PS3 right now (outside of its Blu-ray capabilities, should that matter to you). Go ahead, create your own level, or play your neighbor’s. Go ahead, imagine that you’re a sackboy activating levers and going in and out of three planes of existence. Go ahead, actually have fun while playing a game and not worrying about if you have enough ammo or if some 12-year-old kid instantly kills you.
As for MGS IV, we would have picked this, too, if it weren’t for the game’s insufferably long cut scenes and poetical waxing about The Meaning of War & Life. The best entry in the series? We’re prepared to argue that MGS1 was better, but it’s pretty damn close.

Best HDTV Line
Mitsubishi LaserVue
People’s Choice
Sony XBR

HDTVs improve dramatically every year and this year’s batch certainly brings the goods. Our readers overwhelming picked the Sony XBR line and for good reason. They are solid HDTVs that are readily available for purchase. The latest ones feature industry leading 240Hz technology, too. XBRs are great sets; that is until you see in person the Mitsubishi LaserVue. This high-def set, powered by lasers, is astounding and pics cannot do it justice. You might not be able to hang it on the wall but it’s still thin at 10-inches at a 60-inch screen size. The Sony XBR is a great set and might be the best picture most will ever see, but the Mitsubishi LaserVue is our pick for the HDTV of the year.

Best Portable A/V Devices
iPod Touch 2G
People’s Choice
iPod Touch 2G

Apple knows how to make a killer mobile platform and the latest incarnation of the iPod Touch proves it. This little touchscreen device pretty much ensures that owners will never be bored again. There are even reports that state the GPU performance is great than that of the iPhone. It plays music, games, and movies. What more can you want? Larger storage option? Yeah, besides that.

A/V Devices
TiVo HD XL
People’s Choice
TiVo HD XL

TiVo had a killer year and released the monstrous TiVo HD XL equipped with a 1TB hard drive. Sure, the UI is a little dated, but it’s still easily the most complete DVR solution outside of custom built media centers. The large hard drive is great, but the HD and HD XL can also stream high-def movies from Netflix, they allow full access to YouTube, and even play back almost every video file format available (including MKVs). TiVo was the de facto standard for years but feel off the map once cable providers started offering DVRs. The HD XL proves TiVo is in it for the long haul and has a robust platform that’s not afraid of change.

Best Camera
Canon Rebel XSi
People’s Choice
Nikon D90

While you, the readers, loved the Nikon D90 we editors chose the Rebel XSi simply because it’s the best entry level DSLR on the market. Why? Because it’s inexpensive, it’s compatible with a constellation of great lenses, and the automatic setting is as good as any of the manual settings for beginners. But the D90 is pretty damn nice as well.

Best Camcorder
Kodak Zi6
People’s Choice
Canon hf100

As Nicholas said, the Zi6 is the video camera for the proletariat. It’s not as fully featured as the People’s Choice Canon hf100 but it gets the job done, it’s cheap, and it’s fun.

Best Netbook
MSI Wind
People’s Choice
ASUS Eee PC 1000

After spending a good amount of time with both, we’re going to have to disagree here, lovely readers. While the EEE series is arguably the match that set the netbook world ablaze, the MSI Wind has swooped in and shown them how its done. You get just as much bang for your buck, plus a VGA webcam. As a little bonus, the Wind is the most hackintosh-friendly netbook around.

Best Notebook
MacBook Pro
People’s Choice
MacBook Pro

Go to any tradeshow or convention, and sneak into the press room. Look for your favorite gadget blogger. More often than not, they’ll be rocking a MacBook Pro. That says something – and no, I don’t mean that it proves we’re all tools.

Make jokes about the “Apple tax” all you want – for the durability, for the genius bar, and for the ability to boot into OS X or Windows without having to hack a thing, the MacBook Pro takes the title.

Best Phone
T-Mobile G1
People’s Choice
iPhone 3G

We get it, you love the iPhone. So do we. But in the grand scheme of things, the G1 is the start of something great.

Naysayers might scream, but Android (and competing, open source platforms) is the future of mobile. The G1 proved that Android works, and for that, it overcomes the iPhone and Apple’s walled garden. 2009 will be Android’s year, and the G1 paved the way.

Worst Device of 2008
Blackberry Storm
People’s Choice
Blackberry Storm

We wanted it to be great. We were really excited. We love Blackberry. But we don’t love the Blackberry Storm. This device, designed by committee and released too soon, is the antithesis of the iPhone. The UI is wonky, the touch screen is horrible, and all of the features that make RIM products great are notably absent in this device. What could have been an iPhone killer will end up being a blight on RIM’s record for years to come.

Best Device of 2008
iPod Touch 2G
People’s Choice
iPhone 3G

Yes, we know. Apple this and Apple that. But you guys chose the 3G and we chose the Touch 2G. Why? Because these two devices get things right. The UI is responsive, the feature set is nicely refined, and the App Store turns both devices into what we can only call Apple’s real netbook. Best of all, the game Fieldrunners exists on both platforms breathing life into the atrophied casual gaming world.

This is the Official PS3 Bluetooth headset that was released with SOCOM: Confrontation earlier this fall. It is made specifically for the PS3 but also works on any other Bluetooth device. Voice quality is great and battery life, build quality and ease of use are good, making this a formidable headset. Click on for the entire review.

In the Box: In the box, you get the headset itself, a spare earpiece ring, a dock, a short usb cable and instructions.

The Good: The unit is built well from sturdy plastic and the earpiece and ear clip are rubberized for a more grippy feel. It has dedicated power, volume up, volume down and mic mute buttons, a connector for the dock on the bottom and a covered mini-USB port on top. The dock is also solid and features rubberized feet to prevent slipping. 

This headset looks pretty good too. It sports a PlayStation logo on the front and has some glossy bits here and there that tie it in well with the PlayStation 3 console and controller.

The battery life is 8 hours in-use and 300 hours on standby, so you’ll probably have to charge this headset as much as the controllers. And while charging, the ring around the mute button blinks red and when fully charged, it glows red. 

Pairing the headset with the PS3 console is extremely easy. Just put it in the dock or plug it in using the USB cable and that’s it. You can also pair it with any other device that supports Bluetooth (including the PS3) using the usual steps of putting it into discovery mode and typing in a passcode.

The really cool thing about this headset is the desktop mic mode. When you place the headset in the dock to charge, it also acts as a powerful desk mic. It supports the high quality voice chat feature on the PS3 and the voice quality is comparable to most headsets out there today. Also, the range for the microphone when it is in the dock is amazing. That being said, it also easily picks up background noise that you don’t want.

The Bad: While the rubber ring that connects the ear clip to the headset makes switching between right and left easy, it does wiggle a little.

Like many other Bluetooth headsets, this comes as one size fits all. There isn’t an included set of earpieces and ear clips of different sizes. This means that people with ears larger or smaller than average might have issues wearing this headset.

The USB cable provided is really short and doesn’t give much flexibility for placement. 

Also, because of the gamer-esque styling, you will most likely look like a tool if you are caught using one of these with your phone in public.

Final Thoughts: If you don’t already have a headset for your PS3 and want respectable battery life and the convenience of a dock and desktop mode, this is probably the one to get.

If you want a headset for your phone, you are probably better off trying a dedicated mobile phone headset.

Check out the rest of the photos below.

This mouse’s big brother, the Bluetrack Explorer mouse, was reviewed just a few days ago, and carries a certain design flaw that made it hard to recommend even if the price were to be halved. This little travel mouse fares much better; the side-button issue is non-existent here.

The form factor is almost exactly the same as the Explorer, but obviously reduced in size. This is good because the swoopy curves of the new Bluetrack mice are comfortable and the build quality is good as well. It also shares the Bluetrack sensor which, we are reminded by Microsoft, is very advanced and will track on just about everything. With a travel mouse that is actually an issue — who knows whether those other mice will track on a particular varnish or material?

The similarities extend to the lackluster scroll wheel, which has little grip and gives no feedback, but it functions. The four buttons are sensitive but I never clicked any by accident. The mouse’s little dongle fits rather snugly into a slot on the mouse’s undercarriage, simultaneously powering off the mouse itself. It works on one AA battery and is not rechargeable in-mouse, unfortunately. I didn’t get to use it long enough for this battery to run out. It claims power saving techniques, but the unbelievably bright blue halo around the bottom of the mouse probably isn’t included in that.

This Bluetrack Mini is a good option for a travel mouse if you’re paranoid about what you might have to mouse on. At $60 it’s $10 more expensive than the sleeker and more portable Arc Mouse, and $20 more expensive than the small but wired Razer Salmosa. Which you prefer is your own business, but personally I’d go with the Arc Mouse for travel. The Bluetrack is nice but it’s still a bit chubby, although knowing you can mouse around on the floor of the Acropolis is a good feeling.

If you think laser printers are huge behemoths hulking in the corner of an office, think again. The CLP-315 is 24 pounds and about 12 inches on a side. It holds 150 sheets of paper and is compatible with OS X and Windows and can be added as a network printer. The OS X driver required a full shutdown of every application on the installation machine – something I find amazingly aggravating – and, as usual, there’s no goddamn USB cable. This is the biggest pet peeve I have about printers. Seriously. Don’t up-sell us on a $5 cable, printer manufacturers. Sheesh. Sorry. I fell out of character there for a minute. Back to the review.

Now for the good part. The best thing about laser printers is cartridge life. I printed a 200 page document and the black toner didn’t move an inch although I did have to refill the paper cartridge well before the end of the print run. Traditionally, a print job like that would overwhelm the standard inkjet cartridge.

Both color and black and white printing is sharp and clear but in my tests it wasn’t much better than some of the Epson inkjets I’ve tested. It’s also more difficult to get a standard photo print out of this kit although most of the images I tested came out as nice or better than the inkjet.

This is a business printer. It’s not for scrapbooking or a “fun” printer. If you’re a writer or need to print out lots of letters or personalized pamphlets – if you need a lot of copies, get a copier. But at 3 cents per monochrome page and 15 cents for a color page you’re getting a fairly good deal.

All that and you can finally say that you own a color laser printer. How cool is that?

Product Page

Yeah, I know, it’s a USB hub. But this little guy from Targus is pretty neat. It’s geared towards the Mac crowd with its color scheme, but that shouldn’t deter Windows or Linux folk.

The Hub is compact and has four USB 2.0 slots that are concealed behind a rubbery wraparound cable. The wraparound cable is what plugs into your USB port (duh, I know). I have nothing bad to say about this hub other than the rubber cable attracts all sorts of lint and dust from my bag. What I liked the most about this one is the length of the wraparound cable and how it just dangles about without taking up a lot of real estate around other ports on my laptop. I don’t see it being ripped from the hub itself very easily, either.

You can find other hubs on Amazon for cheaper, but it all boils down to form factor and what you’re looking for. I don’t really think $20 is too much to ask for a 2.0 hub, though. And other hubs from the likes of Belkin and Kensington are priced the same.

Product Page

Amazon

Quick Version: The QuickCam Vision Pro from Logitech is perhaps the easiest-to-use webcam I have seen in a while. There is no software required to run it, so you simply plug it in via the 6-ft USB cable, and you’re good to go. It works automatically with MSN Messenger, Yahoo, Skype, and other applications.

With 720p video resolution and a 2-megapixel camera, you’ll get a much better picture than most webcams. I set up two laptops side-by-side and logged into separate MSN accounts so I could see it in action, with pleasant results. The amount of detail is impressive, and crisp. There is very little lag when there is movement, and the auto-focus lessens the burden of fooling around with manual adjustments every time you alter your distance.

It comes with a universal clip that you can hook on to any flatscreen or laptop. It functions okay as far as hanging onto the top edge of the screen, but I would have preferred something a bit more stable.

My only real gripe is with the pictures you take. It looks like you need to be using some kind of software in order to capture still pictures. While in MSN Messenger, if you click the button on the left side of the webcam, the picture will freeze for just a second, then video will resume. But searches throughout My Documents and other places yielded nothing. It wasn’t until I right-clicked the USB Video Device and selected Get Pictures that I was able to then take still pictures. You can take one or several, then have it save to a location of your choice.

Despite that frustration, the pictures themselves aren’t bad at all. The camera is a bit more sensitive to movement than a full-size one with all the lighting options, but the quality here is good.

It’s easy to recommend this webcam just for its’ picture quality, but it’s also pretty compact, yet durable. Despite some brief frustrations taking still pictures, the QuickCam Vision Pro is very solid.

I know, I know. The VGA HD AV cable has been out for three years, but I was in between TVs and only had a monitor to game on. I’ll keep this review short and sweet.

My gaming setup consisted of my Xbox 360 Elite, Razer/THX Mako 2.1 speakers and a Viewsonic VX2240W monitor. The monitor itself has no built-in speakers, so I had to connect the audio to an external system. Luckily, there’s enough separation between the VGA cable and the RCA cable so the speaker system didn’t have to sit on top of the monitor. Perfection.

The kit claims to support video resolution up to 1080p and I have to say that it works as advertised. I streamed Netflix and even hooked up my HD DVD player just to make sure. Viewsonic’s monitor has a 1680X1050 resolution, so I’d say the content was as close to full high def as you can get.

On that note, I might as well give you a run down on the VX2240w. I believe the specs are relatively impressive, but I’m not much of a peripherals guy.

Overview and Features:

• 22-inch (diagonal) widescreen LCD at 1680×1050 resolution
• 300 cd/m2 brightness
• 1000:1 static contrast ratio, 4000:1 dynamic
• 170° horizontal, 160° vertical viewing angles
• up to 2ms gray-to-gray; 5ms black-to-white
• Connections: 15-pin mini D-sub/DVI-D (with HDCP)
• Only 2.4-inches thick (not counting the stand; 8.8-inch with) and 14 pounds (including stand)
• Three year warranty
• MSRP of $450, although it can be found for less than $300 in many places

There’s no visible blur/smear when viewing high frame rate video and the contrast ratio is high enough that the colors are very distinctive. You’ll have to calibrate for a bit to get it right, though. The viewing angle is weak so you’d better be sitting right in front of the monitor for optimal viewing. The round stand that comes with the VX2240w is limiting (ugly) and only offers tilt adjustment forwards and backwards.

Overall, it’s a decent monitor but considering the price and specs it falls into the ‘worth buying’ category. Other monitors with similar specs are priced about the same. You can find it on Amazon for as low as $250.

I already reviewed the Makos this year, but it was nice to get them out of the office and really crank them up in my apartment. I love these things.

Xbox 360 VGA HD Cable

Viewsonic VX2240w Product Page

Razer/THX Mako 2.1 Product Page

The soft-touch palm rest allows you to, well, rest your palms while typing for extended periods of time without feeling wrist discomfort. This will largely depend on how you hold your own wrists. I tend to keep my wrists in the air, resting on my forearms, but I do appreciate the effort to improve the comfort level.

Once you’ve plugged in via the USB cable and it is ready to go, you will immediately be able to see the illumination at work. As long as you are in a somewhat dimly-lit area, you’ll notice the letters and numbers on each key glowing white . A handy lightbulb key in the upper right corner allows you to change the intensity of the back-light. There are four settings in all, one of which is to have no illumination.

This kind of feature could be passed off as gimmicky, but after testing it in a dark room, the value of the lighting was apparent. It was easy enough to see the keys and I never had to think about turning on a light so I could continue working. The keys themselves are thinner and don’t stand out as much as a typical keyboard, and it might take a little time to get used to.

The FN (Function) key is very handy. Holding it down plus any of the F-keys will perform many useful functions like opening your e-mail client, homepage, finding files, and controlling your media player. The software that comes on the optional CD lets you customize those functions as you see fit. It’s nice to see this kind of functionality in an external keyboard that can be used on a desktop or laptop.

Bottom Line
Overall, this is a nice keyboard. If you’re into the look of your workspace, this will add some style to it. They keys are quiet enough, you can now type in the dark, and can run several applications from it.

The keyboard costs $79.99 in stores and online.

If you have multiple batteries for your (post-1997) Apple laptop and prefer not to tote around multiple power adapters then Fastmac may have a solution for you. The U-Charge is a lightweight, cost effective, and compact charger for iBooks, PowerBooks, MacBooks and MacBook Pros, with a nice little bonus feature: it can charge a battery without the help of a laptop. No more swapping batteries just to keep them all juiced up!

The U-Charge connects directly to your MacBook battery’s terminals and thus needs to be put on a level surface to ensure proper contact. It’s only a 45W, so those with MBPs will have to wait a few hours to power up your secondary battery. I ran into some unwanted downtime when I chose not to bring my power brick. LEDs on the U-Charge mimic the battery level indicators on the Apple batteries themselves, so you can gauge how far along the battery is at any time.

While the U-Charge is a great addition to any MacBook owner, I have my issues with the device. The connecting terminal is really fragile (not material-wise) and you have to have the battery and U-Charge on a level surface so the contacts are properly aligned. They cannot make a connection at a 90-degree angle because it will reverse polarities rendering both your battery and U-Charge useless. Be sure that you read the instructions or inform whomever you purchase this for to do so. But it’s something you live with and get used to. I have at least.

Fastmac’s U-Charge is worth the $80 price tag, which I don’t really think is all that high considering its usefulness. It’s a great alternative to carrying the heavy MB adapters if you don’t mind waiting or if you have an extra battery. There are 10.8V and 14.4V models, so make sure you get the right one.

Product Page

Monster Cable’s second foray into the in-ear monitor area is much, much better than their first go-around with the Turbines. Knowing that Monster Cable loves to gouge folks on overpriced cables, one has wonder if their headphones are overpriced as well? Perhaps, but it depends on who you’re asking.

The Beats Tour in-ears look great with a matte red cable that doesn’t seem to tangle, as advertised. They also come with three mushroom-type silicone tips and two sets of tree-like tips. A circular carrying case is also included. It’s well packaged, but overly packaged at the same time. For a pair of in-ear monitors, Monster wasted a ton of resources and money packaging these things. The same could be said for their Turbine in-ears too. This isn’t to say that Monster Cable is the only company guilty of such a travesty, but it’s all so frivolous that I just had to say something.

Aside from the packaging, the Tours perform admirably. But like the Turbines, the tips that come with the Tours degrade the overall listening experience. They simply do not isolate well enough for one to hear the drivers pump out the jams, which they seem to do quite well. Yes, I know how to properly insert in-ears. And I’m even using the biggest mushroom tips and tree tips that come with the Tours. They stink. When I snap my fingers I can hear them clearly even when I have music playing. Monster really needs to focus on improving the tips they provide because they’re 0/2 so far.

I don’t like having to turn up the volume beyond a comfortable level but I’m forced to do so with the Tours. And it all boils down to the seal. The drivers are loud and clear and don’t distort when they get cranked up. The overall sound quality from the Tours seem to be good, but I can’t give a full and honest review when I can’t get a proper seal. They hit on the low-end and snap on the highs, but I have to crank up the volume to really tell, and I don’t like having to do that. To give you a sense of scale, I have to hover around level seven or eight on my MacBook whereas with my Ultimate Ears, Shures, and Etymotics I set it around level two or three to get the same output.

Maybe my ears aren’t meant to mesh with the tips that Monster provides, but I don’t have any issues with all of the other aforementioned manufacturers. The Tours are really nice in-ear headphones and the wiring is crazy cool, but without proper isolation they’re probably not worth the $150 price tag. Monster Cable should consider cutting costs on the packaging and opting for better tips.

Product Page

For more info on Beats By Dre Headphones go to www.beatsbydre.com

Short Version: It’s small, it’s inexpensive, and it pulls double duty as a three-port hub and mini-USB device charger all in one.

Overview and Features:

• 2-in-1 Hub + Mini-B USB connector design
• Tuck-away cable management for convenient storage
• Lightweight and no power supply required (total power consumption must be less than 350mA)
• Easy connection to cell phone or other USB devices with Mini-B connector
• MSRP of $12.95

It’s good for…

…frequent travelers and people who can never seem to find a USB to mini-USB cord to charge their cell phones. The integrated cable management lets the three port hub shrink down to an easily stowable size and, at $12.95, it doesn’t sting nearly as much as competing travel hubs — especially since it allows you to charge your phone at the same time (if you have a phone with a mini-USB connection, that is).

Not so good for…

People who need to power bigger devices. The output tops out at 350mA, so you probably won’t be plugging three external hard drives into this thing. Also, the cords are upside down for most USB ports, forcing you to twist them 180 degrees in order to plug the one end into your computer and the other into your cell phone. It’s not a huge issue, although it seems a bit odd from a usability perspective.

Recommendation:

This is what happens when a company takes a simple product, adds a little something to differentiate it from other comparable products, and sells it for a fair price. I can already see this little hub plugged into my computer while I’m at CES this year, my cell phone charging happily while a camcorder, thumb drive, and digital camera all toss files to and fro. And for $12.95, even a cheapskate like me can get on board.

IOGEAR 3-Port USB 2.0 Mobile Hub [IOGEAR.com]

Have a case of the Mac Sweats? Embarrassed by the wet stains on your lap after hours of using your MacBook? Targus has what you’re looking for, friend.

Pros
The Chill Mat actively cools your notebook with two fans positioned in the heat zone. The mesh underside conforms to your legs ensuring maximum comfort. I don’t know about reducing the overall temperature of my MacBook Pro, but the Chill Mat did a fine job of keeping my legs and junk cool. Tiny rubber nipples positioned at each corner will keep your notebook firmly in place. It’s angled just enough that Targus claims it to be ‘ergonomical’ and I can’t argue that. The fans aren’t too loud, which was a concern I had before plugging in the bad boy. But I tend to be distracted by music and/or street noise when on the couch.

Cons
The only caveat is that you’ll lose a USB port, but how else are supposed to power this thing? At least it’s not a battery powered. The on/off button seems a bit redundant considering the fact that you wouldn’t plug this in if you didn’t want it on, right?

Overall
The Chill Mat does a great job of keeping my lap cool after hours of using my MBP on the couch and I couldn’t ask for much more. The $50 price tag may deter some folks, but considering Logitech’s Comfort Lapdesk is $40 and has zero fans, I’d say it’s a great deal.

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Having recently been exposed to all sorts of high-end in-ear monitors from the likes of Shure and Etymotic, my ears are quite sensitive to craptacular headphones and low grade MP3s. The recently announced Super.Fi 5s from Ultimate Ears have been my weapon of choice the last two weeks in a variety of environments that include the streets of Manhattan, on multiple planes, working out and around the house. Audio quality is superb and the novice might not be able to tell the difference between these and let’s say, the Super.Fi 5 Pros, but there is one distinctive difference. Would it deter me from recommending these $170 in-ears? Not at all.

For starters, the Super.Fi 5s come with a handy plastic carrying case, cleaning tool, four sets of silicone tips and one set of Comply Foam tips. The in-ears themselves are color coded to differentiate between the right and left with the former being a dark burgundy and latter being dark grey. Unless you’re in a well-lit room you probably won’t notice the difference. My only real issue with the Super.Fi 5s is that tips don’t go deep enough into my ears as I’d like. The foam and silicone tips do an adequate job of isolating, but I much prefer the tree tips that come with Etyomotics or even Monsters.

The Super.Fi 5s are extremely lightweight and do an adequate job of producing clear notes from low to high. Compared to my Super.Fi 5 Pros these don’t exactly give a full sound though. It’s kind of shallow, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s just something I noticed when swapping between the higher priced Pros and some Etyomotics. They’re surprisingly good for most genres of music. Highs are snappy and lows thump quite hard with mids filling in nicely. They’re extremely well balanced.

To be quite honest, the Super.Fi 5s from Ultimate Ears are a great set of in-ear monitors at a somewhat reasonable price considering the sound quality compared to others in this price range. The only issue I forsee arising is the seal depending on folks’ ears. The silicone tips actually do a better job at sealing than the Comply foam tips. I’ve been using the foam tips for the last two weeks and swapped these out for the silicone tips yesterday and it’s made all the difference.

Will I replace my Super.Fi 5 Pros or Shure SCL3s? More than likely the Shure SCL3s, but certainly not my Pros until the two or three inches of protective sleeve nearest the driver pull apart completely. While I recommend these to burgeoning audiophiles looking for a pair of high-end in-ears at a not so high-end price, I know that $170 is still quite a bit to spend on headphones during this recession, but rest assure that you won’t need to upgrade anytime soon. And you won’t be sacrificing sound quality for active noise cancelling if that’s something you’re looking for. The 5s do quite well at blocking out noise.

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If you want a pair to use with your phone then grab the Super.Fi 5vis.

Quick Version: The V550 Nano from Logitech is by no means the first cordless mouse to be produced, nor will it be the last. But it is one of the better ones that have come out in recent years.

The setup is as simple as it gets. Plug the tiny receiver into your USB port, put the two double-A batteries in the mouse, turn it on, and you’re up and running. It’s interesting to note that the packaging boasts up to 18 months of battery life. When you leave the mouse idle for just a minute, it shuts off, saving battery power. You only need to move it an inch to re-activate it.

My first impression of the mouse was its shape. It’s closer to a rectangle than most mice, and while this would likely be a problem for conventional devices, the fact that the two buttons are actually an extension of the body allows for easy clicking no matter how you hold it. The responsiveness is very crisp, both in movement and clicking. The middle scroll bar works side-to-side as well as up-and-down.

Another unique feature is the docking station. This is a simple square of metal that measures about one inch with a round peg in the center. You peel off the sticker from the back and place it on an appropriate spot on the surface of your laptop. They say to wait three minutes for it to “really” stick, so I did. I was then able to slide my mouse onto the peg, and it stayed there. Depending on how you travel with your laptop, this could be pretty useful.

You can always use this with a desktop as well. You’ll get a separate USB connector with a 2-foot cord that you can plug your receiver into. This might be useful if you will be switching computers often, but this part probably won’t get much use. You’ll actually get two of the docking stations, one silver, one black. This is nice because when you don’t have the mouse connected to it, a black-on-silver combo would stand out too much. They also include a small tin for carrying your tiny USB receiver, extra docking station, and a tool to remove the dock if you need to do so (note: the docking station cannot be re-used, so be careful where you stick it).

My overall impression of this mouse that it’s very solid. I don’t know how much more progress can be made with regard to the basic functionality a cordless mouse should have. The docking station and side-scrolling are bonuses that make it worth a try.
10/10

The SimpleTech Mini drive from Fabrik is made with two things in mind: compactness and simplicity. As you can see, it’s almost featureless; the drive is powered through USB so no extra cords are needed. You’ll notice the cord has two terminations, which is necessary if one port doesn’t provide the power necessary (I didn’t encounter that on my desktop or laptop). It’s a bit weird, but a regular non-forked cable worked just fine. I’m guessing that on a netbook or something with a similarly low-wattage power source, you’d need the double-USB thing.

The styling is very understated and attractive; it has a smooth, velvety surface not unlike that of a Razer mouse, and its torpedo-like profile has no major logos or flourishes. There are two little indentations near the front, which beg to be grasped, although I don’t know who would want to carry it with a pincer grip like that. The bottom has little rubber ridges so it doesn’t slide — it was rock solid at a 45 degree angle.

The performance is good, which is not to say any better than you’d expect from an external USB drive, but it certainly didn’t have any problems. I tried a few little example transfers with different types of files, since I’ve had drives choke up on say a hundred JPEGs where they’d do fine with a single large file. No problems there:

500MB – 30sec
74mb (9 mp3s) – 4sec
75mb (200 pictures) – 5sec

The SimpleTech uses a 2.5″ HDD, and costs about $130-$150 right now. You can get more spacious drives for the same price, of course, and cheaper, but they use 3.5″ HDDs and are generally quite a bit more bulky (see my old WD external in the pic there). You’re paying for portability here, and the Simpletech succeeds on that front. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a 3.5″ external these days, since you really want to have a few internal 3.5″ ones for long-term storage and a good 2.5″ external for convenient travel storage. The Simpletech is a great option for the latter.

Quick Version: We take a look at three different iPhone/iPod chargers from Kensington, RichardSolo, and i.Sound, weighing the pros and cons of each.

i.Sound 2-in-1 Charger and Backup Battery

• MSRP: $49.99
• Capacity: 1000mAh
• Includes: Battery, proprietary zip-style cord, folding AC adapter

Pros: The i.Sound battery itself is small in size, and the charger and zip cord don’t take up much room either, so this kit would be great for travelling when bag space is limited. Plus, it’s small enough to actually use while it’s attached to your device. In a pinch, you could snap the battery to your iPhone or iPod without skipping a beat.

Cons: Don’t lose the proprietary power connector, or this thing will be all but useless. Plus, the 1000mAh capacity is well shy of a full recharge for the iPhone’s 1400mAh battery, for instance, so you’ll need to keep it diligently charged, too.

RichardSolo 1800

• MSRP: $69.95
• Capacity: 1800mAh
• Includes: Battery, mini-USB zip cord, wall charger, car charger with two USB ports, 2G and 3G protective tips (to prevent bending the connector), battery also features laser light and flashlight

Pros: Though the price tag can be off-putting at first, the RichardSolo 1800 kit features enough nerd-tastic extras to bring things back into line. You get an 1800mAh battery, which is good for a complete iPhone recharge and then some, plus you get a compact mini-USB zip cord, a dual-input USB car charger (which everyone needs anyway, right?), a wall charger, and two protective tips to prevent bending the connector.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the battery also has a built-in flashlight and laser pointer. Of course it does, why wouldn’t it? This is Richard Thalheimer, the former Shaper Image guy we’re talking about here. Plus, one of the most thoughtful features of these RichardSolo chargers is the double charging thing — plug your iPhone into the battery and then the battery into the wall and they’ll both charge up.

Cons: At almost the size of an iPhone itself, the RichardSolo 1800 isn’t great for actually using while you’re on the phone. That extra capacity comes at a price. You can, however, use the battery on its own as a laser pointer or flashlight.

Also, at almost $70, the 1800 places itself on the higher end of iPhone/iPod batteries. If you don’t need all the included extras, it might not be worth it for you.

Kensington Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod

• MSRP: $69.99
• Capacity: 1800mAh
• Includes: Battery, iPod cable, mini-USB cable, AC adapter

Pros: This Kensington kit suffers from an identity crisis in a good way. On the one hand, it’s a high-capacity iPhone/iPod charger; but you can also take the battery pack out of the equation and use the AC adapter and iPod cable as a standard wall charger. Plus, since the battery pack uses a standard USB connector, you can charge just about any USB-powered device, not just iPods and iPhones. So it’s a good all around charger for many of your portable devices.

Cons: From a traveler’s perspective, the Kensington charging kit does little to cut down on cords and, as such, takes up more packing space than most devices. Also, it’s definitely not a walk-and-talk solution if you need to juice up on the go but, again, you can use it for your other gadgets beyond just your Apple devices. It’s just a question of whether or not $70 for something like that is worth it to you.

Recommendation:

So which charger is right for you? The answer to that is the same as the answer to the question of what the insides of an old person’s pants smell like; Depends. If you need to walk and talk, take a look at the i.Sound. You could also check out the original RichardSolo that we reviewed earlier this year. If you want a pretty-much complete kit for your car and your home and you like to break out into spontaneous presentations or you find yourself caught in the dark a lot, then the RichardSolo 1800 has you covered. Or if you’re looking for a battery that’ll charge more that just your Apple products, perhaps the Kensington Battery Pack would serve you well.

Short Version: Kensington’s “ShareCentral 1” provides an easy, hassle-free way to share a USB device between two computers. At $39.99, it’s not too expensive, either.

Overview and Features:

• Easy access to one USB device from two computers
• No drivers to install
• Three replaceable buttons: printer icon, hard drive icon, and generic icon
• LED indicator lights
• Wall-mountable
• MSRP of $39.99

Pros:

The ShareCentral 1 is great for people who don’t have the time, expertise, or patience to screw around with network sharing for stuff like printers and external hard drives. It’d also serve as a good, quick mobile setup between two computers that need to be able to both access a certain device at various times.

The system works with just about any USB device, too. I tested it with a printer, a hard drive, several USB drives, a few phones, a camera, and an external sound card without running into any trouble. Cable clutter is kept to a minimum since the box doesn’t require external power, despite the AC jack you see in the above photo.

Switching between two computers requires nothing more than a simple press of the button on the top of the box and the actual handoff takes about 2-3 seconds. Finally, the box itself looks nice and can be wall-mounted if you’re feeling ambitious.

Cons:

I ran into some wonkiness when using the ShareCentral 1 on a computer that was already using a standard USB hub. When I’d switch from the other computer, the hub on the first computer would stop working and I’d have to reboot. Thankfully, a quick workaround turned out to be plugging the ShareCentral 1 directly into the USB hub on the first computer instead of plugging it into an open USB port on the computer itself.

Recommendation:

If you work in a two-person office or use two computers regularly yourself and need quick, easy access to a printer or other USB device, the ShareCentral 1 might be right up your alley. Kensington also has the two-device “ShareCentral 2” and the five-device “ShareCentral 5” if you need to share more than one peripheral.

ShareCentral 1 [Kensington]

Short Version: An iPod amp that sounds great – until you try to use it.

I’ll be honest. I couldn’t wait to review the Griffin AirCurve, not because I thought it would be good, but because I thought it sounded like the kind of thing that something that seems like a good idea until you actually build it . I know Bose is always going on and on about the Wave Radio, but the ideal of a hunk of plastic that amplifies your iPhone with just the shape of it and no additional power seemed stupid.

When it arrived, I eagerly unpacked it. The AirCurve itself is a brick of polycarbonate with a wavy acoustic channel that starts where the iPhone speaker is and winds around until it opens into a wide mouth at the front. The idea is that the shape of this channel alone will significantly amplify the sound coming from the tiny built-in iPhone speaker without any additional power required. No batteries. No plug. It does have a pass-through hole to run your own iPhone cable to provide power, but you do have to provide your own cable. It comes with two rubber inserts, one for the original iPhone and one for the 3G. You need a dockable case or just a naked iPhone to use the AirCurve. I inserted the correct adapter for my 3G iPhone, got some music playing, and placed the iPhone in the AirCurve.

Wow. It really was a lot louder. I took out the iPhone. Put it back. Took it out again. I did this for a few minutes, just amazed at the difference it made. The next time I had friends over, I had one of them do the same thing with his iPhone. The expression on his face was priceless. He took it out. Put it back. Took it out again. You get the idea. “I might just have to get one of these,” he said.

I use my iPhone as an alarm clock, so I keep the AirCurve on my night table. It amplifies the regular alarm sounds so they are loud enough to wake me up, and I’m a pretty sound sleeper. When I get up, I usually run Stitcher Radio to listen to news podcasts while I get dressed. It’s also easy to cart around the house and is fairly convenient as I don’t have to worry about power or batteries.

I am really impressed with the AirCurve and have found it quite useful, however, it’s not perfect. While it does an impressive job of amplifying the sound coming from the iPhone, you are still amplifying that tiny speaker, so don’t expect a high fidelity experience. This shouldn’t be a significant concern as I’m guessing if you are considering any speaker system for twenty bucks, you’re not too concerned with having an audiophile’s experience.

The second flaw is in the cable pass-through. I knew that power was optional and that you needed your own cable, but assumed there would be a pass-through plug. You’d connect your cable to a port in the back which would be wired to the cradle part of the AirCurve so you could drop your iPhone into it like a regular cradle. Not so. The pass-through is a hole. You run the USB end through the AirCurve  to your power source. There is a small channel on the bottom of the Aircurve to press the cable into to keep the cable from getting in the way.

Unfortunately, the end that plugs into the iPhone is not held tightly by the AirCurve. You can easily pull the iPhone out, but to plug it back in, you need to feed a little extra cable from the bottom, plug it in by hand, place the iPhone into the AirCurve, and then pull the cable tight again. I wonder if a cable with a taller iPhone end, like the older iPod cables had, would be held in place better, but those older cables have a slightly thicker USB plug and cannot be fed through the AirCurve. Griffin advertises that they have a cable that will fit, and maybe that would eliminate this problem, but I think they should just have made the pass-through hole a bit wider. I’m tempted to get out my Dremel and either make the hole bigger or one of my older iPod USB cables smaller.

Bottom Line: You’ll be surprised at how well this works. For $20, it’s a pretty cheap, yet elegant solution. Cable management is a mild nuisance when using the AirCurve to charge your iPhone. Good for podcasts and speech, but music quality is lacking.

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Short Version:

As a mouse, it has the standard two buttons, plus a clickable and tiltable scroll wheel. In addition to the normal vertical scrolling, tilting the scroll wheel to the side will allow you to scroll horizontally. It uses Bluetooth, so as long as your laptop has Bluetooth built in, or you already have an adapter (http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-K33902US-Bluetooth-Micro-Adapter/dp/B000YA1XU2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1226856381&sr=8-2), there are no additional bits to plug in to make this device work. Pairing is a snap and you’ll be up and running in a minute or two.

Surrounding the scroll wheel is a button that switches the device from mouse mode to presentation mode. You have to double-click this button and that is not obvious at all. It does prevent you from accidentally switching modes, but I had to read the instructions to figure out how it worked. It’s a bit odd to have to read instructions for a mouse. Anyhow, once in presentation mode, the left and right mouse click buttons advance the presentation forward and back and pressing the scroll wheel will blank the screen.

It runs on standard AAA batteries, so no custom batteries to charge, and it will automatically sleep when your laptop sleeps or you can manually turn it off.

The best thing about this mouse is the size. It is pretty slim at about an inch thick at it’s tallest point. For a little more money, you could also consider getting a Gyration In-Air Mouse. The Gyration uses a gyroscope to sense movement in space, letting you move your mouse without a flat surface in front of you. This is really helpful if you want to point out things on the screen during a presentation or if you switch to an application/website to demo something. The Gyration is bulkier, so may be inconvenient for hard-core road warriors and those giving fairly straight-forward presentations may not need the extra features.

Bottom line: If you need a fairly basic wireless mouse and you do a lot of presentations, the Slimblade Bluetooth Presenter Mouse is a reasonably priced option.

The Slimblade Bluetooth Presenter Mouse retails for $50.

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