Pop quiz: How often do you venture out with your iPhone and wallet, but only end up reaching for your ID or credit card?
If it’s fairly often—like many people—check out Case-Mate’s iPhone 3G/3GS ID Credit Card Case.
This slim, attractive case features a slot in the back that can store 2 credit card sized items of your choice, and it only makes the case 2.5mm thicker.
Rejoice! You just cut the odds of losing your wallet or iPhone by 50%.
UPDATE: Amazon has now added the 5th generation iPod nano’s for order. Because there are nine colors and two sizes, we won’t link to each one at the end of this article, but you’ll find a pull-down menu on each Amazon page to change to a different color.
iPod sales are falling for Apple as more people buy the iPhone/iPod touch. Little wonder why Apple released a new iPod nano 5th generation today with a built-in video camera and FM radio.
The new iPod nano comes in nine vibrant colors (silver, black, purple, pink, blue, green, orange, yellow, and Product Red) ships in 8 gigabyte and 16GB capacities (priced at $149 and $180 respectively), and bears a camera and external microphone mounted on the back for video and voice recording.
It also features a larger 2.2-inch color display, a built-in FM radio with 15 minute pause and record buffer, and a built-in pedometer. In terms of video, it shoots 640-by-480 H.264 video in portrait or landscape mode (no HD…bummer).
Sep 14
We say it around here all the time, but it’s often very true…the simplest things are the most effective things. This is another of them…the MovieWedge.
It’s a bean bag for your iPhone, iPod touch, Sony PSP, Microsoft’s Zune, Blackberry Storm…you get the idea. Do I really need to explain how this works? It holds your device in place on uneven and unsteady surfaces, gives you variable viewing angles, and it’s got a soft microsuede covering that blankets your precious little device in comfort. Oh, you can also use the microsuede for wiping the screen.
Another year, another new Jawbone model. Nicer and smaller than ever, mind you.
The new Jawbone Prime features Personal NoiseAssassin 2.0 technology, for even better noise-reduction than its predecessors. Now you can carry on a conversation even with a fire truck wailing in the background.
And it’s dead sexy, so you won’t look like a cyborg or a blinking lighthouse.
It’s the best time of the year to bring your laptop outside to work. Why not bring your music with you without wires? The OutCast Junior from Soundcast is ready for the job. It’s a weather-resistant, fireproof speaker with beautifully rich sound that cranks music for about seven hours (in our tests).
It’s got an in-built, digital, 50-watt amplifier, down-firing 8-inch woofer, and four, three-inch, omni-directional drivers. You can plug it in with the 240V power cord, or use the rechargeable 12V NiMh battery and external charging kit.
My brother-in-law has two of these on his outdoor deck. You can set one up to feed both channels, or like him, have one for left and one for right. It receives its signal from up to 350 feet away via one of two different transmitters – the ICT-111 with a iPod dock (as shown in the photo), or the brand new UAT250US that connects to your standard DVD player, AV receiver and CD changer as well as to your PC via USB. You can then transmit music from iTunes, RealPlayer, MusicMatch, Windows MediaPlayer and many more. The only bummer on this speaker is the transmitter comes separately.
The Outcast Junior is made from UV stabilized, ABS plastic and can stand some pretty harsh elements. We were impressed by the sound, despite it not having a dedicated tweeter, as well as its design and battery life.
Aug 19
You’re on a lonely road in the middle of Kansas with no iPhone reception (Been there. Done that). Plug in the iBooster from Wilson Electronics into your cigarette lighter and you’ll see a difference. It amplifies weak cell signals with a high-powered antenna and then rebroadcasts them – “Up to 20 times more output power,” the company says. Oh, and as it’s doing that, it’s charging your iPhone’s battery on first generation, 3G and 3GS.
Go read some of the in-depth reviews of this product. Depsite it’s high price, if you drive in areas with poor cell phone reception, this little baby is impressive.
Aug 07
So Memorex is thinking outside the box with this little gadget. It’s the Memorex MKS-SS1 SingStand and it’s a microphone stand and speaker system that doubles as a karaoke machine.
What’s different about SingStand is its unique design. The stand has a circular iPod dock in its middle and a microphone on the top. The amplifier and two speakers are at the base, with the powered, handheld, dynamic mic being connected via a 10 foot cable to the main system that’s at the base. You connect the iPod via the headphone plug, two microphone inputs as well as a guitar/keyboard line input.
Once everything is set up, you plug in any iPod, pick a tune from your library, and the ‘Auto Voice Control’ feature will filter out the original vocals so that you can do your Frank Sinatra impression over the top of any song. Oh, and if you need reverb to improve things with that concert hall sound, it’s got that too.
Aug 05
What if there were an iPod that cranked the tunes and floated in the pool with you? You then have the small problem of water turning your speaker into a worthless plastic brick. Back to the drawing board.
So here’s an interesting solution…a floating, waterproof, wireless speaker you can use with an iPod, iPhone, MP3 player, computer, home stereo, TV, ANY audio source. It’s the PoolPOD from Audio Unlimited and it’s got a 900MHz wireless connection for up to 150 feet to a docking station where you simply plug your device via a 3.5mm or RCA output.
The sounds isn’t fantastic but hey, would do you expect for a waterproof speaker in a ball? We thought it sounded pretty good for a $72 wireless speaker that says no to water.
Klipsch (like Mercedes Benz) has always tried to stay ahead of the competition with innovation and quality. The Image s4i continues that tradition.
The s4i is the first third-party headset to work with Apple’s VoiceOver feature that lets you control the iPhone through a gesture-based screen reader as well as the third-gen iPod shuffle, second-gen iPod touch, fourth-gen iPod nano and the 120GB iPod classic.
In addition, they now come with an in-line microphone and remote control for iPhones and iPod touch users to call or record audio. As with the original S4 models, the S4i set has the unusual oval ear tips that we’ve found to be more comfortable than circular tips found on other earphones.
But what might be most interesting is their new ’360-degree design’ that suppose to cancel out background noise. If it works as advertised, 99 bucks is worth it.
CNET last week called HD Radio one of the decades biggest tech flops and it’s hard to argue that point. Put together the facts that radio stations failed early to make the financial investment in broadcasting equipment and HD’s creator, iBiquity, failed to mirror XM Radio’s smart move of getting sat-ready radios in cars years ago, and HD has had a tough road. That’s now changing with the first handheld HD Radio just out from Best Buy.
Made by KRI and sold by Best Buy under the Insignia brand name for just under $50, this little handheld beauty gives you regular FM stations as well as those enhanced with HD channels – which if you didn’t know are radio stations that piggyback onto an FM station and broadcast additional content like music, talk, sports and more for free, most of it commercial free.
The first thing you notice is the audio difference between analog FM and HD is dramatic. The frequency will first lock in on the analog signal and then the digital kicks in two to three seconds later with an ‘HD’ symbol confirming the station.
It’s got 10-station presets, a nice, bright, 1.5-inch LCD color screen, a 10-hour, built-in rechargeable lithium battery, an included USB cable for charging, headphones and arm band.
This unit works best outdoors depending on the signal strength of the station your listening to. It sounds great, is cheap enough and it’s lithium-battery holds an acceptable eight-hour charge in our tests.
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