We’ve seen portable iPod/iPhone chargers in the past, but this time round there is something strangely different and yet still the same - the iPower Portable Power Station with Speaker. Yes, judging by the name of the device itself, it is able to juice up your iPod/iPhone within three hours (taking an equal amount of time to be fully charged at a power outlet as well), functioning as a portable speaker as well for you to share your tunes with people around. You can pick up the iPower Portable Power Station with Speaker for $44 from Brando.

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Sony will be making available a quartet of new Xplod in-dash head units sometime next month, enabling iPod owners to hook up their beloved portable media players to the Xplod units while they’re on the road. The four models are the CDX-GT630UI, CDX-GT430IP, CDX-GT330 and CDX-GT130, and we’ll take a closer look at individual models right after the jump.

Gallery of posts up to 08-27-2008

Europe might have gotten the N96 earlier than their friends across the Atlantic, but better late than never, I say. It is now the latter’s turn to welcome the arrival of the Nokia N96 - the designated successor to the N95 which was the flagship N Series model for some time already (available in two variants - the vanilla N95 and the 8GB model). I must admit that the Nokia N95 was a highly desirable smartphone due to the hardware capability and specifications it comes with, but one major gripe I have against it would be the form factor which was rather unwieldy. Let’s take a look at how the N96 fares this time round.

It has been over a year since we covered any mi Jam products from the B2 company, so I say it is high time we covered something by them. One of their most recent products is the mi Jam Drummer.

I suppose this product would probably best be suited for children, or for anyone at any age who aspires to be a drummer. Simply put, this device hooks up with a digital music device, stereo, personal computer, iPod, or any other Portable Media Player to allow the user to be the drummer.

The mi Jam Drummer has two modes: interactive and standalone. Standalone allows the user to plug into the miJam to the external speaker or earphone, and he or she can simulate a full drum kit including a snare drum, tom toms, bass, hi-hat, even cymbals. There are even some newly added keys that allow the drummer to add roll effects. The interactive mode allows for the user to play the music, and the user can drum along with the sound.

Last weeks coolest gadget again had a runaway winner (45% of the votes), the iRing (another podium finish for Gaj It)), the coolest way to control your iPod.

The iRing’s functionality is every bit as cool as the iPod’s. To adjust the volume, you simply need to slide your finger across the touch sensitive surface of the ring. To play or pause songs, just tap the apple icon on the ring and to skip tracks you need only touch on either side of the icon depending on which direction you want to go

As cool as the iRing is, it is only a concept which did give it a bit of an unfair advantage in last weeks contest so we might be changing the rulea a little bit for next week.
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I miss the age of the jukebox. I’m not old enough to remember the days when a real Fonz would hit a juke to play tunes that we now call oldies, but I do remember seeing jukeboxes in pizza parlors in the seventies and eighties. They were slowly dying out by that time, and so they had a Bauhaus form-follows-function look to them. They never regained that look from the jukes of that bygone era.

For those of you who miss that gaudy look of the jukebox from the 1950s, you might want to save up some money (a lot of it) and get the Xi, a jukebox designed to play tracks from the iPod.

Sony wants to take the wireless route with its latest wireless audio system known as the S-AIRPLAY. Don’t you just hate it whenever there are tangled messes of wires to contend with? Those pesky wires always get in the way whenever you try to vacuum or sweep the floor, not to mention risking tripping over them by accident at night while holding a glass of milk in your hand. With the Sony S-AIRPLAY, you can live a wire-free life, as this wireless, multi-room audio system makes it a snap to listen to your iPod in a different room without having to suffer complicated setup requirements. Wireless audio is transmitted via the S-AIRPLAY’s main docking station in one room to other rooms in the home, as long as they remain within a 160 foot range. All you need to do to listen to audio in another room is plug in a separate S-AIRPLAY wireless speaker into a power outlet and you’re good to go.