I was tired of listening to my laptop speakers when I was using the laptop in my bedroom. I researched a wireless speaker solution and was able to find a good deal on the Apple Airport Express and the Logitech Audiostation Express. The Logitech Audiostation Express had received pretty good reviews and it was reasonably priced. I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, as I don’t do too much work on my laptop in that room, but I did want something that was an upgrade to the built-speakers.

Apple started shipping the second generation iPod Shuffles. I already had the first generation, and the only real difference is the size of the unit. Most the features are basically the same. I figured size and the aluminum enclosure was a good enough reason to get the new one. Besides it gives me an excuse to write another post for this site. The new iPod Shuffle comes in only one size, 1GB, which Apple says is about 240 songs. I was able to put 263 songs in my real world use. At $79, I found that the iPod Shuffle was very reasonable in price.

This morning Apple quietly released a 1GB iPod Nano for $149, making their latest music player more accessible to the public price wise. Still capable of holding a good amount of songs (~240 songs) it has the same physical size as the other 2GB and 4GB iPod Nano models and is available in both black and white. Along with this release Apple has reduced the prices of the iPod Shuffles $30 dropping them to $69 and $99 for the 512MB and 1GB models, respectively.

My set of Sony MDR-EX71SL had stopped working in one ear. The insulation on those seem poor to me. It has a rubbery texture that over time just wore out. I did use them everyday for a few months, but I figured they should have lasted longer. I use my ear buds with my iPod Nano as well as my iPod Shuffle. I went back to using the standard Apple ear buds for a little while, but they really sounded poor and realized that I was one of the iPod users that turn the volume up really loud when the outside noise gets louder. After reading more about some of the hearing loss lawsuits against Apple I decided I should try to save my ears and invest in another pair of ear buds that would cancel out some of the noise. I purchased a few pairs of the Sony ear buds and they broke too easily so I was open to trying something new. I figured there was quite a few I could choose from, but since I have the tendency to break them since I’m not too careful I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a pair of Shure or Etymotics. I searched the Internet and found the BassBuds from Chwang Yi. The price of $29 seemed reasonable to and if I didn’t like them they offered a money back guarantee within one year. It was worth the risk and even if I didn’t like them it was a small price to pay if I didn’t like them.

So you have your iPod and it works great, except when it comes to listening in your car. Maybe you picked up an FM modulator and that works somewhat well, except in large cities where it is almost impossible to get a clear station. If your car still has a tape deck maybe you have a mini-jack to tape adapter, which actually works fairly decently especially for 20 or so dollars it costs. Unfortunately if with both of those methods a point comes when the iPod runs out of juice and you have to charge it. Also both of those methods require access to the iPod to control your music selection. The Dension iceLink solves all of these problems.

I carry my iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle with me daily and I was looking for some ear buds to replace the standard white Apple ear buds. Since I carry them around with me daily and use them almost any chance I get, the ear buds take quite a beating and a little more than usual wear and tear. I was looking for some white ear buds to match the iPod. I don’t know I guess I’m one of those Apple people that need the matching accessory. In any case I didn’t want to spend too much money on something I tend to break within a few months. I decided to go with the Sony MDR-EX71SL ear buds in white. I had bought my original pair a few years ago from Japan since they did not sell the white ones here in the states. My second pair, I was able to pick them up online at Amazon for about $30.

After purchasing the Mac Mini and collecting quite a few USB peripherals, the two USB ports built into the machine wasn’t cutting it especially since the keyboard/mouse use one of the ports. I needed a USB hub and I didn’t really care for the units that were made to match the Mac Mini. I figured if I ever got rid of the Mac Mini I could actually use a universal hub with another machine and it wouldn’t look out of place. I came across the IOGear GUH284R and figured that I was a great idea to have a card reader built into the hub with 6 USB ports. I had been collecting quite a few items such as digital cameras and phones that used removable media so I figured I could put the card reader to good use.

I bought the iPod Nano the first day it was released to the Apple Store. To my surprise, on its initial launch they seemed to have a decent supply. I did not have to be put in a waiting list like some of the Apple products I had purchased in the past. I picked up the black 4GB model and even at the time of purchase seemed to be the most popular model of the four. After using it for a few months now, there are some things I really like about the product and other things that I don’t seem to care for too much.