Enjoy Your MP3 Music on Your Factory Car Stereo – Without Static

Once you get used to the comfort of an iPod, iPhone or other MP3 player, having your whole music collection at your fingertips, the next thing you obviously want is to be able to connect this to your car stereo and enjoy the same flexibility when driving. New car stereos are often equipped with an AUX input or even with an integrated iPod docking station. When you’ve got a more basic or older car stereo, there’s generally no direct means of connecting your MP3 player. In that case you have to revert to the well-known FM transmitters and live with the interference of neighboring FM radio stations – unless you go for the Scosche FMMOD02 FM modulator.

Bushnell GPS BackTrack Guides You Back to the Exact Spot

The Bushnell BackTrack, also marketed under the name “GPS Homing Device”, is a useful and simple handheld GPS location-finder for people who need to memorize a spot in a city or landscape and who don’t want to operate a more complex GPS receiver. It can memorize up to three spots by the simple press of a button and guide you back by means of a simple arrow.

USBCell from Moixa – Rechargeables that Plug Into any USB Port

We just discussed the Rezap Battery Doctor, which recharges even alkaline batteries – a solution that I favor for most purposes. But it still requires you to take yet another charger with you on your travels, which is not ideal for vacations or business trips. Recently, however, I stumbled upon these USBCell rechargeable batteries from Moixa, which have the charger integrated in the battery itself! A very clever design, with a few minor drawbacks – but lots of advantages.

Cable Capture Organizes Your Cable Clutter

Cables are always too long and too short at the same time. Too short when you need that few inches of extra reach, and too long for the rest of the time, when they’re just lying in your way. Several elegant solutions exist, such as the SimpleToo or the Cord-It, that enable you to roll cables up until they’re the exact length you need. These are very elegant when you just need to get one cable under control, but if you’re fighting real cable clutter such as in your home office, the Cable Capture cable organizer looks more promising.

Charge all your Battery Types with the ReZap Battery Doctor – even Alkaline Batteries

Given the overly high price of good alkaline batteries, I switched to rechargeable NiCd and NiMH batteries long ago. They work quite well, but the voltage is 1.2 volts instead of the 1.5 volts that some devices expect, causing some devices to function incorrectly or to give false battery readings. Another drawback is that they lose charge spontaneously – even when not in use they’re empty after about a month. This means that you can’t use them for devices that need to operate for a longer time, such as a clock, or that need to be working when you only occasionally need them, such as a flashlight or photo camera. This Battery Doctor from ReZap seems to bring the best of both worlds, allowing you to use disposable 1.5 V alkaline batteries – which retain their charge – and still recharge them when empty, saving you money.

Make Your Infrared Remote Control Work At Any Angle

Today's infrared-controlled equipment is better than those of a few years ago in the sense that many infrared remote controls now work at almost any angle. Even so, you might still be using older equipment or less well-designed new devices that still require you to align them well or to be sitting more or less directly in front of them to operate them reliably. Inconvenient? Sure – but there is a free and fast do-it-yourself solution to solve this problem and to increase the operating angle.

Bexy iMirror - Marantz IS301 - Philips SJM3151 iPod Dock - CD Carrousels Compared

Most iPod docking solutions connect your iPod to your stereo, but you still need to get up to view the little screen if you want to select another artist or album. We've reviewed various solutions that take the concept a step further and allow you to do this from the comfort of your couch.

We let the Bexy iMirror, the Philips SHM3151 and the Marantz IS301 contend and compare both to carrousel solutions.

            

Bexy iMirror iPod dock – See Your iPod Contents On Your Remote

Most iPod docking solutions offer the convenience of connecting your iPod to your hi-fi chain and accessing your whole CD library from the remote control without ever needing to change a CD. However, unless you're sitting next to them, they still require you to get up and walk over to select a new artist or album. Not so with the Bexy iMirror iPod Dock.

Skype Mouse Combines Mouse and Phone – Unclutter your Desk

Since the arrival of Skype and other internet telephony services, many of us are saving a great deal on our phone bills. Since the arrival of Skype, though, yet another device – a phone handset – has to be connected to the PC with yet another cable, anything but decreasing the clutter on our work desks. The USB Skype Mouse takes care of the second problem for you.

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VueZone Wireless Security Cameras – No Network Cable – No Power Supply

I've seen several security camera systems for domestic use that are marketed as being wireless. Which was true in a sense, since they have a wireless network connection to connect to your home router. What was not mentioned clearly in the descriptions, however, was that they still need a power source – a wire, in other words. At the other end of the spectrum, there are cameras that can get their power via the network cabling, eliminating the local power supply but requiring data cabling at the place of installation. Avaak has announced for this summer the Vue Personal Video Network that lives up to the promise of being truely wireless.