Apple is taking minimalism to a whole new level with the iPod shuffle. In fact they are now officially straddling the fine line between brilliance and bullsh*t.

The iPod shuffle is basically just 512mb or 1gb of flash memory in a very nice iPodesque enclosure. Here’s what it is not. It is not an iPod. At least not in the ways we traditionally identify an iPod (i.e. it’s great interface, a scroll wheel, the ability to sort your music by a plethora of criteria, multiple playlist, basic PDA functionality such as the ability to carry contacts and appointments with you). These things it lacks completely. You won’t find them anywhere no matter how hard you look over the iPod shuffle’s diminutive frame.

And yet it clearly called an iPod, it is in fact an iPod. When you consider that iPod is more a brand than a product these days the contradictions of my last few sentences begins to vanish. Apple created the iPod shuffle to cater to a very different type of music listener. This is similar to Volkswagen, who makes both the Beetle and the Phaeton, two wildly different cars that are aimed at very different consumers. This is the iPod for those that think “why on earth would I want to carry 10,000 songs with me?”

Apple is a company that pays attention to its consumer’s feedback, evident by the inclusion of the Shuffle option as a first level menu option in the fourth-generation iPod. It seems many users are fond of letting the iPod do the choosing, and love the element of surprise when Frank Sinatra is followed by Prodigy, for example. This is what gave birth to the iPod shuffle in both marketing terms and usability. Effectively, Apple took the biggest drawback of flash players, namely their lousy or completely missing user interface, and turned it intothe key feature. What makes the iPod shuffle a success, in my opinion, is something that has nothing to do with its hardware and which no other flash based mp3 player out there has: iTunes.

Here is where the iPod shuffle truly shines. In addition to giving you access to the iTunes music store to purchase songs iTunes also allows you to take the idea of randomness as a feature and run with it. It features a number of different ways to load up your iPod shuffle, all of which are equally ingenious. Upon connecting the iPod shuffle to your computer you are asked whether or not you wish to link the unit with this particular computer. The iPod shuffle can only be linked to one computer at a time. In fact, if it already has music from another computer, the act linking it with a new computer erases all of the existing music. Once you do connect it, the iPod shuffle shows up much like an iPod does, on the left-hand side of the iTunes interface. When you click on the device, you are greeted by large “autofill” button that works much in the same way the party shuffle works (It allows you to autofill from your entire music library for a fresh mix or autofill from a specified playlist or recently played songs to fine tune the mix a bit more). You can also drag and drop songs or entire playlists. One of the coolest things is that this autofill feature can be set to do so automatically whenever you connected your iPod to the computer. For someone who appreciates variety this really is a great way to keep your daily soundtrack fresh and surprising.

The iPod shuffle can also act as a flash memory drive to ferry data between multiple computers. In the iTunes preferences you set how much space of the iPod’s memory to allocate to data storage. Enabling this option causes the iPod shuffle to appear as an external drive on any computer it connects to and acts independently of the music portion of the drive.

As a music player the iPod is great for what it is. The controls are small but effective with the exception of the switch on the back. It serves as both a power button and a toggle between shuffle mode and playlist mode (which allows you to play your music in order, if that is your preference). The switch sits flush with the casing and is very smooth making it difficult to switch on without using the edge of my fingernail. There is also a a learning curve since the iPod shuffle uses one LED light to give you visual feedback for when the player is on, paused, or on hold. Memorizing what it means doesn’t take long but it does take longer than the interface of the rest of the iPod family. Sound quality is excellent and indistinguishable from my 20gb iPod using a pair of Sony inner ear headphones.

This is not something that should be purchased if you dislike losing control or are prone to losing small objects as the iPod shuffle is very tiny and could easily find itself lost in a backpack or on a cluttered desk.

I would recommend the iPod shuffle for those who want a simple music player that also gives you access to the best online music store. The iPod shuffle makes for a very good solid musical companion, as long as you don’t mind identifying songs the old school way, by ear.

Buy a Apple 1 GB iPod Shuffle MP3 Player from Amazon

I built my last computer a little over a year ago, and I tried to keep it within a tight budget. I reused an old Pentium-era IBM keyboard, and a bargain optical mouse (not too much excitement in the mouse/keyboard industry over the last decade). I selected a small form factor case from Shuttle, which freed up valuable desk real estate, but the keyboard and mouse took up quite a chunk of the desk. Real estate on my desk is almost as valuable as land in downtown Manhattan; it’s always at a premium.I view Logitech as the BMW of computer peripherals; premium products for the discriminating taste, with a hefty admission price. While I have tried “multimedia” keyboards before (and been less than impressed), this one takes the category further. The whole package comes in a black and dark gray color scheme accented by green and blue LEDs and silver buttons. It is very cool and ultramodern with a European flair. But design is only the extra touch. I will explain who can most benefit from this progressive hardware and why.

The product I am talking about is the Logitech diNovo Media Desktop. Di novo in science means to synthesize from the basic parts, and this is an apt description of this input system. There are four major hardware components to the system (all are wireless): the keyboard, the MediaPad, an optical mouse, and a hub. Also included was an AC adaptor, 6 AA Duracell batteries (4 for the keyboard, 2 for the MediaPad), 2 NIMH batteries (1800 mA) for the mouse, as well as a software package on CD. The package is made even sweeter with the inclusion of a five year warranty.
The setup went fairly smoothly, and took a little under one hour including software installation. An hour is a long time for a keyboard and mouse, but this is not your run-of-the-mill keyboard and mouse! I followed the setup poster as there was no printed manual (the interactive software does function as a manual, but I still prefer something to carry around and read when I have some time). I was a little apprehensive taking my old keyboard and mouse away, thinking “if there’s a problem, how would I recover the system with no working input device?” This theoretical concern quickly vanished as I proceeded.

The AC adapter connects to the USB connector which provides power to the Bluetooth hub (which is also the mouse charger – very cool). The hub is about the size of a Palm cradle and connects to the desktop via USB or a keyboard ps/2 connection. With batteries installed in all the devices, I powered up the whole system. The mouse worked right away, however the keyboard did not. After noticing and depressing a ‘connect’ button on the bottom of the keyboard and a similar button on the wireless hub, the keyboard worked as well. A similar procedure got the MediaPad working. The same connection step is also shown under each of the three components. Interestingly, the setup poster, which detailed the battery installation, did not list this step, but did place it on the reverse side as a “solving setup problems” procedure. With a working keyboard and mouse, I continued on to install the software.

The software is called SetPoint (version 1.05b): Logitech diNovo Media Desktop which is designed for Microsoft Windows XP and 2000 only; older operating systems and Mac users are out of luck. As the software is installing on your PC, each part verifies its connection to the wireless hub to ensure secure communications. It reportedly uses 128-bit encryption across 70 frequencies, and as long as you don’t work at the CIA, this should be adequate. The software includes optional installation of Windows Media Player 9, and a Bluetooth phone utility. It also asks which media player you wish to use by default; I selected Winamp 5.08C which I favor for music files.
While I have heard about Bluetooth for several years, this is the first Bluetooth device I have owned. Bluetooth is supposed to have a 10 meter range, I had at least that, and that was through interior walls. The Bluetooth hub is designed to act as a wireless hub for other Bluetooth peripherals, an added function of the whole system. There is a utility included in the software to set up other Bluetooth devices (up to seven can be connected to the hub). The hub holds the mouse when not in use and charges it through direct (probably gold plated) contacts. As a nice touch, when the mouse needs charging, its LED glows red. When placed in the cradle the same LED flashes green, and then glows a steady green for five minutes before turning off. The same LED flashing red, and then green reminds me of the two color LED on a LiteOn optical drive – always very cool.

The mouse supplied is the Logitech Mx 900 Bluetooth optical mouse. The mouse alone retails for $100 with the Bluetooth Wireless Hub. The included mouse is clearly made for right handed computer users. It has just the right amount of weight to it to impart a sense that it is finely crafted. It tracks just fine across just about every surface except a piece of glass (I still suggest using a conventional mouse pad to save your desktop surface though).The mouse also features a rubberized scroll wheel, and there are two scroll buttons to facilitate scrolling through very long documents. Near where the thumb rests, there are two shortcut buttons that correspond to the forward and backward buttons on a browser. The final button sits on top and when pressed brings up the “Logitech Quick Switch Program Selector.” This handy feature allows one to the quickly select between open windows on the desktop. Ergonomically, the mouse fits very well in my right hand. For those of us that spend more than a little amount of time with their computer, a comfortable mouse is a necessity, and in my opinion, this one fits the bill for the vast majority of users.

The next component in the system is the Bluetooth keyboard. The keyboard features a zero degree tilt design, as well as some additional keys. The flatness of the design and the slightly less key travel gives this the feel of a notebook keyboard (except it doesn’t sag in the middle). Even the rarely used “F” keys across the top are given the half size design similar to many notebook keyboards. For the “two finger typist” this works well, and is equally comfortable for standard typing technique. The keys have a dulled “clack” to them which provides good feedback and is reassuring as well. There are also some additional keys on the keyboard which stand out because of their silver color.

In the upper left there are shortcut keys for opening your internet browser to its home page, opening Outlook, and initiating a web search. In the upper right side there are short cut keys to control volume output. These functioned very well on my system and saved the need to redo the master volume when switching programs (thereby fixing a bug!). The final set of additional keys is the media launcher button, and controls to play/pause, forward, reverse, and stop to control music or video playback. The same control is duplicated on the MediaPad. Finally, when the Caps Lock key gets depressed, it gets displayed in bright green on the computer monitor. I think all keyboards should have this feature, rather than some tiny LED you don’t notice until 10 characters are capitalized. While the keyboard does not have a wrist rest, it does have two flip up spots to give it some angle. I found it more comfortable that way. After a few minutes, I was comfortable with the keyboard, and the old IBM was on its way down to the basement for storage.
I have saved the best component for last. The MediaPad: Bluetooth Remote Commander. This is a separate wireless Bluetooth component which at first appears to be the numeric keypad to the keyboard. While at first I was disappointed there was no way to lock it onto the keyboard to make one component out of the two, after playing with the MediaPad, I was duly impressed. It features a black and white LED display above the keys which displays the date and time – even with the computer powered off. Along the right side are volume controls, and the media launcher and controls, similar to the keyboard. But they act a little differently.

When used to control Windows Media Player 9, both the title and artist information were displayed on the LED screen which was quite amazing. Unfortunately, this did not work in MusicMatch, nor in Winamp. However, all three players could be controlled in terms of play, stop, forward, etc. An additional feature is that the MediaPad can be put into calculator mode, even when the PC is off. After all, even though we have a computer with a bajigahertz processor, many of us keep a calculator handy for quick math needs. The answers are displayed on the LED readout, and can easily be cut and pasted into on screen applications such as Excel. The third mode for the MediaPad is used to navigate the Logitech Quick Media Launcher. When used this way, it becomes a remote control to navigate music, picture, and video files stored in appropriate My Documents folders. This is ideal for a home built media center pc by adding some of the features of a Windows Media Center Edition.
Overall, I am very pleased with the diNovo system from Logitech. It is probably the most advanced wireless keyboard and mouse combination made today. Frankly, I haven’t had the opportunity to try out many others, but there is a lot of evidence to back the statement up. This is the top of the line from Logitech, and better than anything from Microsoft. Very few other units use Bluetooth with its extended range, frequency hopping technology, and ability to connect with other devices. Most use RF wireless which is limited to keyboard/mice. In addition, this is the only keyboard with a separate MediaPad and display.

I really had to get down to a fine detail level to even find a fault with it. The only drawbacks I have (and they are minor, at best) are:

1. Long setup with “connect” not a separate step
2. Number of batteries to power device
3. Need to keep powered to keep mouse charged

I think this is the first of many trouble free Bluetooth peripherals I hope to enjoy over the next several years. If my old reliable keyboard is a Bic, the diNovo is a Mach3 Turbo!. Both will do the job, but this is definitely the way to compute with a balance of style and performance.Finally, who should actually buy this? I’ll take a look at who I think can most benefit from this great hardware and justify the $249 admission price. After all, this is a premium product, and not for cash strapped budget pc user.

1. Power users who are comfortable building their own PCs.
   This is an ideal choice for a home-built media center pc and is designed with that user in mind. With its wireless range and MediaPad it is a great choice, and with its slick design it fits in well in a living room, den, or dorm. With the Media Desktop software designed for distance use, a user would not miss the “real” Windows Media Center Edition which is not available to install on a home built pc.
2. Computer users looking to clean up the clutter.
   Another potential user is the business executive who wants fewer wires on his or her desk, and who wishes to impress his or her colleagues who have already seen the 21″ LCD flatpanel monitor. Also, when not working with the computer, the keyboard and MediaPad can be placed elsewhere to free up valuable desk space for that “big project.” Having other Bluetooth peripherals to connect and not needing a separate hub increases the functionality of the product.
3. A number-cruncher
   An accountant would utilize the calculator functions of the MediaPad, which would make the system worth the price tag in increased productivity over time. Besides, the MediaPad looks way cooler on a desk than any calculator.

Finally, there’s always the gift for the “Live Digitally” user who seems to already have everything. Trust me they’ll be impressed.

Well, it’s been about 50 years, and we still don’t have watchband communicators. Heck, my cell phone still loses signal in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, supposedly the hotbed of technology for the world! However, thanks to New York-based Technotunes, Inc., we do have a watchband music player. The company offers a MP3-playing watch. I must admit, when I first heard the concept, it sounded a little on the janky side of the street. I may have judged too soon.

When we opened the packaging, we were nicely surprised to see the high quality of the materials, and the size of the watch itself. I think our expectations were a cheap overseas design with a standard cardboard box, no manual whatsoever, and pleather. Instead, the box looks good, and all the components are worthy of a $199 watch. Nice.

Now we naturally ignored the manual, and went straight to the task of trying to listen to our music. We pulled out the USB cable, and noticed right away the unique (or unique to us, I should say) adapter which appears to convert USB to… headphone! I plugged the cable into my laptop, and two things happened: (1) a light on the watch lit up, and (2) my PC automatically recognized a new USB drive. Both were fantastic news, let me tell you why.

The light on the watch lit up to inform me that the watch was charging over USB. I love this. To all product developers out there: if you make a portable gadget with USB support, it should be chargeable by USB! There is nothing I hate more than carrying extra power adapters on business trips, and if I’m going to have a watch that needs recharging, the LAST thing I want to have to do is remember my charger!

The fact that Windows was able to communicate with the watch as a USB drive meant that not only did I not need to install any special drivers or software, but I can simply drag and drop the MP3 files I want straight to the watch. Which is exactly what I did, and even though the device used the older USB 1.1 technology (which means a much slower transfer rate), filling 256MB with music was quick enough for me.
Well, it’s time to listen to some watch-music, so our good friend Ron has returned, sans lighter fluid (he likes fire). First Ron connected the supplied headphones, using the same plug on the watch that we connected the USB cable to before. This clever design is part of why we like the TechnOTunes product so much – most devices these days have so many inputs and outputs they’re like swiss cheese. This is how consumer electronics, gadgets or not, should be, clean and simple. To add some icing to this cake, the watch automatically recognized the fact that Ron had connected the headphones. He pushed the play button, and out came beautiful, compressed, music.Just look at the happy fella.

Next, Ron stands up to see what the “walking around, listening to my watch” experience is like. The retractable cable (again, a nice touch) wasn’t quite convenient to Ron’s tall frame, so we tried the old under-the-shirt technique. This definitely worked a lot better, but was not extremely convenient. But that’s why we brought out some other listening devices.

First up, a pair of Shure e2c headphones (our review is forthcoming) are connected to the TechnOTunes watch. As we hoped, sound quality was about what a typical MP3 player sounds like. In all fairness, my multi-hundred dollar Rio Karma sounds better with the Shure’s, but since the Karma is considered the top-of-the-line for audio quality, this isn’t a fair comparison. I think it’s fair to say you won’t be disappointed with the sound quality.

Next test: the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 powered computer speakers (review also coming shortly). First off, these are about the best PC speakers you can buy right now, we love them, they are amazing (you can buy them here). We hooked these bad boys up to the TechnOTunes watch, and it was a party in the apartment.

Finally, and most difficult of all, we used a headphone to RCA adapter, and connected the watch to my home stereo. As a preface, it is very very hard to make any compressed music sound good coming out of a decent stereo system. I typically use the digital audio outputs from my laptop if I really want any PC-based music. I found the watch sounded a little bit hollow when hooked up in this environment, but that’s about what I expected as well. Not fair, not nice, but we wanted to be thorough.
As we’ve said before, too much convergence is not a good thing. My laundry machine does not need to play MP3s. My cell phone doesn’t either, unless it does a really good job of it, and stops dropping calls. As for a watch? I honestly don’t know. But I do know this, if there is an example of doing it right, the TechnOTunes MP3 Watch is it.

Packaging and product design is very nicely done. In fact, they have three different models, each aesthetically designed and offered in multiple colors. The unit we tried has no display or user interface, but Apple, the king of MP3 players, has recently declared this to be a good thing. Because time is random.

We expected a huge house-watch, and instead got something with a nice form factor. The clever use of a single port for USB connectivity as well as headphones is one of the smartest things we’ve seen anyone do with a digital device in a long time.

Personally, I would probably be happy enough with a watch-based USB drive! Even if I didn’t use the music features, not having to carry an extra USB memory stick around is a great idea. The TechnOTunes watch does a good job in the drive to convergence. Convergence should mean something very simple: by combining the devices I normally carry into a single device, my life gets better. Most other devices seem to make my life worse.

The watch is $199, available directly from their site.