Back in the late 80s, when every spare dime I had went into car stereo components, I bought my first KICKER product. It was a subwoofer speaker box which fit perfectly into the space behind the seats in my silver Alfa Romeo. Never mind that it took up valuable cargo space; I still had a trunk, and I got a free back-massage every time I turned on my stereo. When I sold that car, I was able to unplug a few wires and easily remove my rear speaker system; that box was eventually transferred into several more vehicles before I ultimately gave it away. By that time Sarah had been born, and having a thumpin’ car stereo just didn’t seem like a priority anymore; but I digress.

When I was offered the chance to review the new KICKER iKICK iK500, my first thought was one of happy nostalgia. But make no mistake about it, this KICKER box is not a car stereo component, it is for use inside the home. There are versions available for both the iPod and Zune, designated by either an “i” or a “z” before the 500. According to the KICKER site, the iKick model was “designed to be the loudest digital portable system available.”

Loud is good, but if the sound is muddy and the music sounds like crap, then the speaker system might as well be quiet. Read on to see how the iK500 fared…

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When I first saw these speakers I thought that they looked great, and the fact that they came with a remote was a bonus.  Let’s see if they stand up to my standards in regards to audio quality and compatibility with my favorite OS, Linux.

In the package was a sub woofer with two satellite speakers, as well as a Windows Media Center compatible IR remote control.

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I have been watching WildCharge with much interest since I first learned about their concept several years back. The idea is simple - you lay your electronic gear on a inductive pad and the items charge without the need for any cables. I love the idea, but waiting for the product to become available for devices I actually use has been a long time coming.

Vincent visited with WildCharge in their office yesterday, and he had an intensive bit of one-on-one time with top execs as well as the product. They set him up with a slim case for his iPhone, a charging pad, and allowed him the chance to really explore the concept.

Technically speaking, the WildCharge adapter for the iPhone and iPod touch is actually integrated into a high-quality gel case called “Skins”, a gel covered product made of Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE) material. WildCharge wire-free charging technology is located on the back of the case and all you have to do is slip your iPhone or iPod touch into the case and then drop it anywhere on the WildCharger charging pad. It’s that easy. A blue light on the left hand side of the pad lights up notifying you that the juice is pumping through your device.

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Hannah popped a new goodie into my inbox this morning: Proporta is introducing a new accessory for the 3G nano, the Echo - Mirror Case.

It’s pretty! But I can already tell I’d have to dedicate minutes of my day to compulsively wiping it down; the Echo - Mirror Case looks like a gorgeous fingerprint magnet.

The Echo - Mirror Case utilizes the same concept as the Echo - Mirror Screen Protector, but protects your entire 3G nano in the process.

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I’m no Apple-basher. Sure, I use a Dell at work and an HP laptop at home, but my girlfriend is on Apple laptop number three in the past four years, and I went to college near Cupertino in the second half of the 1980’s. If you went to Stanford, you just accepted that you were supposed to pay three grand for a Mac SE and an Imagewriter. So I did.

iPod devotee? Yup, that’s me too. At last count there were four different models in my household, and iTunes should send me a Christmas card.

But there’s one thing that most people won’t admit for fear of waking the sleeping Jobs-Bear. So I’ll acknowledge the elephant in the room. Brace yourself fanboys (and fangirlz.)

The earbuds that come with all Apple products stink.

There, I said it. They are uncomfortable. They don’t fit in most human-sized ears. They fall out when you’re exercising, jogging or even walking. They hurt after thirty minutes of use, and they probably excessively damage your hearing because you have to turn them up so loud to get any bass response at all.

Remember those four iPods I own? I’ve purchased at least twice that many aftermarket headphones in an effort to improve my listening experience. You can’t swing a dead cat around my house without tangling Tabby’s claws in a set of white earbuds tangling themselves up on some random flat surface in my office.

But the good people at Comply have come up with a way to improve the fidelity quality of the iPod aural without completely abandoning the phones that Steve built. Behold, the Whoomp! Earbud Enhancers.

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If you have a “broken, crusty or damaged” set of earbuds, now might be a good time to consider an upgrade. Sennheiser has a promotion going on, where they will give you from $5 to $25 off their headsets depending upon the set you buy.

Hmmm, I’m not sure if the $5 trade would be worth the price of a priority envelope (currently $4.60ish), but if they’ll take trades in a lumpy paper envelope with a 41¢ stamp, that might be cool…

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SanDisk has recently announced their new Fuze MP3 Player and also a companion to the player, a card for a free MicroSD card that has music with no DRM on it to promote over 50 new artists.  This is called Sansa Sessions.  Some of the artists included on the MicroSD are All Time Low, Ladytron, Magnet, Nada Surf, Of Montreal, The Coup and many more.

Image courtesy of  SanDisk

Sandisk sent me the 512 MB MicroSD which not only had  55 tracks of music on it, but it also had 8 music videos and some low res bmp’s of the artists.

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Is it ever possible to be too obsessive about backing up your data? I’ve learned not to think so. Need I remind anyone of the events of March 1? Yeah, I thought not.

Since the crash I have learned exactly how obsessive some people can be when it comes to their backup methods. For instance, many of you read the transcripts - perhaps with some amusement - where Ewdi told me his method:

Here is what gives me piece of mind on our network: I use two hard drives, 1 is main and 1 is mirroring (in case 1 hdd dies, the server is still on) using raid. I have auto rsync backup to tapes weekly, I have auto iscsi backup to nas daily, and each month I back up the sites to my local hard drive - of which I keep 1 at home and 1 in a safety deposit box in my bank

My formerly sporadic method of backing things up once in a while just to be “extra safe” has quickly evolved into one that some might find redundant and more than a bit obsessive, but those who have suffered their own devastating data losses will understand. Whether it be your website, treasured family photos, or your entire MP3 music catalog, data is precious; just how precious is not usually known until it is gone.

So how can you make sure that your data is protected and backups are done in a timely manner? How can you ensure that your data will be still be around when - not if - disaster strikes? One of the tools I am using is the SimpleTech Signature Mini USB 2.0 Portable Drive.

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[Ed. note: Just for fun - leave a count in the comments section of how many times the word "strap" appears in this review, and I will choose a random winner (of an equally random prize) from the correct entries on April 3rd. Update: questionfear is the winner!]

As summer is approaching, I often don’t have a handy pocket that I can stick my MP3 player into since I’m no longer wearing a coat. Sure, I can wear a shirt with a pocket on the front, but then I couldn’t wear a lot of my wardrobe since I have a plethora of polo shirts I wear to work. The StrapWrap from DLO is a handy instant pocket that you can put on any bag’s strap that you might be carrying.

Picture courtesy of DLO

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I just missed posting this review in time for Texas’ Spring Break, but it should still be timely for everyone who plans on traveling this summer. I’ll warn you now though, in order to use this product you’ll need to give up one of your vehicle’s cup-holders.

Why would I ask for something so uncivilized?

Because by giving up a cup-holder you might just gain the means to charge up to three devices at the same time, all from a single cigar lighter or power port.

Intrigued? I was, which is how I came to be in possession of the Targus 100W Auto Power Inverter.

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