The JBL Radial does not follow the more common brick formula to iPod speaker systems, instead effectively being a vertically mounted donnut with the iPod nestling securely in the middle. The first things that strikes you as you take the JBL out of the box is just how striking it looks - you don't need to hide this unit away in a corner. You're more likely to want to have it in clear view as a focal point to a room in it's own right.

Many would be quite at home on a Christmas tree. I'm very pleased now to review the 'boring' BT4010 from Jabra. Why boring? Well it's resisted the urge of it's erstwhile counterparts to show-off to the world it's ability to dazzle in the visual spectrum and instead limited itself to a small, lower power monochrome LCD display with various symbols to show status.

In the highly protective telecoms arena new technology is almost invariably seen as a threat and viewed with a very wary eye by established companies. Thus it was with Skype and the whole "Voice over IP" (VoIP) concept. Mobile ISPs have felt especially threatened and this probably accounts for the usage limits in place for many mobile data tariffs - if you make the data bandwidth expensive people are less likely to squander it on phone calls.

Well - now the answer is neither. Gear4 have produced the 'Duo' - the idea is that this one product provides you with rich sound when home and still have light-weight slim portable unit for when you're our and about. The solution is a little Russian doll like - heres how it works! In it's home configuration you have a largish unit measuring around 14 x 23 x 15cm (HxWxD) weighing a little under 2Kg. The bulk of this size is a 20W sub-woofer.

Motorola have joined the small but growing band of manufacturers providing Bluetooth stereo headsets with their Motorokr S9. As well as being a wireless way of listenning to stereo on your favourite Bluetooth enabled media player, it also includes a microphone so should you be using a phone it'll allow you to make calls.

The solarDAB is distinctive in a number of ways. Firstly it has a somewhat unusual design, partly due to the need to incorporate the solar panel in the top of the device. Aesthetics are always somewhat subjective, although I did find the design grew on me over a couple of weeks. The second somewhat unusual aspect is the lack of an FM or analogue tuner - this is a DAB only radio. This is in many ways a vote of confidence in the DAB system after some poor press earlier in the year.

I'm a complete convert to video on the move with around 20 hours of my favourite videos on my . I've watched on the train and in a camp-site during particularly bad weather. I've even used it on a car journey to keep the kids entertained. There is however a problem - it's not comfortable watching the iPod screen for any length of time. It's not the quality of the screen, which is brilliant. It's having to either hold the screen up to watch (if laying down) or a sore neck having to look down.

The PVR-9150T joins the established and the PVR-9300 product. We were impressed with the 9200 - it was the products stability and reliability that made it stand out from the crowd as much as price and features. Connections on the 9150 have been significantly simplified from those of it's older stable-mate and it's clear that this product is aimed at the majority of people that want an easy to use, no fuss video recorder that attaches to their TV with the minimum of hassle.

The Motorokr EQ5 definitely fits into the portable category measuring 115x65x15mm (WxHxD) - almost identical to the iPod Touch. Very easy to slip into a pocket or bag. Build and design quality are both very good with a black fascia and silver trim and this is matched by a pretty good, although bass-light sound. A small but surprisingly stable wire stand folds out from the rear.

The changes this year though are more cosmetic than substantive. gave us the innovative and totally cool iPod Touch and the video capable iPod Nano. This year we have a new slimline Touch and a new nano that seems to have slipped back a generation in design from that launched only 12 months back. Let's look at the new Nano first. Last year saw a migration from long and thing to short and squat. This year sees a complete reversal of that back to tall and thin measuring 90.7x38.

There are many devices around now that allow you to share a broadband Internet connection with computers and other devices in your home or small business. The LinkSys WRT54G3G adds to the standard broadband connection the ability to slot in a wireless 3G data card. The device can effectively connect your local home/business network to both a wire broadband connection via Ethernet and/or to a 3G mobile network using 3G/UMTS data card (standard PC-card format).

Despite being a great fan of radio (I admit it - a Radio 4 listener) - I actually have very little time in which to listen. The best times for me are either when gardening or when running, and with the weather this year precious little gardening has been done! The Goodmans GHDAB101 measures 69.5 x 44 x 21.4mm and weighs a mere 68 grams. Power is provided by two AAA batteries, something I fully applaud.

Over a quarter of a century has passed during which I've written more software than I care to think about and I still have all the bad habits I started out with before that course. Nessy Fingers aims to get hold of kids they've learnt the wrong way to type and instil in them typing skills that are virtually a dying art. before With the prevalence of computers of course you have to get them very young, Nessy Fingers is aimed at 8+ years group.

Iqua have a range of Bluetooth headsets - this is the first product that I've reviewed from the company - the iQua 603 SUN Bluetooth headset. Physically this headset is on the larger size measuring 48 x 25 x 12mm (LxWxH) and weights 14g. This extra size accomodates a small solar cell mounted on the outer face of the device. Included in the package are an ear hook, two different ear plugs a charger and a carry strap.

From Imation we're looking at the new "Atom Flash Drive", available in 1G, 2G, 4G and 8G bytes sizes. Our test sample is 1Gbyte. This is pitted against the Kingston Data Traveller 100, available in the same sizes.

The pink and purple varieties are most definitely aimed squarely at the female market, and in case you're not convinced Motorola provide a Pink or Purple test to help you choose your colour - question two asks whether you'd rather date Prince William or Prince Harry ( ). you can take the quiz here! The Motorola U9 is a quad-band phone that comes with a raft of features for those that prefer the clamshell format. Measuring 90 x 48.

The solution proposed by 3Dconnexion, a division of Logitech best known for their mice and keyboards, is the SpaceNavigator, described as a 3D mouse. We reviewed the SpaceNavigator back in September 2007 ( ). you can read that review here 3Dconnexion have now released a smaller, lighter Navigator - for notebooks. To recap - the SpaceNavigator in a single hand control allows you to : pan, zoom, tilt, spin, roll, move.

click to enlarge The iPod Touch arrives in a fairly small package, sporting John Lennon on the front. Inside the box you'll find the device itself, Apples hallmark white headphones, white USB cable, a docking adaptor to allow the Touch form factor to work with the existing range of iPod accessories, a cleaning cloth and a tiny perspex stand.

Following on from jzblue's Bluetooth Headset roundup , it's my turn to review three additional headsets, taking the opportunity to look at the , the and the . published recently Motorola H375 BlueTrek SenSe Motorola H680 Motorola Universal Bluetooth Headset H375 This is a small reasonably unobtrusive bluetooth headset that was not uncomfortable in use.

Uniross are now a very well known brand both for NiMh batteries and for the chargers you need to keep them operating. The range of chargers available from Uniross itself can be fairly bewildering. In this review I'm looking at their latest fast charger. The charger is packaged with 4x2700mAh AA size batteries - the highest capacity we've seen available.

click to enlarge If like me you've taken the trouble over the years to rip the bulk of your CD collection onto your PC you can be left with wondering how to then play that music.

The Kensington FX500 "speaker to go" is a slightly bigger than an A5 sheet of paper at around 150x200mm, around 35mm thick and weighing 400g. The unit has a soft finish that should be fairly robust and is reminiscent of a small zip-up folio case. From the front the product has a central clear window through which you'll be able to access front-mounted controls on your favourite MP3 player. A power switch is situated to the lower right.

This is the first chance I've had to take a look at a new external hard disk sporting the high performance 'eSATA' - or 'external SATA' interface as an alternative to the otherwise ubiquitous USB connection. This drive is from the Hypertec FireStorm range and comes with capacities from 80G byte to 1T byte. Here I'm reviewing the 80G byte model.

The JB7 from Brennan aims to make music simple - the way it always used to be before the advent of MP3 players, phones that do everything, downloadable music and the proliferation of media formats. While tackling this noble aim it doesn't aim to drop you back into the dark ages - instead it encompasses all that's best in the latest technology, but only so much as is necessary to meet it's core function.

In common with other similar devices the Suunto gives you two elements - the watch itself and a separate heart rate monitor that straps around your chest for when you train. The monitored heart rate is wirelessly communicated with the watch, which provides the user interface. The watch comes with an 'interesting' strap arrangement. This has a metal clasp attached to the plastic strap.

I'm reviewing the 19" version here. Like it's slightly larger 22" sibling this set is available in either black or white. The display is a 1440x900 wide-screen panel with a wide 160° viewing angle. This sits on an integrated stand that contains the stereo speakers. Dimensions for the whole unit are approximately 500x439x170mm (Width x Height x Depth). The depth is due to the base of the unit that houses the stereo speakers. Weight is a fairly modest 8.2Kg.

click to enlarge SlingBox comes in a various flavours - from the original 'Classic' through the the 'Pro', which is the one currently sat underneath my TV. What's a SlingBox? The clue is in the name. In short it takes video and audio from where they are and them to where you - SlingBox.

Just after this review was published Emtec came back to us with answers to some of our concerns with this product in the form of a new software release.

Apart from the obvious problems with knowing which format you need for a particular product, you're also often left having to buy different card for each of your gadgets. Even ignoring competing formats, individual formats have now spawned whole families of related standards sharing confusingly similar names.

Click image to enlarge An industry that started as a portable cassette player has developed into the myriad of devices of varying capabilities and varying capacities - ranging from a simple flash based player through to to video playback.