Daily deal – 8GB 4th generation iPod nano for $100 (refurbished)

Today’s daily deal is for a really cheap way to get your hands on the latest Apple iPod nano.

This 4th generation device features a built in accelerometer (for rotating the screen when you watch a movie), 8GB of storage, spoken menus and built in games, with the ability to add more games.

The 8GB iPod nano usually retails for about $140, but if you don’t mind a refurbished unit with a 90 day warranty, you’ll be able to pick one up at woot.com. Shipping is just $5.

At the moment, the green and orange versions are sold out, which leaves the black, blue, pink, purple, silver and yellow models to choose from.

As with all Woot deals, when the item is sold out, it is gone, and will be replaced by something new tomorrow, so don’t wait too long to place your order!

Product review – Lubix L’Bubb Bluetooth stereo adapter for the iPod

Last month I wrote a 5-in-1 Bluetooth headset review. One of the products in that lineup was the Lubix UBHS-NC1 stereo headset. In that product description, I mentioned a matching iPod Bluetooth stereo adapter, which I’m going to review for you today.

The Lubix L’Bubb (yeah, that really is the name!) is a small dongle that plugs into the bottom of your iPod or iPhone, and streams the audio output of your player to any Bluetooth stereo device. What this means, is that you can keep your iPod in your pocket or bag, and listen to (and control) your music wirelessly.
The dongle is quite small, and receives its power from the dock connector on your iPod. For this review, I tested it with several Bluetooth devices, including the UBHS-NC1.

Sound quality is very easy to describe – I could not notice a single difference between wired headphones or wireless. The adapter features the SRS Wow HD sound enhancing technology, which can be turned on or off.

To get a little technical – the L’Bubb works using the Bluetooth “A2DP” protocol, which refers to the standard for Bluetooth stereo transmissions. In addition to this, it supports the “AVRCP” service, used to control the music (play, pause and track skips).

There are several really big advantages to using Bluetooth stereo – the main one is of course to get rid of those stupid white iPod cords hanging out of your ears. The second one is in my opinion more important – it keeps your iPod out of harms way, and does not let everyone know you are carrying a $300 music player.

Finally, one great additional feature is the multipoint system built into most Bluetooth headsets – this allows you to connect to your iPod and mobile phone (if it supports Bluetooth) at the same time. You listen to music, and when a call comes in, you can pick it up on the same headset. When you are done with your call, you hang up, and continue listening to music.

There are one or two disadvantages as well – your player will not last as long when you are streaming music using the dongle. On my iPod Nano I noticed a drop in battery life of a couple of hours, which still leaves almost a day of non stop playtime. Then there is of course the issue of battery life of the headphones themselves – the batteries in the UBHS-NC1 will last about 5 hours, so you will need to recharge them every day if you plan to use them on your daily commute.

My only minor complaint with the L’Bubb iPod stereo Bluetooth adapter (besides the silly name) is that the dongle does not allow you to charge the iPod while it is plugged in.

The Lubix L’Bubb costs $50 and the UBHS-NC1 is $54. But, if you purchase the headset and Bluetooth adapter at the same time, you only pay $84!

Daily deal – Altec Lansing iM-237 Orbit MP3 speaker for $25

In today’s daily deal you’ll find another of those great products that made the Gadling Top 25 travel products of 2008.

The Altec Lansing iM-237 Orbit MP3 is a portable speaker with enough punch to fill an entire hotel room with clean crisp audio.

The speaker is powered by 3 AAA batteries which can keep the speaker going for almost an entire day.

Included with the speaker is a hard carrying case with clip and a 2.5mm music phone adapter, which allows you to connect the Orbit to phones with a smaller headphone jack, like on some Blackberry devices.

The Orbit MP3 launched last year for $39, but recently dropped in price at some retailers to under $25. You’ll find it at this price at Amazon.com. In the right column on Amazon, you’ll also find a retailer selling it for just $17.49, with $6.98 shipping.

Product review – Scosche ReviveLITE iPod/iPhone charger/nightlight

The Scosche RevieLITE is the kind of gadget that always manages to get my attention – it takes a really basic feature, and adds something “cool”.

In this product, Scosche combined an iPod/iPhone charger with a nightlight into a slick portable device.

The unit features a set of folding prongs on the rear, and a folding iPod charger on the side. On the front is an LED with a light sensor and a power switch for the nightlight.

It’s about as simple as can be – plug the unit into the wall, plug your iPod in, and let it charge. When you arrive back at your hotel room and you are too drunk to find the light switch, the reviveLITE will show the way to your bed – provided you were able to find a suitable outlet.

Of course – even the simplest of products often have one major flaw, and in the case of the reviveLITE, it is the lack of rotating prongs. Everything is fine and dandy if you use it with a vertially placed outlet, but a horizontal outlet will mean your iPod hangs on its side. Not a massive inconvenience, but still pretty annoying.

The Scosche reviveLITE retails for $39.99, but is available from retailers like Amazon for under about $10 less, which is not too bad for a quality iPod charger. The charger weighs just 2.7oz, which is lighter than most iPod chargers, especially since those usually require a separate cable in your bag.

Daily deal – Kensington iPod Deluxe FM Transmitter for $15

My daily deal for today is for the Kensington iPod Deluxe FM Transmitter.

This is not your average iPod FM transmitter, as it has several very smart technologies built in to help get your music on your car stereo.

The QuickSeek feature actually searches for available frequencies, so you don’t have to keep adjusting your radio to find an open spot. In addition to this, the transmitter even broadcasts an “RDS signal”, which means a car radio with RDS will display the iPod track name on its display!

The device will work on any iPod with a dock connector, including the iPod Touch (the iPhone is not listed as being compatible).

This FM transmitter normally retails for about $80, but Frys.com currently has it on sale for just $14.99.

Shipping is about $6, but those lucky enough to live close to a Frys store can select free in-store pickup.