[There I Fixed It]

The downside is the price. $100 for the privelage of being able to control your PS3 via a universal remote. Sure the hardware involved needs to be pretty special – it’s got to have both Bluetooth and IR after all – but I can’t help but feel that Logitech is making a little bit too much profit off this.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much though – the number of times I’ve thought my Harmony 525 was busted because it wouldn’t pause a Blu-ray in my PS3 before realising my idiocy is so worth $100 paying for.

[Logitech]

Although the 1-inch adapter’s shiny black exterior doesn’t exactly match the slick Shuffle’s casing, it was designed so that the volume, play, pause and shuffle controls are on the side, keeping the MP3 player looking clean and simple. There’s no word on pricing or availability yet, but as Apple is supposedly coming out with their own Shuffle adaptor, I’d imagine that Ozaki’s iCommand should be slightly cheaper. [iLounge via Engadget]

In other words, any 2.5 or 3.5-inch hard drive can push HD video (MPEG, AVI, MP4, VOB, and DiVX) through the adaptor. It also handles content from HD cards and USB drives and comes with a remote control for added convenience. All-in-all, not a bad set of features for $US69. [Brando]

The Price: $US60

The Verdict: So worth it. Not only can the adaptor turn on and off the PS3 directly from your remote—it’s powered from an AC outlet instead of one of the PS3’s USB ports—just about every function that the PS3 can perform can be mapped onto the remote’s buttons.

The remote works by first syncing, like any other standard Bluetooth PS3 remote, to your PlayStation 3. Then it takes in IR blasts from your remote and translates them to Bluetooth commands. All you have to do is re-add the PlayStation 3 to your Logitech Harmony profile and it will automatically import the correct IR codes to your remote.

In practice, it’s essentially flawless. I was able to control a Blu-ray movie, a DVD and a DivX video from just the buttons on my Harmony. At $US60, it’s slightly expensive, but well worth it if you (like us) don’t like having two different remotes to control something. Especially if one of those remotes is a game controller. [Logitech]

The LumoPro Hot Shoe Universal Translator comes with a male hotshoe that connects to the camera, and a female that connects to the flash. In the middle, the little cube has a PC socket—to trigger it—and a 3.5mm mini-jack socket to connect to additional flashes to blind your object with light. [Product Page via Wired]

The Price: $US30

The Verdict: For the most part, it works. The cigarette 12V adaptor in my car does not charge my iPhone 3G correctly, but if I plug in through this converter, everything’s great.

The problem comes from the fact that it’s a pass-through, so if you’re not careful, the adaptor (and the charger) might snap off if bent too far in one direction. It also is awkward if you’re plugging your iPhone into this, and then into a dock from the top without proper support. There’s also the matter of it obstructing certain types of iPod/iPhone holders since they weren’t designed to have something in-between the connectors.

But as for being able to convert Firewire charging devices to USB charging devices, yeah, it works with most devices, but there were two “older” docks that we checked that it didn’t work with. So YMMV, since there are so many different iPod docks and chargers that have been made in the last five years. [Griffin]

Great when it works

Blocks or otherwise awkwardly arranges docking in certain chargers and accessories

Doesn’t work with all older docks and chargers, which makes this moot if you’ve got one of the devices it doesn’t work with

Even having the plug stick out another 5cm so the adapter sits over another powerplug would fix the problem. Fortunately, it seems to work through an extension cord, although I’m certain that would have some kind of effect on performance. I’ll let you know how the product performs once I’ve played with it a bit more.

[Netgear XAVB101 Product Page]

OWC’s USB to DVI/VGA/HDMI adaptor is just like the ViBook version which we’ve been testing, and gives you up to six (four for OS X) extra displays on one computer. YES.

OWC’s version comes with two swiveling adapters (the main bit, just like ViBook’s is just a solid block), and supports up to 1600×1200 or 1680×1050. What’s better about this is that it’s got the VGA and HDMI adapters and comes in at $US100, $US30 less than the ViBook. You just need to make sure your displays support whatever resolution this can drive before you load up. [OWC]