For testing we listened to Emiliana Torrini's Sunny Road, light acoustic rock that builds into deeper instrumentation.

iHome iH52
All the ranges are well represented, with plenty of bass available. The guitar sounds pleasant, and the voice is OK, but not stellar. Nothing here will completely blow you away as no particular range really shines, but there's nothing blatantly broken, either.

XtremeMac Tango
In the quiet opening, there is a noticeable buzz. It's a high and faint, an almost digital-sounding overtone. And once you hear that, it sours the whole package. The lows seem to keep up with the iHome's, though sounds sometimes become murky from lower ranges to the mids—it's lacking control in its resonance. But the vocal track is actually surprisingly quite strong.

Eton Sound 100 iPod
The Sound 100 surprised me, nearly keeping up with its competitors in its overall frequency range. But overall, the experience is a little thinner than offerings from either the iHome or Tango. Still...

WINNER: Eton Sound 100 iPod
Admittedly, the Eton comes in third place regarding sound. The iHome takes that category. But this is the second round, and I refuse to put through a computer speaker system with a dock attachment and a big iHome slapped on the front.

iPod docks are superfluous tech, meant to have a level of sexiness that's superior to our existing computer or surround sound system (and besides, could you imagine if Logitech and Altec Lansing entered their computer systems in the competition). Meanwhile, the Tango just doesn't sound as good as its footprint would suggest. The bottom line: if we were choosing one dock of the three for our home, it would be the Eton. And even if we bitched a little about the sound, at least we wouldn't have to look at another ugly pile of cords.

iSkin has a futuristically styled case, the "revo," silicone with an embedded antimicrobial agent to keep you healthy as you fling your iPhone into germ-infested situations. Revo also includes "a touch-compatible privacy film and a ViSOR, an ultra-clear polycarbonate scratch resistant screen guard for the large iPhone screen." It will set you back $39.99.

DLO Jam Jacket - $24.99 - It's a silicone case that comes in Black, Blue, Pink and Frost. There's a "headset management system" (that is, a few hooks so the wire doesn't tangle up). DLO promises "total access to iPhone controls" too.

DLO HipCase - $34.99 - For gentlemen who like to wear their phones on their belts (if not their pride on their sleeves). This leather flip-up case provides access to iPhone headset jack, even when closed.

DLO says an Action Jacket to protect iPhone from sweat is coming, along with updated iPhone compatible hardware such as an AutoCharger and a TransDock Deluxe with steering wheel-mounted remote control.

XtremeMac steps up with its first hardware, the $19.95 InCharge Auto car charger that boasts the official "Works With iPhone" seal of approval. By coincidence, it's also "Made for iPod."

This time, we brought along a bag full of awesomely priced cables, mostly from Monoprice, that we were ready to run bandwidth tests on, side-by-side with Monster's finest (and most damned expensive) cables.

What were our findings?

1) At short distances up to 6ft (2 meters), you can pretty much get away with any cable. Monoprice cables kicked ass at the 6 foot length that mostly everyone uses.

Not all cables are the same, however, and in truth, it's the medium-priced cables that may be the real rip-off.

2) At longer distances, cheaper cable tends to choke up. A 720p signal will make it, but even today's standard 1080p signal can fry out inside of a long cable that isn't built as well. If you are trying to hook up a 1080p projector on your ceiling to a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, this is a concern.

The tests, which fired digital signal through the cable to synthesize high-definition video, can be divided into REAL-WORLD requirements (720p and 8-bit 60Hz 1080p) and FUTURE-WORLD requirements (12-bit 60Hz 1080p and even 12-bit 120Hz 1080p). Mind you, the future formats don't exist now, so they should only be a concern when you are buying cables you intend to keep for five years, such as those you want to build into a wall.

OK, you got the results, now, don't you want to see how the test was done, and see what we saw?

Look at the pic above. The box on the left is an Anritsu Pulse Pattern Generator. To simulate high-def video, it sends signal down one of three paths within an HDMI cable, so its signal at any given time is ONE-THIRD the bandwidth of that video format. The list of bandwidth tests we ran is as follows:

REAL WORLD
• 720p 8-bit 60Hz = 742 Mbps (x3)
• 1080p 8-bit 60Hz = 1.65 Gbps (x3)

FUTURE WORLD
• 1080p 12-bit 120Hz = 4.455 Gbps (x3)
• 1440p 12-bit 120Hz = 8.24 Gbps (x3)

When the signal was sent out over the cable, its performance was measured on a Tektronix DSA8200 Digital Serial Analyzer. The argument goes like this: it may all be 1's and 0's, but what is being sent over that cable is electric current. When too much data is sent over a shabby cable, the device on the other end can't tell what is a 1 and what is a 0. The end result is video that is either jittery, full of digital snow, or flat-out not there.

The Tektronix display shows two arcs, a high ridge that stands for the 1's and a low ridge that stands for the 0's. As bandwidth increases, you will see that the arcs get fuzzier, and at the failure point, there are too many 1's that look like 0's, and vice versa.

Bear in mind, in some cases, if the cable failed at one level, we didn't go on to the next. Likewise, if we knew it passed the higher test, we might not go on to a lower test.

Monster Cable 2-meter ($120)

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1440p - PASS

Monoprice 6ft HDMI 1.2a ($4.79)

REAL WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1440p - FAIL

Monoprice 6ft HDMI 1.3 Category 2 Certified (Price unavailable, but fairly cheap)

REAL WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1440p - FAIL

XtremeHD 2-meter HDMI 1.3 ($20)

REAL WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - FAIL

FUTURE WORLD 1440p - FAIL

Monoprice 6ft Heavy-Duty CL2 ($15.44)

REAL WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1440p - (CLOSE) FAIL

Monoprice 35-ft In-Wall CL2 ($35.17)

REAL WORLD 720p - PASS

REAL WORLD 1080p - FAIL

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - FAIL

Monster 10-meter ($230)

REAL WORLD 720p - PASS

REAL WORLD 1080p - PASS

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - FAIL

Monoprice 50-ft In-Wall CL2 ($53.64)

REAL WORLD 720p - PASS

REAL WORLD 1080p - FAIL

FUTURE WORLD 1080p - FAIL

You will notice that even the Monster 10-meter couldn't pass the Future World 1080p test. The Monster folks said they didn't have a 50-footer in the building that they could test with, but I suspect it would have done a little bit better than the Monoprice, possibly even carrying today's 1080p. But we did not test that.

Judging from these results, I would have to reiterate my original position, that it's best to skimp at short distances, but you don't want to be caught with the wrong cable installed in your walls. Even with the projector, it might be smart to buy a $30 cable first and see if it works, but be prepared, when upgrading your gear, to upgrade the cable too. Does it have to be Monster? Hell no, but you might have to pay something close to a Monster-sized price.

The truth is, the bigger rip-off appears to be the $20 XtremeHD cable. It didn't perform as well as stuff one-fifth the price. (No wonder they don't sell a 10-meter cable.) I would say beware of mid-priced cable of dubious origin. Our dealings with Monoprice lead us to believe that at least they know what they're selling, even at such a tremendous discount.

Stay tuned for HDMI Cable Battlemodo: The Truth About Monster, Part 3, where we try to match the laboratory results with basic, in-home testing. If the Digital Serial Analyzer said a cable fails, but it works just fine in my basement, maybe I'll have to call BS. – Wilson Rothman

Monster Cable [Gizmodo]

Our first impression was favorable, admiring its beautiful appearance with its clean well-rounded lines, black-and-white design and a blue-backlit white-numbered LCD display that looks like it belongs on the flight deck of a UFO. This is a clock radio with an iPod dock, so we plugged our iPod nano into it and took it into the official Gizmodo bedroom for a hands-on sleep test.

As a clock radio, it has a few features that are extremely important to us and anyone who values tranquility in the bedroom. For one, the backlight on the display can dim all the way down to a barely visible level. This means you won't be getting any clock radio light in your face when you're trying to sleep. That's really important to some people who demand total darkness in the sleeping space.

Just like the display, the volume fades down when its sleep switch reaches the end of its designated time, and fades back up the next morning. The result is that music is never abruptly pulled out from under you, nor does it jar you awake.

We're not big fans of FM radio around here, but the stations that we attempted to tune in with this radio revealed its rather weak reception. We have other radios we've tested here that receive most stations clearly, where the Luna had to struggle with noise and interference. If you're looking for a high-quality radio, you might want to look elsewhere.

Another weakness is the operating system. It's too hard to adjust settings on this clock radio. The multifunction knobs are supposed to be user-friendly, but they're not. Each of the four chrome control knobs has a push-down menu system that takes some getting used to. Plus, as you turn the knobs, there are click stops, but nothing happens to the levels you're adjusting with each click. Sometimes it takes two clicks for the level to change, sometimes three. Not good.

The saving grace of this awkward operating system is the slim, gorgeous remote control that matches the radio. Although it's one of those remotes that must be pointed directly at the radio for it to work, it gives you most of the control you need right in the palm of your hand, letting you turn on and off alarms 1 and 2, set the sleep switch, and control the iPod's transport as well as volume on the radio or iPod sections.

Finally, even though the Luna has two small speakers up front, the sound is very good, and just one notch short of excellent. Of course, with speakers this small, there's not a tremendous amount of bass, but the overall presence of the sound and crisp highs give its tonal and spatial quality almost a 3D effect. Yeah, we were quite impressed with the sound quality of this audio system.

There's nothing revolutionary about the Luna, but the bottom line is that it acts as a good citizen in the bedroom. Once you have your routine settings out of the way, it fades its volume up and down and keeps its display dark enough for even the most finicky sleepers. As long as you use the remote rather than its goofy menu system, controlling the Luna is a simple undertaking, just what a bleary-eyed sleeper needs. Plus, it cranks out powerful sound that's better than most of the compressed audio tracks most iPods are capable of delivering.

Although we have mixed feelings about the beautiful Luna, we would still invite it into our bedroom, and look forward to its charms with great anticipation. – Charlie White

Product Page [Xtreme Accessories, LLC]

The Luna has some excellent features, and compares favorably with the more-expensive $400 Roku SoundBridge Radio which has the greater capability of letting you access Internet radio stations and music on any computer on your network, but can't play any files with iPod DRM. The $150 Luna has a lot more customization features, and might be worth a look if you can wait until it ships on December 18. – Charlie White

Product Page [Xtreme Accessories, LLC]

The TuffWrap should be available on or around the beginning of November. It's the hot jawn of iPod cases. – Nicholas Deleon

Press Release [XtremeMac]

Some of us like to listen to our iPods quite a bit despite the stereo being in the other room. Eventually the iPod battery runs out, we cry, and life ends. Well no longer shall we suffer with XtremeMac's MicroPack, a battery and awesome dock for your iPod. It adds up to 80 hours of extra audio playback on your iPod and has a USB cable in case you want to dock it. The MicroPack also features dual headphone ports with seperate volume controls, a unique feature you won't find many other places. Sweet. It'll be shipping this spring for about $100.

XtremeMac's MicroPack extends iPod playback time [iLounge]

XtremeMac Tango [Official product page]