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Logitech Squeezebox Boom looks like a winner

I was a big fan of Logitech's Squeezebox Duet, which I saw demonstrated at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, and today Logitech announced a follow-up that looks even better: a boombox for your digital music collection. And unlike the Duet, which had to be plugged into a stereo, the Boom has speakers.

Once again, CNET's John Falcone has beaten me to the punch with a full review, but even without his validation, at first glance this looks like a great product for users with large collections of digital music trapped on their computers. Beginning in September, $300 will … Read more

Battle of the wireless headsets

We recently took a look at two new wireless headsets available on the market and pitted them against one another. The Creative Digital Wireless Gaming headset HS-1200 and the Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless headset both offer similar functionality, but only one can be worth your hard-earned cash.

Both the Creative and Logitech are rechargeable units that use USB dongles to transmit audio to their respective headset. However, we were much happier with the transmission radius of the Creative. The Logitech gave us up to 20 feet of freedom, but the Creative was able to let us travel up to 60 feet away from our PC. This was especially nice while using the VoIP chatting program Skype.

Speaking of Skype,… Read more

Logitech Squeezebox Boom: The ultimate Wi-Fi radio?

If you took one of Logitech's increasingly ubiquitous Pure-Fi desktop stereos and integrated one of its Squeezebox network-audio streamers, you'd probably come up with something like the Logitech Squeezebox Boom. Previous Squeezebox models had to be plugged into an existing stereo receiver or speaker system, but the Boom is the first model in Logitech's network-audio line to have the speakers built-in.

The result is a full-service Wi-Fi radio that can access a wide variety of digital music straight from the Internet or from a networked PC.

We've been playing with an early sample of the Squeezebox Boom, and so far, it's one of the best products in its class we've ever seen. That's not surprising, given that it has the same guts as the recent Editors' Choice Squeezebox Duet.

As far as abilities are concerned, the Boom pretty much has the identically impressive range of features as the Duet: the ability to stream everything from premium Rhapsody and Sirius content to freely available Internet radio, podcasts, Pandora, Slacker, and Last.fm music straight off the Web, as well as nearly any non-DRM digital-audio format from a networked PC (Windows, Mac, or Linux). (Editor's note: CNET and Last.fm are both subsidiaries of CBS.) But the Boom trades the Duet's digital and analog outputs for a pair of good-sounding stereo speakers (3-inch woofers flanked by 0.75-inch tweeters), so the entire system is self-contained.

The unit's handsome, black housing is a mere 5 inches high by 13 inches wide and 4-inches deep. It's got the same sort of bright, vacuum, fluorescent display found on the "classic" Squeezebox, which makes it easily viewable, even from halfway across the room. The control panel is pretty much a spread-out version of the Squeezebox Duet remote (itself strongly modeled on the iPod). Most functions are accessed from a single scrollwheel--depress the wheel to make a menu choice, use the nearby "back" button to reverse course. Six preset buttons are also on board for quick access to Internet radio stations of your choice. A small wireless remote is also included--it magnetically attaches to the Boom's topside (or any other metal surface) for easy locating. … Read more

Logitech goes wireless with Wii racing wheel

Earlier this summer, Logitech debuted the Driving Force Wireless steering wheel for the PlayStation 3. It was essentially a streamlined, downsized version of the Logitech Driving Force GT, adding wireless connectivity to the console and dropping the gearshift--and making the whole rig a lot more living-room-friendly for casual gamers.

Now the company is applying that same basic design to the Wii. Except for the Nintendo-friendly color scheme, control setup, and built-in brake and gas controls, the Logitech Speed Force Wireless is a near doppelganger of the PS3 version: it utilizes the same sort of contoured, expandable lap (rest rather than … Read more

Logitech unveils ergonomic Cordless Desktop Wave Pro

It's the end of the workday, and my hands hurt from typing. I suspect I'm not alone on this one--thus the proliferation of ergonomic keybords and mice. On Tuesday, Logitech announced its latest contribution to the genre, the Cordless Desktop Wave Pro.

Like its predecessor, the Cordless Desktop Wave Pro features both a varied key height to accommodate the different lengths of your fingers and a gently curved layout designed to keep your wrists and arms at a more natural angle. A cushioned palm rest gives your hands a comfortable landing spot between paragraphs.

The desktop set also … Read more

Logitech snaps up Ultimate Ears for $34 million

Logitech on Thursday announced that it will be acquiring headphone-manufacturer Ultimate Ears for $34 million. The all-cash deal is expected to close later this month, but signs of the impending integration are already apparent on the Web sites of both companies (Logitech.com and Ultimateears.com).

Ultimate Ears specializes in in-ear "canal phones" for portable audio devices such as the iPod. While the company's flagship UE-10 Pro model--a set of headphones that are custom-molded to the listener's ears--cost upwards of $900, the product line includes plenty of other headphone products in the more mainstream $40-$250 … Read more

Hands-on: Logitech's new clip-and-go mouse

After gyroscopesand lasers, we thought there was nowhere new for laptop mice to go. then we read Michelle Thatcher's take Tuesday morning on Logitech's new V550 Nano laptop mouse, which adds a unique "clip and go" dock that lets you clip the mouse to your laptop's lid.

After reading over the pro-and-con debate on this new development's usefulness, we managed to get our hands on one of these just-announced mice. Our initial impressions are that the mouse itself is a bit bulky for a laptop accessory, and that we've never seen so much … Read more