Griffin Simplifi

Cool Yule Rating: 4 stars

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Cool Yule Rating: 4 stars

Price: $69.99

Product Web site

Description: My desk is a complete mess, containing cables, USB hubs, charging cables, media card readers and a whole bunch of other stuff. The Griffin Simplifi helps to "simplify" the desktop clutter by offering a combination iPod/iPhone docking station (with synchronization functions), a USB hub and media card reader into one device. The device includes a power adapter for computers that may need the additional power, but is not required to run the device.

The media card reader can read and write to Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, SD, SDHC, xD and Compact Flash cards, and the USB hub adds an additional two slots for plugging in any USB-enabled device. Installation was pretty easy, just plug it in via USB and you're ready to go.

The only downside – it would have been nice to be able to recharge the iPod/iPhone via the power adapter when the computer was off. The device is only powered on if the computer is powered on (the power comes through the USB connection, the power adapter is only used if the computer needs it). When turned off, the iPhone charging feature goes away.

Still, this is a handy device that should clean up some of the clutter on desktops if you have a lot of smaller, stand-alone type devices.

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