This week at iLounge: The iPod accessory makers are keeping us busy this holiday season. We posted reviews of the Sonic Impact i-F2 Portable Speakers and three new wireless Scosche accessories -- the Bluelife iPod/Universal Bluetooth Car Kit with Hands-Free Microphone, the Bluelife Bluetooth Wireless Home or Portable Stereo Kit, and the Bluelife Bluetooth Headphones & Transmitter. We also put Griffin Technology's new lineup of cases for the fifth-generation iPod to the test -- the Vizor, iClear, California Roll, and Centerstage are all reviewed.
In the First Looks department this week, we checked out several cases, including the Oakley 99037 Case, the Contour Design Showcase nano, and three nano cases from Capdase -- the Classy Leather case, Luxury Metal case, and Hip-Hop style soft jacket. We also got our hands on the iSymphony M1 Micro Music System, which combines speakers, CD player, and AM/FM clock radio system and an iPod dock.

In iNews this week, it...

This Fall's deluge of gadget gossip must have left CNet's James Kim exhausted. So he finished his Zune review, and this past weekend went for a vacation drive up to the great Pacific Northwest with wife and kids. They've been missing since.
A few minutes before Saturday's sunset, somewhere on the Gold Coast, James called a hotel clerk to confirm their reservations at a small inn. The innkeeper expected to see them before midnight, after they passed through the coastal range via Highway 38. That road would have eventually brought James to US 101 and then, over the Golden Gate on Sunday. But investigators believe that James and family never made it out of the mountainous pass. Weather reports say it was raining last Saturday, and in the nearby low lying town of Eugene, it would dip to 35 degrees -- roads could have been frosty up in the hills. As of 9am this morning, investigators are searching looking for any trace of the family, or their silver Saab. The car has the license pl...

We've been chasing after Razer's Pro|Type keyboard for quite some time now. It's the only keyboard that lets you dock your iPod (or in some instances your Zune) directly onto your keyboard. The problem is, it's only a prototype. But apparently Apple has its own iPod keyboard in the works and has mistakenly shipped a small number of them to a lucky bunch of customers that had taken their standard keyboards in for repair. I'm gonna call bluff on this one (just cause I don't think Apple would make a mistake that big), but MacWorld is just around the corner, so here's hoping I'm wrong. – Louis Ramirez
Apple Readying New Keyboard with iPod Dock [via Uber Gizmo via Think Secret]

Over in Japan, Ranut is releasing a line of Disney-themed portable music players built around 256MB of flash memory. Granted, 256MB can effectively be rounded down to 0MB for most of us here, but your kids might still get a kick out of it. Other than being branded with familiar Disney characters like Minnie Mouse, it's pretty much a bare-bones, by-the-numbers MP3 player. Oh, and supposedly it only works with Windows. Looks like a winner for sure.
In this iPod and (if Microsoft has its way) Zune-dominated world, is there any room left for the little guy, especially when it relies on cartoon characters to generate sales? I'd take the under, personally. – Nicholas Deleon
Product Page (in Japanese) [Runat via Fareastgizmos.com]

Despite the Zune being declared #2 in sales by NPD Group, the figures aren't quite what they seem. We have a tip about how it was done, and why the numbers could possibly make the Zune look worse, or better, depending on the unknowns.