This year for Christmas my company, Gomoll Research + Design got everyone the Jawbone Jambox for Christmas. I'd seen the device on the web, including the youtube video for it. It was neat, looked like a lego brick but I wasn't sure about it. Now that I've had it for a couple weeks, I can tell you I love it.

Like so many of these things, I ended up appreciating a feature that I didn't even think was important. I have several iPod/iPhone speakers at home, but they are now firmly ensconced in their respective plugged-in places. The Jambox comes with me everywhere.

The portability and ease-of-connectivity are what makes this device great. The sound is good. I don't confess to be an audiophile, and I can get my other speakers to play louder than the Jambox, but most of the time that I am listening to music, "turning it up to 11" is not what I need. I want to be able to grab the speaker in one hand, my iPhone in the other, and listen to music in the shower. I want to be able to grab and go and listen to this in my car.

(I have a tape converter in my car, i.e. I put the tape in the cassette deck and plug the attached wire into the earphone port of the device. The problem is that the tape converter is so loud it sounds like someone is rolling a cart of ball bearings right next to me. I've tried at least five different types of converters, and over a small amount of time, they all get ridiculously loud.)

And I want any of my devices to easily connect. With the bluetooth capability it is as easy as turning the Jambox on, then going to the bluetooth settings on the iPhone/iPad/computer etc.

It's not cheap, but if you want a portable speaker that you can grab and go, with one hand, that sounds good, connects easily, and has great battery life, I recommend the Jambox.