Hasta La Gadget!

Your notebook’s built-in speakers might be fine when you’re by yourself, but can they do the job when you want to share a song with friends? And what if you’re watching a streaming television show–can the sound reach you when you sit back a few feet?

The answer is to choose speakers that are just as portable as your computer. Hercules is introducing the XPS 2.0 35 USB speakers, which get all the power they need from a USB port, so there’s no electrical cord. They even come with a padded carrying case for when you’re on the go.

Look for them in June for a list price of $19.99. Hercules will also introduce in June the XPS 5.1 70 Slim, a set of four speakers and one sub-woofer, for $99.99 list.

Do you want a flashy alternative to the earbuds that came with your portable music player? Are you under the age of 20? If so, look to the four lines of earphones released by Empire Brands. They’re eye-catching and they offer noise isolation, gold-plated tips, and extra-long 1.2 meter cords.

Starting from the left, there’s the Wicked Little Buds line ($29.99) which has a semi-gloss finish and a lightweight form. They come in four colors.

The Wicked Empire line (34.99) is punk-inspired and comes in several designs, including skull, eight ball, ace of spades, star and knight symbol.

The Jaw Breakers line ($17.99) comes in four candy colors. Are they lickable? Probably not.

The Metallics line ($12.99) offers a bargain price and comes in four metallic hues.

All four lines are available now at the Empire Brands site, as well as FYE and Fry’s Electronics, among other stores. 

Where do most Apple fan boys and girls reside? Not surprisingly, California’s San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market has the most users of Apple products in the country, according to Friday data from Experian Simmons. In that region, which houses Silicon Valley and Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, 32.3 percent of adult residents own or use at least one of the three core Apple products: the iPod, iPhone, or Mac computer.

Coming in at number two is Boston, where 31.3 percent own Apple products, followed by San Diego, Calif., with 31.8 percent.

Nationwide, about 21.6 percent of adults have an iPod, iPhone, or Mac. Rounding out the top five on Experian’s list are New York with 30.4 percent and Washington, D.C., followed by Chicago, Denver, Monterey-Salinas in California, Santa Barbara-Santa Marina-San Luis Obispo in California, and Las Vegas.

Just in time for the playoffs, the NBA and Skullcandy have joined forces to unveil a limited edition NBA Mix Master Headphones series featuring designs and colors from six popular NBA teams, and the jersey numbers from famous players on each of those teams.

The NBA Mix Master series is a limited edition, and only 100 headphones of each team and player will be made. Once they’re sold out, they’re gone for good. Skullcandy unveiled the lineup this week, but the NBA Mix Master headphones will be available to purchase on the Skullcandy Web site and at select Apple Store locations in cities that match up with the featured teams on April 20th, for $299 each.

Sony just announced the new Walkman W Series model NWZ-W252, another one of Sony’s wearable designs with the player built into earphones. At $60, it’s a steal–and yet another compelling alternative to the iPod shuffle.

The player comes with 2GB of storage and the ability to organize your music via included Content Transfer software. You could also just load it up via Windows Media Player, however. It also supports non-DRM AAC files from iTunes. Sony claims it is water-resistant and can function perfectly even in a downpour.

The rated battery life is 11 hours, and Sony claims you can get 90 minutes of battery life after only 3 minutes of charge time. We can’t wait to put the NWZ-W252 to the test this spring–look for a full review in the coming weeks at PCMag.com