It bears the name of Tony Stark’s armored persona, looks like Spiderman’s wristwatch, and gives you controlling powers like that of Professor X. Okay, the last bit was a little exaggerated. Still, the Timex Ironman iControl for iPod is loaded with features that should keep you pounding the pavement hard. It helps you control iPod nanos, classics, and 5th-gen iPods remotely. Telepathy not included.

This Timex wristwatch should set a trend, especially among the hordes of gym rats, weekend runners, and even triathletes. Music, experts say, boosts your energy at any stage of training provided you play the right tunes. With this on hand, you could easily set a playlist and switch tracks without the hassle of fumbling for your iPod.

The iControl’s web-like strap makes sure it stays on whatever you do. Besides the Chrono feature to time your runs, it also has an Interval Timer to bring your cardio training to a higher level. And it’s water resistant up to 100 meters, thus making it your almost-complete triathlon companion. We say almost because the only thing lacking is a heart-rate monitor and a display panel that shows what track is currently playing.

Daydreaming aside, this gadget is perfect not only for the active but also for the sedentary. Hook your iPod to a speaker and you can control it from up to 10 feet away - perfect for maneuvering through traffic or lounging at home. If only we could do something about the price tag that’s undeserving of the iControl’s toy-like appearance.

The first thing you’ll notice about the third-generation Apple iPod Nano ($199 for the 8GB version as of 9/7/2007) is its 2-inch display. How can you not? The display occupies more than half of the device–fitting considering that one of the big selling points of the Nano is it can now play video in addition to music. The second thing you’ll notice is its new shape: The Nano’s long, thin stick design has been replaced by a wider, stouter design that accommodates both the generous screen and Apple’s signature scroll wheel. And it delivers all this in the same impressively thin profile–about a quarter-of-an-inch thick–as the previous Nano.

The body is now a two piece affair — an anodised aluminium front with a chrome back — instead of the all aluminium version seen in second-gen unit, which we still prefer. Naturally the shiny back was a fingerprint magnet — Apple should really include a cleaning cloth with all chrome-backed iPods. Worse though was its lack of scratch resistance, after just a week the back was scuffed worse than a rugby player’s knee after sliding in for a try.

In terms of cutting edge features Apple has been behind the game for some time now. The past year has seen virtually every single other major manufacturer build in some form of video capability into their premium flash memory based players, so it’s good to see that this third generation nano has finally caught up.