{Tech Info Online}

Just as the rising of the sun is predicated by the fact that it is nothing but a flaming orb geo-centrically swirling around this flat little pancake we call Earth, a new expulsion of iPods from Cupertino’s production line predicates a new swarm of iPod cases to market.

Scosche’s latest iPod Case is aimed at the Nano, and has the absurd name of a product that lives outside the realm of brand recognition: the polycarbonate, rubber-edged kickBACK n5. Don’t settle for the numerically inferior or unarbitrarily capitalized knock-offs, folks.

The kickBACK n5 will do the usual: protect your iPod from blemishes and scratches. We’ll leave aside the desirability of keeping your Nano mint while adding to its width and thickness: I personally have come to terms with the fact that technology is fragile and ephemeral, and that every scratch on my iPod is as personal a blemish as the dog-ear of a treasured paperback.

More strange, though, is the kickBACK n5’s big new feature: a little arm that extends outward, so you can display your Nano, frame-like, upon a flat surface. The idea is to allow you to watch widescreen video without having to hold the Nano, but this is a rather misguided notion: a video on an iPod Nano can only be enjoyed through squinting at the screen when it is positioned mere centimeters from the convex apex of the surface of your retinas.

The kickBACK n5 should be available now-ish, and costs $25.