Why juggle two Apple dongles when the 3-in-1 iPad Camera Connection Kit provides three connectivity options in a single dongle

Viewing photos on your iPad is a beautiful thing. Getting photos onto your iPad: not so much.

The traditional method requires copying snapshots from your camera to your PC, then from your PC to your iPad. That's one irksome extra step, and not exactly practical if you're traveling.

Hence Apple's iPad Camera Connection Kit, which for $29 gives you two dongles: one for reading SD media, another for connecting your camera directly via USB.

It's bad enough you have to pack a dongle at all, but two of them Bleh. That's why I'm jazzed about the 3-in-1 iPad Camera Connection Kit, which for $29 combines three connectivity options in one dongle: SD, microSD, and USB.

Granted, not many cameras use microSD cards, but every Android phone does--so if you've ever wanted an easy way to copy photos from, say, your Droid to your iPad, here's your answer.

The 3-in-1 kit comes in either black or white. It's available now for preorder from the M.I.C Store, with delivery expected "after Christmas." (Sorry if you had this in mind as a stocking stuffer.) Shipping will run you $6.60.

While this could be a killer accessory for current-gen iPad owners, I fully expect we'll see a USB connector built into the iPad 2--and maybe even a card reader as well. (It's just my hunch' I have no real-world data to back that up.)