iBall: Futuristic speaker for iPods

During my daily perusal of informative tech sites around the Web--in this case, --this space-age-looking device caught my eye. The iBall ($300), a 2.4GHz wireless speaker from Oregon Scientific, is designed with the iPod in mind (really, what isn't nowadays?). The Ice White, soccer-ball-size device is concave on one side, which is where you'll find the three speaker drivers and grille, as well as a glowing blue LCD that displays the time, the volume, bass, treble, wireless signal strength, input selection, play/pause status, and battery power. The speaker features rechargeable batteries that are rated for 6 to 8 hours. The other half of the system is the transmitter, which also functions as an iPod dock, charging the player and allowing for computer syncing. Other features include:

• Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) that delivers digital stereo audio up to 100 feet
• Adjustable treble and bass
• Built-in controls on speaker unit for iPod
• Compatible with Apple iPod, iPod Photo, iPod Mini, and iPod Shuffle (Shuffle adapter sold separately)
• Auxiliary stereo line-in miniplug for use with other audio sources
• S-Video and A/V stereo line-out miniplug for listening and viewing through other A/V components