ball

We've been playing Super Monkey Ball for a few minutes--OK, hours--now, and it's every bit as fun as promised. If you're not familiar with this title, which has been made uber-popular on other gaming platforms, the gameplay is thus: you are one of four monkey characters who happens to reside in a clear sphere. Your goal is to roll around a series of precariously strung platforms into the goal portal. On the iPhone, control is accelerometer-based--simply tilting the device back and forth controls your momentum.

Our initial observations:

Sony's HT-IS100, a 5.1-channel home-theater system that includes five speakers that are just 1.7 inches in diameter, will be coming to the U.S. next month. If it looks familiar, there are two reasons: The unit was announced for the Japanese market just a couple of weeks ago, and the tiny speakers were first featured in 2007's DAV-IS10, which is still widely available. (Fun fact: Sony calls the speakers "roughly the size of a golf ball" in its press release--an adjective that nearly everyone who covered the IS10 lazily cribbed. The company uses the same golf ball wording in the IS100 press release--but, oddly, included the strawberry photo above.)

Unlike that earlier model, the new HT-IS100 doesn't have a built-in disc player, or even a "head unit"--all of the electronics and amplifiers are consolidated into the system's subwoofer, so there's no need for a separate AV receiver.… Read more

Competition is fierce on the golf course even for amateur duffers, and some will go to practically any lengths to acquire the slightest advantage. And now there's a gadget that can give you a covert peek into your opponent's practice sessions if you can sneak it into his bag.

BrickHouse Security--the crazy outfit that's responsible for such gizmos as the "GPS Mail Logger"--has done it again with the "Micro Orb Spy Camera," a device that it says is the same size as a golf ball. This surveilling sphere records audio as well … Read more

The Hanged Man Lamp: Ever so slightly morbid? http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/the_hanged_man.html

Mood Clock + USB Hub = Twice as much fun http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/usb_moody_clock.html

Glowing flower pot for the trippy garden owner http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/glowing_flower.html

Enjoy nighttime bocce ball with LED Bocce http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/enjoy_nighttime.php

Light-up tweezers enable precision plucking … Read more

Clearly, some researchers at Japan's Okude Laboratory are having too much fun with their work.

Their latest invention, the Tospom, is a ball-shaped camera takes a picture of the receiver when he catches it. The rationale, according to its inventors, is to engage the photographer and his subject while snapping a picture and also to "draw out a more natural and relaxed expression from the subject."

While its Web site gave a demonstration of how to use the ball-cam, it didn't state how it worked. All we can figure out is that you can also hold … Read more

Today CNET Senior Editor David Katzmaier joins us as we talk about how Steven Spielberg doesn't want Indy 4 DLP'd, why no one watched the Web-to-TV show Quarterlife, and Let's Fighting Love! We're giving away tons of prizes this week so show some love on The Facebook or call in to the show and leave a ridiculous voice mail--we may even play it on the air!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

U.S. Soccer Federation, take note: If you want the sport to be as popular here as it is in the rest of the world, start marketing more products like this.

We know as much about futbol as we do about figure skating, but we'd be the first in line to get one of these soccer ball remotes that are sold in the U.K. And it can actually be used as a ball to play with, according to Gizmodo, though we wouldn't recommend that if it was the only remote in the house.

It supposedly can be … Read more

Note to electronics industry: Sometimes, rather than trying too hard to come up with a new design, it might be best to take a trip back in time. We never thought we'd be touting a look from the '70s, but Grundig is releasing a pair of speakers with an irresistible mid-century feel that has held up well over the years. (Then again, we never thought we'd see platform shoes again either.)

To commemorate the 100th birthday of founder Max Grundig, the company will be offering an updated version of its spherical "Audiorama" speakers next year, according … Read more