Hands-on With the Orbitix Sphero
We’ve been excited about the Orbitix Sphero for a while now and we just got a little time to roll this odd little ball around CES. It’s quite cute and the iPhone UI is amazing. Check out our take, below.
I like the fact that things like this exists… but I wouldn´t buy it. I am definately not the target!
Has everyone forgotten how to spell? It’s “definitely”.
Too right – I see ‘definately’ WAY more than ‘definitely’ and it’s so disheartening (not to mention confusing; I mean, it’s not even a difficult word to spell). Spell check even gives up the red line for it, and they still don’t correct it.
Double nerd score!
I wonder how sturdy this device is? Would be super fun to bedevil the dog with it…but he might chew up my $100 “ball”
Why, oh why, isn’t there a gimballed camera on this thing?
@PacoBell Why so you can turn it into a certified perve device?
and the practical application of this would be? If you ask me this is why the world is becoming nothing but a nest of idiots. People dont invent LEGITAMENT things anymore. Just some fancy toy or some new phone. They dont even bother making new video game consoles anymore they just make addons for existing ones. The talent of people has gone completely down to where nothings more valuable than the next piece of entertainment. Nikolai Tesla, Thomas Edison, Ben Franklyn and many more would be so completely ashamed.
Legitimate not Legitament. And I think those guys you mentioned would be astonished at what people are creating these days, more more advanced than anything they could have imagined.
I was about to correct the above idiot who feels it’s his/her job to correct everyone else and their actions. It’s a ball. Live with it.
Speaking of a nest of idiots. What’s a perve device? It’s perv. Use your spell check idiot!
Easy, Bob…everything will be okay. Rough day? Feeling a need to vent? Try not to worry. We’re all trying to be as good as you. You know how hard that is for the rest of us. But we’ll do our best to live up to your expectations. Meanwhile, just breeeeaaathe…..r e l a x…. it’ll all be fine.
maybe it’s perve’? like, french?
Nest of idiots? Thanks for proving it, digi. Your grammar and spelling (not to mention overall comment) is a shining example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. We appreciate your input.
They would most certainly be ashamed of your association with them, and your grade-school grammar. Ben Franklin would be blown away by today`s tech, and the fact we went from light bulbs and telegraphs to satellites, smartphones, the internet, nuclear power, space exploration, and plasma TVs in little more than a century. To say science doesn`t conceive anything “legitimate” anymore shows stupidity beyond compare. Rather than worry about the state of today`s tech, you need to back waaaay the fu*k up and get your hands on a dictionary and 5th grade English textbook. Good day, sir.
Did anybody notice that he spelled Benjamin Franklin wrong too! I’m just sayin!
Yep, noticed. Just at the moment didn’t want to add to a conversation that was going nowhere fast. (maybe that was the original spelling of the family name before it was Americanized…wink)
Digi, Somebody probably said that about the wheel!!!!
Reason being dear is unfortunately what we have here is the simple lack of imagination. Pure and simple truth.
I think digi should buy it if one of the practical applications was spelling! I think even Ben Franklin would have legitimized that!
Most exciting thing ever? Setting our standards mighty low, aren’t we? It’s a ball, people, and remote control has been around for a long time.
I completely agree. What’s so great about that?? I think I have better things to do with my time then drive a ball with my phone. If that’s the “most exciting toy” then I can’t even imagine what the most boring toy would be!
Some of you may be missing a future use.As a weapon delivery system.
Good point Russell.
It could also be used to save lives if it had a camera. Imagine the people you could find in a collapsed building, or other disaster where pockets of life may exsist. So perv device, weapon delivery system? Hey, it’s your imagination I guess. Have fun with it…. Cheeky monkeys.
Would the device fit in a golf ball? Hmmmmmm….
Right…and if it was golf ball size, just think how this could change putting. Wow!!! I may have just lowered my handicap by at least 10 strokes.
Maybe, if the app allowed you to drive your car in this manner, it might make drivers pay more attention to the road instead of texting and driving.
Holy geez !! A remote controlled ball !! All the possibilities … How stupid …
digi dont talk about other people if u cant even spell wii right you fool, but u want more game systems. wow!!!!!!!!!
most exciting thing ever? heck im only 20 and I remember when the gameboy was the “best thing ever” then xbox came and it was “best thing ever”. now this? this is possibly the lamest thing ever, the only good use i could think of is a practical joke to screw with somebody that likes golf, or possibly using old 20oz. soda bottle and make a miniture bowling alley, either way it is FAR from the best thing ever
Trust me Bob, your still young. You have more “Best Thing(s) Ever” in your future than Carter has little liver pills! Heck, I remember when carbon paper was the latest and greatest. And what you may ask is a Carter little liver Pill? Only the greatest thing ever… a while ago (LOL)
WHAT??????????????///
OMG!!!!! A REMOTELY CONTROLLED DEVICED!1!!1111!11111!!!!!!!!
I’ve NEVeR seent ANythinG Likk Dis InN MUH LifE!!!!!!!!
I wonder how long before the military wraps one in C4 and rolls it through some baddies fenced perimeter…
Hahahaha!! “like”!?!?!
Wow, what a colossal waste of time. Too tiring to play with a regular ball? The dumbing down of America keeps getting worse. No wonder so many other countries see Americans as stupid.
Careful…you’ve been listening to the worldwide media again, haven’t you? The only reason you believe that the rest of the world thinks the U.S. is irrelevant is because of their drivel…if you had any International Business exposure you would know differently…
The phrase “more money than brains” comes to mind. How in the world could this be called the “The Most Exciting Thing Ever.”
This is nothing. When we were kids, my sister had a pet hamster with a ball he could drive. He rolled that ball all over the house. And that was in the 60′s. Also, the ball in the Phantasm movie series was much cooler. Just kidding……keen toy though. With a bit of research you’ll find the miltary has been down this road before in several areas.
woe “driving the ball” so gay and funny at the same time, that I kept rewinding so that I could hear him say it over and over. no but seriously why? why would you need to control a ball with your phone? I don’t get it.
JUST MORE TOYS TO KEEP THE MASSES BRAIN-DEAD…
LET’S CHECK THE SCORECARD AND SEE HOW WE’RE EVOLVING…WE HAVE SNOOKI, LINDSAY, FECEBOOK, TWIT-TER, BEIBER, GAGA, etc, etc.
ANYONE ELSE KINDA WANT THAT ASTEROID TO HIT US…?
AND YES, I’M LITERATE, EDUCATED, AND LAUGHING AT ALL OF YOU. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT THE 20-SOMETHINGS WILL BRING TO THE TABLE IN A FEW YEARS. IF WE COULD BUY STOCK IN ‘THE FETAL POSITION’ WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY. HAVE FUN FOLKS!
You Tell Them Gary….
What scares me is, how much rage is produced by merely commenting on a subject that invloves a toy. Not just for the comments, but down to spelling. I hope the TECHNO-TROBES that have been lobotomized by their cell phones and any electronic device that begins with an i , continue their use long enough to affect the medulla oblongata also. Then they can be mindless and pacifists at the same time.
You spelled involves wrong! LOL! I couldn’t resist!
Hey GARY, dont mention asteroids to this generation, they dont have an app for those yet. But they can buy a cream for them at the drugstore….LOL
Seriously… if this is what people would even think of turning to for something fun to do … then something is seriously wrong with society. I woudn’t waste a nickle on this junk. So… you drive a ball around in a room for what purpose?
How stupid.
Who is the annoying little amateurish prick doing the interview? Hey, it’s a cool little gadget! Maybe you should ask some technical questions? You know, for people that click on links to TechCrunch-type sites?
Moron.
Why are most of these video such crappy quality? My two year old phone could take better video
Just opt me out of any commerical where I have to watch a video. Give me the facts.
Weird ! Might be fun to bug the cats with though …
Just another gadget to separate you frrom your money.
That has to be one of the biggest waste of money ever. Get a basketball,baseball or a football and take your nerdy asses outside and exercise.
Rick
AMEN! What ever happened to kids getting outside instead of sitting on their fat butts in the house munching on crappy snacks and playing video games????????????????? OY VEY!
This is so terminally retarded. WOW!!! A remote controlled ball you can move with your I Phone! Well folks, it doesn’t get any duller than this. I’m sure the nerd-lemmings will jump on this one though.
WOW, I almost came all over myself looking at a bal that rolls around. And for less than $100. I just can’t wait until it hits the market so I can buy one and play with it twice before I get totally bored with it.
Uh huh, make it fly and I might buy it…
Yes this is not a Toy that is the most exciting thing ever. but it may be good for elderly people to maybe help the brain function better? Or they can add some L.E.D lights inside and have it change color say if you hit the wall ? im sure they will upgrade in the near future.
A great way to help my golf game.
WOW….before long every golpher..opps..golfer will have to have his balls x-rayed before he reaches’ for his putter…..hummm (smile) !!
@DIGI. Nest of idiots indeed. Especially ones that can’t spell Legitimate
im sorry- but this is not the most exciting toy ever. making it roll around will get rather boring in about 15 seconds. this product is stupid.
Twentycats is onto something here. A cat toy is the only app so far that makes any sense. (But not for a hundred bucks. Mine have plenty of fun just batting my pill bottles around the floor.)
The most entertaining thing about this invention is all the comments it has generated. This is the first time I’ve read EVERY comment posted. Keep up the verbiage – misspellings and corrections and rants – I’ll check back soon. Very entertaining.
another video only posting. Give me a break and POST SOME WRITTEN TEXT. Maybe the author is afraid of a barrage of blogs should he misspell a word.
Kick it and it’s called soccer.
My daughter was around 7 or 8, and her homework project was to invent 3 toys. WE came up with this idea – just not remote controlled. Our ball would play kids songs – and as mentioned above – had lights that would twinkle as you rolled it around. If it hit furniture or the wall, it would bounce off and go the other direction – like that vacuum thingy. Damn, I should have patented the thing. Don’t remember what we called it though, and she’s in Spain and won’t answer her phone!
you mean the roomba?
She is probably getting BALLED in Spain right now!
LOL!
Calling this the greatest toy ever was a real stretch of my credulence. I was expecting the thing to float like a keno, lol. Now, THAT would be a cool toy.
YAWN!!!! What kid wouldn’t be bored with that in 20 minutes. Less than $100.00 for a little ball. Yep. inventors have definately run out of ideas.
OK not the coolest toy ever. Now the battle idea would be slightly entertaining for a minute or 2 if there were a few of us playing but I am thinking more along the lines of letting my dog chase it around. Would not even come close to paying $100.00 for that thing.
I think the whole idea of this ball is that it is new technology. Today it’s a ball rolling around on the floor….tomorrow it could be something else that evolves from this idea. Let me know when I can control the vaccum cleaner with my iPhone!
What a stupid piece of sh*t!
L-A-M-E!!!! What a great way to blow a hundred bucks on something you’re sure to tire of after about 2 days…or the dog DOES chew it up! Meybe educational for small children developing eye/hand coordination, but otherwise? Nah…I’ll pass!
How sad. Why can’t people invent something useful, rather than something to take our hard earned money. That’s what’s wrong with the economy. You get idiots like this with too much time on their hands who invent something useless and purposeless like this and charge alot of money, and now “everybody’s gotta have one” and if your neighbor has one and you don’t, you feel inferior, so you take your money for your emergencies and go out and buy one and it’s just a maddening cycle. No one has money for what they need because they buy stupid sh-t like this!
Yes, we need more useful devices like..uh…how about a $300+ device that you have to buy music for; pay even more for a movie (one that we can only watch on the postage stamp size screen); then pay for each game you want to play (and pay extra for points to get further along in the game that you just bought); among other great, useful things.
We can call it an iPud because it jerks the money right out of your wallet with each stroke of the screen!
I can’t help but notice what a lame-ass the interviewer is. Like many, he is so in love with himself and the sound of his own voice that he keeps interrupting with his own opinions and ends up doing more talking than the guy being interviewed. God I hate that!!!
The “toy” seems cool at first, but boring after about 5 minutes. “Banging” it around in sumo matches sounds like a great way to sell more of them cause you keep breaking them. It is a stepping stone toward the BMW that Bond drove remotely in “Tomorrow Never Dies” with his cell phone.
hey people i don’t lnow bout u but im bored too…just being on this site showes what we r up 2in the good old USA we r a bored and lazy people save a few…..hehe
I just wasted 2 minutes watching this Sh#t. What an udder (tapping into our collective spelling issue there!) waste of time, money, resources…
It’s a remote controlled ball for crissake. A full 10 minutes of fun before boredom sets in. Big deal.
I’d rather have a slinky or a barrel of monkeys.
Other than a few minutes of fun tormenting household pets I fail to see the attraction.
While waiting for my very slow acer to open the video about this “most exiciting toy” I decided to read your coments about it. I can’t tell you all how much fun and how much better I feel just laughing at all of your coments! By the time the video was up I didn’t care about seeing the toy. You all should go into some sort of comedy writing! Enjoy…….
Looks like you’d get bored with it real fast.
Waste of money!
Hey Jimmie, take that slinky and bag-o-monkeys and look up that girl in Spain. You might be able to invent something kinky.
this is absolutely ridiculous. Right up there with the idea of watching tv on a 5 inch screen just ’cause you can. Have these people no inclination to something without the use of an iphone?
oh puh-leeze. Give me a break!
Make it glow in the dark and… HELLO FUN CAT TOY!
There could also be some use as a bingo game. If people be on where a chicken will poop, they might enjoy knocking an opponent out of a sweet spot on a board, within time limits of course. It’s an excuse to use the iPhone.
RELAX. Don’t do it. When you wanna…somethin’…somethin it. RELAX. Don’t do it. When you wanna come.
when am i getting one of these? as soon as i press enter on the buy key on amazon or wherever
It is “like”….uh…”like”…..ya know…”like”…uhm…”like”
Where do they get these guys that do the interviews?
“Most Exciting Thing Ever?” Who wrote that incredibly misleading header? How loaded do you have to be in order to make this thing even remotely interesting, let alone exciting? Playing “Rock/Paper/Scissors” seems more exciting than this thing. And R/P/S is free!
Appeared to be a 30 second cell fone commercial. Not sure what how or why this thing was so special.
I’ll bet this does wonders for your Iphone battery life!
what’s the attraction here?
what am I missing?
who would want this piece of garbage?
LAME!
all the little emo kids can buy one and have a friend to talk to….
When I saw the the ball in the picture I thought it might turn in to a robot or have propellers pop out that made it fly or something cool like that. I can’t say that I wasn’t disappointed over this one.
LMAO!!! You’ve got to be kidding me !! There’s no skill or constructivness in this at all. How pathetic. This shows the low mentality of the kids today. I feel sad for them.
What is funny is the pure lack of imagination in these comments. I bet you all have iphones, probably even have angry birds, lol. But yet this product is useless! Bluetooth engineering on iOS is difficult to say the least, a lot more difficult than using spell check which seems to be most of the claim to fame here. As someone that has worked on similar control systems professionally and been very financially successful I can say that this is pretty awesome, at least from a engineering stand point.