Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Robotic Ball Sphero Gets a New Look Ahead of Launch

Sphero, the smartphone-controlled robotic ball due out later this year, is getting a makeover.

The futuristic sphere now sports a semi-opaque white look and can be reenergized using an inductive charger, according to its maker, Boulder, Colo.-based Orbotix. The toy, which can be controlled by either an iPhone or Android device, is still targeted to sell for around $130 when it goes on sale in December.

In the meantime, the company has been working on several apps for the ball, including this kittycam program.

Orbotix showed off a prototype of Sphero at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and AllThingsD got to take one for a spin at Google’s I/O event in May.

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The problem with the Billionaire Savior phase of the newspaper collapse has always been that billionaires don’t tend to like the kind of authority-questioning journalism that upsets the status quo.

— Ryan Chittum, writing in the Columbia Journalism Review about the promise of Pierre Omidyar’s new media venture with Glenn Greenwald