Play With Balls, Enjoy The O

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The O. Balls. These jokes are going to write themselves
The O. Balls. These jokes are going to write themselves

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some kind of iPhone accessory that let you toss your $650+ device around, abusing it by bouncing it off walls and floors? If you answered a sensible “no” to that question, then congratulations. You are a responsible adult with a sense of perspective. If you answered “yes,” then you might be interested in The O, a foam ball with — you guessed it — custom apps.

The O, a gadget whose name is better than the object itself, is a foam ball with space inside for an iPhone, iPod Touch or Android phone (we of course recommend the latter). Once ensconced, you can fire up an accelerometer-based game. The demo game is bowling, which actually beams a picture of the pins and alley up onto a TV screen or iPad.

I guess it’s cute, and will surely be aimed at kids. And there’s the problem. Kids and iPads (or iPhones) go great together. But all the time? It’s been a while since I was a kid, but I do remember that the best toys ever were boxes, sticks and balls. And history shows us that the ball already has plenty of uses, from football (U.S, played with hands) to football (whole world except U.S, played with feet). I don’t think we need iOS-ify such a simple toy.

The O is currently awaiting a launch date and price.

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