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Hardware

PC in a.... Sphere? 315

Posted by CmdrTaco from the catch-it-before-it-rolls-away dept.
clemens writes "A Japanese manufacturer has come up with this spherical PC." I love the concept of your PC accidentally rolling off your desk. Doesn't that lime green one remind anyone else of Gundam?
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PC in a.... Sphere? More

PC in a.... Sphere?

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  • Death Star (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:36AM (#4951631)
    It almost looks like the Death Star. It even has an equitorial axis. They should al least put a webcam where the laser should go.
  • Japan is a very space-conscious country. This may sell reasonably well just because it takes little room.

    Whether its tech specs are decent, I don't know. I can't read Japanese!

    • Re:Creative. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      That's hardly the most efficient size. There is a LOT of wasted space inside at the edges of the sphere since most computer components are SQUARE not round. Then on the outside there is a ton of wasted space because you can't stack them or put anything beside it.

      It's cute, yes, but that's it. It provides no benefits.

      For a better use of space try one of the tiny Shuttle barebones systems. I just built one of these, very nice indeed (SS51G).

      • Re:Creative. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:51AM (#4951741)
        While Japan is very space conscious, they also dish out a lot of cash for "cute". While they are also being a very gadget oriented society. I dont think you'll see this in every home (many of the "home" pcs you see there are not much bigger than a the phone on the average "business" persons desk in the US), I'm sure it will lead way to other innovate "cute" ways to package a PC.

      • Re:Creative. (Score:4, Funny)

        by glwtta ( 532858 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:38AM (#4952058) Homepage
        It's cute, yes, but that's it. It provides no benefits.

        Brilliant! You showed us that a spherical computer is not efficient use of space. I feel so silly now.

      • Being cute is a benefit. Or would you rather live in a completely utilitarian environment?

        I don't know about you, but for me, creating and inhabiting aesthetically pleasing environments is one of the basic goals of life, for which technology is a means.

      • I expect you could make a spiffy modular doothingy (Note technical jargon!) where you just plug semi-spherical components into the core spherical bus. Kind of like one of those chinese puzzles we used to play with as kids. You could even put cooling fans in the extra space between the hardware and the curve of the sphere -- I like cooling fans on my hard drives too, so that'd work out quite nicely. I bet you could come up with a nice compact piece of kit with almost no wasted space. Though I think you're right -- a borg cube would work better.
      • at the edges of the sphere
        The... the what? I'm sorry, I couldn't find any edges on my sphere. Perhaps you could point them out for me? :)

    • Re:Creative. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by EJB ( 9167 )
      Spheres may take little room themselves, but unless you have a spherical spare space on your desk, in your bookcase, 19" rack, etc., it's hard to use the space that it saves for a practical purpose :-)

      • Beowulf cluster (Score:3, Informative)

        by Catskul ( 323619 )
        ... Someonen needs to create computers shaped like double, inverted half spheres so you wouldnt be wasting space :

        )(

        and then we could imagine a beowulf cluster of these with out so much waste:

        )(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(

    • Re:Creative. (Score:4, Funny)

      by KarmaWhiners ( 634413 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:27AM (#4951980)
      No way. Not from a country with cubic watermelons.
      • KarmaWhiners writes:
        "This account blacklists people who whine about karma."

        Does this mean you blacklist yourself?

        Oh, and while I'm at it:

        http://www.fivefoot6.com/karma/index.html

  • Don't Panic! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:36AM (#4951634)
    I don't know...the green one looks "mostly harmless"

  • Don't Panic (Score:5, Funny)

    by Steve S ( 35346 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:36AM (#4951635)
    A couple of arms and a red tongue...

  • if it vibrated and (Score:5, Funny)

    by TerryAtWork ( 598364 ) <research@aceretail.com> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:36AM (#4951636)
    fit in your pants it would be even more Japanese.

  • Jeez (Score:5, Funny)

    by sharkey ( 16670 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:38AM (#4951657)
    First square watermelons, now spherical computers? Whatever they're smoking, it must be good.

  • Deja vu (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Tim Macinta ( 1052 ) <twm@alum.mit.edu> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:43AM (#4951687) Homepage
    I wonder where they got that idea [ngenres.com]. The resemblance is striking.
  • Hum, Hamster Havoc [cmdrtaco.net] anyone?

  • Short english write-up (Score:4, Informative)

    by mcmonkey ( 96054 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:45AM (#4951692) Homepage

    There's a very short description of this at theinquirer.net [theinquirer.net] found through mini-itx.com [mini-itx.com] where this is old news.

    The PCs, about the size of a soccer ball, are spherical and use Via's Mini-ITX design with an EPIA motherboard, a 40GB hard drive and an external 200 watt power supply.

    The balls open in the middle and are expected to cost ¥5,000 when they ship.

  • How very 1960's (Score:4, Interesting)

    by g4dget ( 579145 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:46AM (#4951709)
    See here [sixdifferentways.com] for lots of other plasticky 1960's round designs. Here [sixdifferentways.com] is the sphere radio with 8-track.

    • Call me hopelessly tacky, misguided, a fan of The Prisoner [imdb.com], or simply an (unwilling) product of the 1970's, but I still think those chairs are damn cool.

      Having grown up in the "Space Age", all the futurists promised that we'd all get flying [americanroyalarts.com] cars [viewaskew.com], space travel would become commonplace, and we would all get to live on the moon or on orbital space stations. Universally, the images accompanying such prognostications were of sleek, clean, sweeping lines and curves; neo-art deco, if you will. You can see a prototypical example of this vision of the future in last half hour of the film Things To Come [imdb.com]. The interior of Klaatu's spaceship in The Day The Earth Stood Still [imdb.com] is another well-known example. Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture probably evokes this best. (It also probably doesn't help that I grew up in San Rafael, CA, just two miles away from this [greatbuildings.com], Frank Lloyd Wright's last public building commission.)

      So I can't help it, but every time I see designs like that, it still evokes within me a vision of a bright future, where people are happy and prosperous, we're going to the stars, and everything looks darned cool.

      Schwab

      • Ball chairs are an example of good design, but their style is still deeply rooted in the 1970's. I guess it's a matter of taste, but the colors, materials, and styles of the 1970's just don't do it for me.

        Note that most of the other examples you give are examples of good design rooted in the 1950's. Now, that I can live with.

  • Cooler (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Samus ( 1382 )
    It might be cooler if it was translucent and when you touched it electricity would arc inside to your finger tips. Just like those novelty balls you see in the high tech gift stores at the mall. Yes I know uncontrolled electricity and pcs don't mix well but if you shielded the inner machine well enough it might work.

  • Get a bunch of these.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by moniker_21 ( 414164 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:47AM (#4951716)
    and hang them on your Christmas tree?

  • Didn't Apple already do this? (Score:4, Funny)

    by creynolds ( 558237 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:50AM (#4951734) Homepage

    Just glue together two iMacs [apple.com] together at the base and you have the same thing, plus dual CPUs and two screens (or would they be "legs"?).

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • But I can see someone actually taking this design and building a PC with materials appropriate for good heat transfer to make a computer that cooled itself much more efficiently.

    Were you to have the computer itself set near a fan or something and the "skin" of the case was a good material for heat transfer...you'd have a cool, efficient computer that takes up a minimum amount of desk space.

  • Cute, yes, but not nearly the best. (Score:4, Informative)

    by katsushiro ( 513378 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:55AM (#4951769) Homepage
    Allright, I was impressed by the whole sphere thing. I've been thinking about buying myself aocuple of those mini-itx mobos to play with, see where I can stick 'em. But then I started clicking around on links, and I found this [mini-itx.com]. It leaves that ball mod in the dust. A full PC inside a shiny chrome GE toaster from the 60's. It's even got a cold cathode light, and an LCD screen! I particularly love how the CD tray pops up out of the toaster's slot. :D
    • Ok, that is a sweet mod. Why the heck did he use a blue cathode and not red? I mean, you put a PC in the toaster, the least you could do is make it LOOK like it's toasting.

      Oh yeah, I'm an anal retentive. Move along.
    • Back in the late 80s, when Burroughs and Sperry were merging, one of them, I think Burroughs, made a PC that had a somewhat toaster-like form factor. It was a set of flat squares, maybe 8 inches / 20cm per side, about 1.5-2 inches thick, that you stacked with the square sides together, standing on the narrow side. A fairly basic model had a CPU module and a floppy disk module, and we usually put them with the floppy disk slot on top like a toaster. Dual floppies? Sure. (More commonly, there'd be more than two blocks, so this was more the size of a 4-6-slice toaster :-)

  • Translation... (Score:4, Funny)

    by krugdm ( 322700 ) <<moc.gurki> <ta> <todhsals>> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:55AM (#4951770) Homepage Journal

    ...courtesy of the fish [altavista.com]...

    "...with spatula drawing formation..."

  • As in, it looks like the spherical housing would help cool the CPU a little better.... lots more room for air to circulate.
  • Before you hit 'reply' to this topic, remember: do not taunt the Happy Fun Ball:

    http://www.happyfunball.com/hfb.html

  • No matching monitor (Score:3, Interesting)

    by masonbrown ( 208074 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @10:58AM (#4951795) Homepage
    Did you see how tacky it looks sitting next to the beige CRT monitor? Can't they make a half-sphere green thing to go with it?
    • Did you see how tacky it looks sitting next to the beige CRT monitor?

      Did you see how tacky it looks ... PERIOD?
    • That's a thought -- put the monitor in a matching half-sphere. It would look just like the big sphere had hatched, and out came the little sphere. And of course, you'd also need a half-sphere mouse to round out the family!

  • I've got enough problem one of them sitting on my trackball when I'm trying to use it (an attention getting routine, I'm sure). I can just see him knocking my spherical computer off of the desk and chasing it across the floor. It would probably be funny if I wouldn't be worried about losing all of my data.

  • Happy Happy Fun Sphere (Score:5, Funny)

    by scubacuda ( 411898 ) <scubacuda@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:09AM (#4951868)
    Do NOT taunt the Happy Happy Fun Sphere.

  • No power supply? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by chabotc ( 22496 )
    Did anyone else notice that on these pictures there is no power supply to be found within the structure? Also if you look at the back of the sphere (where the mini-atx backboard is accesable) there's no place to stick any kind of power cord.. (you can see the sound, serial, parrellel, s-video, keyboard&mouse .. but no power).

    Also the nice pictures of it on a desk, it's not turned on.. nor are any of the cables connected.

    Seems to me it's a nice 'would be, could be' computer, but nothing that actualy functions ;-)

    Is a fun concept though.. imagine the new generation of computer mods that could spawn from this
    • It could work if the power-supply was built into the base for the sphere to sit on... with perhaps a little tube or something that hooked into the sphere. It doesn't seem to show what's in the top half of the sphere either.. could be hiding there somewhere?
      They still forgot the blinking lights and cool glowing surface. Wonder if they could partially integrate a PC into a big lightning ball without it frying (touch, zap, on)?

  • a .5 inch hole saw and 10 minutes later... (Score:3, Funny)

    by veddermatic ( 143964 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:13AM (#4951890) Homepage
    You've got a bowling ball that can keep score for you!!

  • From the photos, it looks like a Mini-ITX based system, and the story is linked from the home page of min-itx.com [mini-itx.com]

    Mini-ITX boards are produced by VIA, and generally have one of their low speed C3 CPUs. Many don't need active cooling. The motherboard also features the usual RAM, IDE, USB, and PCI slots, and will run most x86 operating systems. They are also substantially cheaper than conventional setups, because everything is integrated and they lack a CPU socket or expensive CPU.

    There appear to be a great number of Mini-ITX based case moding projects out there, many linked from mini-itx.com. Enthusiasts have housed their systems in Toasters, bakerlite radios, Sun Boxen, Playstations, etc. The sphere was only a matter of time.

  • Well, it's only to be expected [clarku.edu] since we have the cube [cube-zone.com] (purist link [sfmoma.org]) and the sphere [impress.co.jp].

  • Having Heavy Metal flashbacks... (Score:3, Funny)

    by MsGeek ( 162936 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:18AM (#4951914) Homepage Journal
    One word...Lock-naar. The green one really looks like one.

  • New slashdotting term? (Score:4, Funny)

    by dr_dank ( 472072 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:18AM (#4951915) Homepage Journal
    If a site is being hosted from one of these and it gets posted here, could it be said that we're busting their balls?

  • Translation (Score:5, Informative)

    by BJH ( 11355 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:19AM (#4951924)
    Quick translation of the link...

    -------------

    It looks just like a soccerball? Display of spherical PC sample has begun.
    Sculpting technology used to form aluminium into sphere; utilizes Mini-ITX motherboard

    It seems that a shocking new type of PC is about to be released, the first for a while. This time, it's a spherical PC, named the "Sphere PC (ZxL Artemis series)".

    Leading up to its release, it is on display at PC-Shop Wakamatsu (Translator's note: A shop in Akihabara that often deals in slightly unusual items) from the 20th to the 22nd.

    - Formed using sculpting technology
    The "Sphere PC" is a product developed jointly by Rupo, a company selling PC cases and parts, and Jion, a company specializing in planning, designing and creating peripherals. The shop is displaying two types, a green model and a silver model. The silver model, in particular, bears a striking resemblance to the mysterious sphere in the movie "Sphere". If you didn't know what it is, you'd almost certainly never guess that it's a PC.

    By the way, Jion is a company formed by several members of Technobird's development staff, responsible for the TB-2000 early aluminium case. They have been in charge of development and design of Lupo's other custom cases.

    The sphere is made entirely of aluminium. As it is an unusual shape, it was handmade by craftsmen using "spatula squeezing" (Translator's note: Really!), a traditional Japanese method of crafting metal. The unusual shape stands out, but on top of that, the textured surface resulting from it being handmade is also unique.

    - It splits into an upper and lower half

    Its main specifications are: an EPIA Mini-ITX mother board made by VIA, a 40GB hard drive, and an external 200W power supply. However, these made be subject to change. It also includes a slim optical drive. Pressing a button on the side of the case causes the upper half to rise, allowing access to the drive tray.

    The case contains the motherboard and hard drive in the lower half, with the optical drive located in the middle. The upper half is empty.

    The price is yet to be decided, but the shop says that, as a barebone kit, it is likely to be priced at around 50,000 yen (Translator: ~$US400). It is scheduled to be shipped in January 2003.

    - Gullwing PC also in development

    Rupo is planning on releaseing a range of other unique products after this. An announced item is a gullwing PC containing a 400W power supply, also planned to be released in january 2003.

    • Re:Translation (Score:4, Funny)

      by Xerithane ( 13482 ) <xerithane.nerdfarm@org> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:37AM (#4952049) Homepage Journal
      Just curious, did you translate that yourself or did you use software. That was way too good to come out of babelfish.

      If you did it by hand, nice job. I'm learning Japanese right now, and having a helluva time getting all the kanji embedded in my head. If you are non-native Japanese, what was your learning mechanism?

      Alrighty, enough off topicness:
      The silver one actually looks cool. I wonder how hard of a time it would be to bring one back through customs.

      "What is this, sir?"
      "It's a computer."
      "Right... I need you to follow me."
      "Ok, but why did you just hand me vaseline?"
  • imagine the base unit for a wireless keyboard built in, a wireless USB base station..(do they make those?), 802.11, then you could have a sphere on your desk with just one or two cables coming out of it..that would be cool.

  • Heat problem (Score:3)

    by Picass0 ( 147474 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:23AM (#4951943) Homepage Journal
    WTF!?!... did anyone else notice they are putting the 7200 rpm HDD UNDER the mainboard? With no fan?

    Well, you don't need to worry about your trendy computer going out of style, because it's going to die soon!

  • Make it a hanging PC! (Score:3)

    by MonTemplar ( 174120 ) <slashdot@alanralph.fastmail.uk> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:25AM (#4951958) Journal
    Instead of that transparent base, it should be attached to the ceiling, with the power lead attached to the supporting wire. Now that would be cool, clear some desk space, and if you make the support strong enough, it's harder to steal to boot!

    Only problem - some fool will go hang up five of them and make a giant Newton's Cradle... :)

  • ROTFLMAO It looks like my BarBQue grill. (Score:3, Funny)

    by crovira ( 10242 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:26AM (#4951962) Homepage
    That will save time for overclockers who push the enveloppe too far. Just put it on a tripod and get the weenies and buns ready.

  • Consequences Thereof (Score:3, Funny)

    by limekiller4 ( 451497 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:28AM (#4951986) Homepage
    "Mom, ...where is my computer??"
    "Your... Oh! Well, see ...uh ...your father ...bowling... ...oh dear..."
    [at the lanes]
    "Biff, any idea why your ball hit the ten-pin and exploded, man?"
  • .....Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.

  • Pacman (Score:5, Funny)

    by docbrown42 ( 535974 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:32AM (#4952014) Homepage
    First, they put Pacman into a computer...now they put a computer into Pacman!

    (No, this is not an "In Soviet Russia" joke!)

  • It's nice to know someone else here reads fark [fark.com]. (Search for "Japan".) I was going to submit this, but I figured since nothing I submit ever gets accepted, I should let this one be so it could be accepted from someone else :-P

  • both ugly, and stupid. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FinalCut ( 555823 ) on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @11:50AM (#4952150)
    whats the point. I guess I would know if I could read Japanese but really, this machine is ugly as sin. Its a lame extension of the little half-sphere mac isn't it? Hey maybe we can start having pyramid and "wave" shaped pc's too.. how about great improvments to heat dissipation or noise reduction for case design instead of stupid shapes and colors?
  • Douglas Adams reference here.
  • as a bowling ball for ibook bowling [lamerkatz.com]
  • Enough said. ;-)

  • A green orb! (Score:3, Funny)

    by geekoid ( 135745 ) <dadinportland&yahoo,com> on Tuesday December 24, 2002 @12:39PM (#4952513) Homepage Journal
    Thanks to this Movie [imdb.com] I know better then to touch it.

    Time to Summon Taarna...

    1 point to anybody who gets that refrence(2 if they are under 20)
  • Now, in addition to all the other problems, they have to worry about their users PC rolling off their desk and down the hall.

    You just know it'll get stuck behind the fridge or under the sofa too.

  • Or actually... Why not make a bowling ball with a computer inside that keeps track of your individual score and allows multiple users.

    You could truly keep track of your lifetime averages.
  • The ones that gave us Karaoke, sushi and motherboards with vacuum tubes. Now we have a bowling ball computer!
  • Looks like somebody's case mod project. The boards inside are standard rectangular parts.

    Like the hemispherical Mac, it looks a lot better with no cables connected.

  • I'm ever upper class high society
    God's gift to ballroom notoriety
    I always fill my ballroom
    The event is never small
    The social pages say I've got
    The biggest balls of all

    CHORUS:
    I've got big balls
    I've got big balls
    And they're such big balls
    Dirty big balls

    And he's got big balls And she's got big balls
    But we've got the biggest balls of them all

    And my balls are always bouncing
    My ballroom always full
    And everybody cums and cums again
    If your name is on the guest list
    No one can take you higher
    Everybody says I've got
    Great balls of fire

    CHORUS

    Some balls are held for charity
    And some for fancy dress
    But when they're held for pleasure
    They're the balls that I like best
    My balls are always bouncing
    To the left and to the right
    It's my belief that my big balls
    Should be held every night

    CHORUS
    And I'm just itching to tell you about them
    Oh we had such wonderful fun
    Seafood cocktail, crabs, crayfish...

    Ball sucker

  • ...that it's not as annoying as Haro.


    I still don't understand why Amuro would take such pride in building a dumb robot that does nothing more than roll around, bleep "Hello, Amuro... Hello, Amuro.... Genki..." all day and pal around with a bunch of even more annoying little kids....


    I also want to know why the heck robotics engineers keep building and rebuilding the damn things in the future, as newer model but equally stupid Haros keep showing up decades later.


    (For those who don't know, Haro is a roughly-volleyball sized and shaped, green, semi-sentient robot that flits around on mechanical ear/wings and rolls around spouting inane babble. It (he?) appears in various TV series and movies in the Mobile Suit Gundam Universal Century continuum... and even more bizarrely in the near-totally-unrelated Gundam SEED TV series that began airing this year.... For more info, you can check out this mirror [b0x.com] of the (sadly no longer around) Gundam Project's FAQ.... For more info just do a search [google.com] for "Mobile Suit Gundam" on Google [google.com]. :-)

  • Re-paint it pink, add some eyes, and put in server motors to move the top half up and down when you play your South Park MPEGs^H^H^H^HDVDs.

  • All this needs is a pair of arms and legs and googly eyes.

  • It's so rare that the Industry steals from Bob the Angry Flower [angryflower.com].
  • All Apple need do is glue two iMacs together, and they have the world's first dual-processor computing sphere. Don't think Steve Jobs would go with that electric swamp gas green, though. :-)
  • That color was kinda hip in the seventies, wasn't it?
  • From what I've been reading in various places about HD failures, HDs as used in desktops are designed to be run horizontally or vertically... period, in between puts unusual stress on the main bearing.

    From what I can see, the spherical case increases the amount of volume and incidentally, empty space taken up by the thing.

    As for cooling, the sphere has the least surface area for a given volume, so no advantages there.

    If one has a mini-ITX form factor motherboard, why not do something intelligent with it?

    The hazard of mechanical impact if the thing falls out of its stand is sort of obvious. Did you know Japan is earthquake country?

    With a built-in LCD monitor, it might manage cool , but there isn't one.

    I don't see this selling even in Japan.

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