The Om One is a Bluetooth speaker with an anti-gravitational twist. It hovers and spins in mid-air, spitting out tunes like some sleek Death Star of sound.
Weighing just three-quarters of a pound, this black sphere maintains its position in the air with the help of a magnetic base. But the Om One isn't magic. It's just clever design, and clever marketing. Basically, inside the Om One speaker is a strong magnet, which the base station (housing, we'd guess, a metallic conductor) is keeping levitated through relative motion. As it hovers, the Om One speaker spins.
Apparently there are benefits to this spinning as well. According to Om's marketing, spinning gives the speaker better acoustic qualities. That may be true, but we'd imagine it also spins out of necessity: Without being restrained, magnets levitated in this manner tend to spin along with their conductors.
The Om One also features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery capable of up to 15 hours of continuous play and can spit out up to 1100 decibels of output from its built-in three-watt speaker. When the orb runs out of juice, you just plug it into a USB port and charge it up. Pair two together, and you get stereo sound.
Ultimately, the Om One is just a standard Bluetooth speaker with a built-in battery that has been made to levitate in mid-air by basic electro-magnetic principles. But just because you understand the magic behind a trick doesn't mean it isn't a good one. And unlike most Bluetooth speakers, the Om One is definitely the kind of gadget that will get noticed the next time you have your friends over.
You can pre-order one now for $179.