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This wireless speaker floats on a cloud of magnetic force

This wireless speaker floats on a cloud of magnetic force

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It doesn't train you for lightsaber battles

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This is a floating Bluetooth speaker. It's suspended above its base thanks to an electromagnet and can play music from any Bluetooth source. It's called the Om One. It also looks really cool.

If you want one of your own, Om Audio is launching a crowdfunding campaign at its website where you can preorder the Om One for $179. (The model pictured above is a prototype, the final product will look like the render below.) It will cost $199 when it goes on general sale next year. Technical specs include 15 hours of runtime, 110db output from a 3 watt speaker, and a built-in microphone for conference calling. The floating orb can be taken with you, so it acts as a portable speaker too.

Om Audio says there are acoustic reasons for making the speaker levitate — it projects sound better and can get the same output as a 10 watt speaker from a three watt speaker — but we like it because it looks cool. It was impressively loud in a demo provided to us, but it didn't sound hugely different from most other Bluetooth speakers. But most other Bluetooth speakers don't levitate, so they don't look nearly as cool.

Om One speaker