Via Alison Lewis and Howard Rheingold comes news of an intriguing device called Ambient Orb.

It is a wireless device that "slowly transitions between thousands of colors to show changes in the weather, the health of your stock portfolio, or if your boss or friend is on instant messenger."

Awesome.  It uses some unspecified nation-wide wireless network to receive information so all you need to do is plug it in and enjoy the ambient display.  Good idea.  I wonder how programmable it is.  I had ideas about ambient information appliances before but without the wireless part.

One problem is that when there are many of them or used in public areas, people will have difficulty figuring out what information the colors represent.  It should have a colored knob or base that shows which 'information channel' the orb is displaying.  To change the channel, just twist the knob/base.