Music with balls

Several solutions exist to untether your music from the hi-fi in the living room but Oregon Scientific's Music Sphere is one of the oddest. It consists of a small transmitter which connects to your stereo system (or iPod or TV or DVD, etc) and a large spherical speaker which receives the audio wirelessly.

It works well enough, picking up the sound from as far away as 100 feet. But the quality is only middling (stereo but murky) and the asking price is quite steep (€270). Read today's paper for the full review.

In games, Call of Duty 2 (PC, not to be confused with fairly different console version) is anything but a tired retread of the distinguished WWII shooter. Loaded with atmosphere and requiring patience and thought, CoD2 is a cracker. In a similar vein but down a notch or two, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (PC the best, PS2 version is muck) is far more tactical in the way you command a squad of grunts.

Sly 3: Honour Among Thieves (PS2) has an instant familiarity but is nonetheless a riot of platforming fun for Sly fans young and old. Finally, Gaelic Games Football (PS2) is a valiant but deeply flawed attempt to bring GAA to gamers.