LG's new levitating speaker promises 10 hours of floating funk

Sure, we might be facing down a potential nuclear war, burning fossil fuels for fun, and still not have our own robot butlers, but the last few years have at least brought us something undeniably futuristic: levitating speakers. LG is the latest manufacturer to add to this range, showing off a new Bluetooth device ahead of CES next month

Other levitating speakers have looked like UFOs, evil soccer balls, or clouds. LG's latest looks more like the kind of device you might find in a hospital, with a functional off-white color scheme, a reassuringly chunky base unit, and a series of control options on the speaker itself. Its levitation is achieved through the use of electromagnets, rather than witchcraft, powerful units that support an omnidirectional speaker that LG says features Dual Passive Radiator technology for "flush mid-range tones and crisp highs."

Bass is, fittingly, handled by the base unit, which works as a subwoofer. It also doubles up as a charger: once the hovering speaker has used up its 10 hours of battery life, it descends slowly onto the base for charging, settling back to terra firma like a little lunar lander. The speaker can continue to play audio while it's charging, but be aware that it will look slightly less cool.

LG hasn't given pricing or release information for the Levitating Portable Speaker yet, but the company will be showing the device off at CES next week, where The Verge hopes to get a hands on.