We’ve covered the Ambient Orb before, but the proprietary network needed to operate the thing is a problem for those of us that don’t live in a densely populated area covered by the network. However, BT Research Labs is working on an ambient orb that uses WiFi to get its data.

The device communicates with an ‘ambient service portal’ using a WiFi Lan access point connected to broadband Internet. Users can choose what information the ambient service portal monitors and customise how that information is displayed on their device.

[ via Engadget ]