Customer Reviews

AMBIENT DEVICES Stock Orb AORB02

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We use our orb to track custom data (basically usage of one of our products). Aside from being quite pleased about "the Orb"
basic function of conveying qualitative information, it has several features that really extend its usefulness.

First, you can completely map the color palette. In other words, you can do much more than just define endpoints with critical values which means that the scaling can be linear, logarithmic, or something else.

Second, you can actually track TWO things and have the orb switch colors between them. This makes all sorts of data presentation possible: current value and rate of change, current value and current min or max, etc. Recently it altered me to a spike in usage - otherwise, I might not have noticed it until it had passed. So even though it's very "cute" it can be programmed to be very useful as well.

For most any situation where you have something that can be expressed as "on a scale of... what/how is..." that people need to know and an applicance can do the trick (i.e., you don't need human explanation), the Orb might be a good solution for you.

It looks nice and the whole concept behind it is nice, with all the different options available online for what you can track with the Orb. Of course, the colors are also nice.
However, I've had the Orb for about six months and paid for premium service to track my local weather... and according to the Orb... it's only rained once in the last 5 months (and coverage isn't an issue, being near a major city). And so you know, aside from the weather in about 4 cities, and the generic Stock Market tracker, you need to subscribe to the premium service to have access to he other options ($6.95/month or $19.99/quarter).
It's sleek, stylish, and a great conversation piece, but if you want up-to-date, accurate info, this probably isn't the best way to go.

I received this for Christmas... best gift ever. Information is pushed to your device (it uses a cell phone - like network, so the only necessary cord is the power cord); it provides an extremely easy (and fun to show off) information center. Web configuration is simple, and there's no need to subscribe on a monthly basis (unless you want the added benefit of monitoring you Custom stock portfolio or other more specific channels.
A great gift -- a great tech toy.

I think it was NYC, Atlanta, Chicago and San Fran? (maybe LA?) got free updates, otherwise you needed to subscribe to the monthly fee. I was disapointed, returned it.

Functionality-wise it is pretty neat, and did work well. Would consider buying it again if they added Boston to the roster of free cities.

I received this as a gift a month ago, so I can't fairly gripe about the cost. But it's certainly an overpriced paperweight. I compare it to the Galileo thermometer (also a gift) it sits next to on my desk -- attractive and a conversation piece, but minimal practicality.

Cards inside the package indicates I can set displays for stock prices, today's high temperature (although the Ambient website says current temperature), weekend forecast, air quality, pollen count, and a dozen other things. Neat idea. But I will have to pay a monthly fee (I get the first three months free) to use the majority of them. And the website doesn't list all of the choices I have on my cards. But it does list a choice of chances that "Bush will be re-elected." Huh? At least it correctly predicts that as zero.

The website also correctly indicates that my portfolio is up 1.25 percent on this particular day, and it indicates that my orb should be light green. However, it's been red all day, and it's been off on other days as well. Unless the accuracy improves, I won't be signing on for the monthly service. And while I initially thought this would be a great gift idea for someone else, that won't be happening unless I see significant improvements.

The Orb gives me a good way to do my job without having to think about how the market is doing. I just glance over at it and know which way the market is going. It's also a great conversation piece. There are people that stop by my office just to see what color it is that day, even if they have no interest at all in the stock market.

The first one I received liked to display everything on the red side of the rainbow, even when the market was going up. It took just one email to very quickly get a replacement. The service was amazing.

I am still a little bothered by the tendency for the orb to display the reds stronger than the greens. It takes a really strong up day on the market to move the light from yellow towards green, but a slightly down day will shade the light towards orange and then red when it's strongly down. This is probably due to the principles of the color wheel and is not a problem intrinsic to the orb itself.

I have my orb set up to give me the weather forecast so I can know what clothes to put on in the morning without going through anything time consuming. Not a gadget, just something that simply and unobtrusively improves my life.

The orb works as defined. It's usefulness is open to interpretation. Out of the box, I believe it to be an overpriced conversation piece.

The quality is not outstanding. The pager card had come loose in the one I received and was bouncing around in the orb. It worked once I reassembled it. I'm not quite sure what justifies the high price, I can only guess that it must be to subsidize the network costs.

The ambient site itself seems a little disorganized and the community forums are pretty inactive. This leaves me uncertain of the viability of the company itself.

It should be noted that ambient sells an add-on card that allows programmers to control the orb via serial connection. This allows programmers to turn it into a more useful conversation piece (regardless of ambient's future).

Bought this as a gift. Very easy to use. Appears to be accurate!

It only updates every half hour or so. Other than that it's great. My husband keeps it in his work truck so he can follow the market even when he's not in the office. In this market it would be nice if it updated more frequently.