I guess minimalism has its good and bad parts when talking about IT&C. Good, when we can squeeze more and more transistors into CPUs and chips and bad because sometimes it leads to minute thingies that are easily lost or destroyed if we don’t pay close attention to them. OK, I might understand the need for an iShuffle, but why exactly would we need speakers the size of a golf-ball? Sure, we certainly need more space, even in huge condominiums, but it’s not like normal people live in dwarf huts. Sony couldn’t care less about this line of reasoning and rolls out the HT-IS home theatre system.

So, they make all five satellites the size of a golf ball and keep the subwoofer the size of a mid-sized gas barrel. Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense now. What’s going on, Sony? Right… the system features three-HDMI input and the subwoofer comes with built-in 32-bit S-Master digital amplifier. Total RMS output is 45W x 5 channels, with 100W x 2 from the sub. Supported audio standards include Dolby Digital and DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II, MPEG-2 AAC and linear PCM, as well as Standard, Multi, and various movie and sounds modes. 45W per golf ball channel? Joke, right?

It doesn’t matter whether I believe this or not, Sony’s still releasing them in Japan on July 15 at a cost of around $870. Yes, yet another bad aspect of small technology… it sets you back small fortunes!