Remember Orb Swarm, that merry band of rolling semi-autonomous spheres? Well, they’ve seen the open-source wizard and came back with a brain. In other words, they’ve gone autonomous, or mostly so as they are now capable of navigating within a pre-defined GPS course. Besides navigation, these orbs feature an embedded processor, accelerometer and ZigBee wireless communication all of which allow the rolling spheres to “flock , flirt, dance and interact,” say their creators. They’re set for release en masse onto the Burning Man playa at the end of this month where they’re sure to punish chemically-influenced revelers with a sense of panic suitable to the uprising. Check the video after the break for a taste if participating in pagan festivals celebrating experimental living is a bit beyond your sense of sheltered sensibility.

[Via Hack A Day and BotJunkie]

Not that it comes as a huge surprise given the wide array of devices it already supports, but according to The Register, Orb is apparently set to finally get official with its support of both the iPhone and the iPod touch “in the next few days.” As with other devices, that’ll let you get in a little place-shifting with the aid of the iPhone’s browser, including letting access your music collection via the Orb-powered version of Winamp. On the iPhone, you’ll also have the added benefit of being able to send links to songs in an SMS chat session. Of course, just ’cause it’s not official doesn’t mean you make use of Orb in its current state which, for all we know, could be exactly what’s in store when Orb does make things official.