A device that's shaped like a sphere for some reason, which acts as a touchable display screen. From the article, "But Surface has now been developed into a marketable product, and the Sphere effort shows that Redmond is interested in seeing where else this technology might find a home. We've been watching the tech develop for a while, and most of us at Ars just don't see a lot of options for it at the moment beyond niche applications. "