Ice Technology iCube Speaker System

[mac27]

Howdy folks, I recently posted a thread about this on 68kMLA but figured I'd cross-post here as well.

I recently acquired this NOS "iCube Multimedia Super Woofer Speaker System." According to the box it was produced by a Silicon-Valley-based company named Ice Technology, copyright date is 1999. Obviously this product was designed to compliment the Blueberry iMac G3s produced between 1999-2000.

There appears to be no information whatsoever on the Internet about this item, or Ice Technology in general, so if you happen to know anything about it then I'd love to hear from you. There was also no manual or instruction booklet in the box when I got it, so it's unclear if one ever existed or not.

I've extensively documented it with lots of photos at: https://www.mac27.net/icube

Box and labeling, talks about "Ice Technology" and (c) 1999

Subwoofer unit, two satellite speakers, and audio cables

I don't have any Blueberry iMacs but it's still a pretty close match to my Bondi.

 

[This Does Not Compute]

Well, it looks like as of 2001 those speakers were their only product:

https://web.archive.org/web/20010306010041/http://www.icetechnology.com/products/index.html

Here's their Contact page from 2000, it lists an address of 3982 Piedmont Ave in Oakland, with a phone number of 510-596-8883:

Ice Technology, LLC. iCETechnology.com - Contact Us

Ice Technology The Translucent Technology

web.archive.org

Here's a clipping from the Oakland Tribune, showing that same address and phone number belonging to a company called CP Communications:

CP Communications

Clipping found in Oakland Tribune published in Oakland, California on 8/18/2000. CP Communications

www.newspapers.com

CP Communications appears to have been an independent wireless retailer (which was common around that time) which sold Sprint services. Unfortunately "CP Communications" isn't as unique of a name as one would expect, as I've found references to that name also in Texas, Florida and New York, with nothing to suggest they're necessarily related. Regardless, it seems like the one in Oakland tried to diversify its business and capitalize on the translucent accessory trend, but never got very far. I'd wager that those speakers are a generic model made by an OEM in China, that CP/Ice Techology got made using translucent plastic and put their own branding on.

 

[mac27]

This is great, thanks for sharing. Didn't even think to check the Internet Archive. Yeah, this is surely just another low-volume rebadged accessory product sold by a small company with limited success, but it's great to have the website archive available to see.

One thing that really stands out to me is how nonchalantly - almost informally - a lot of the text is written, both on the box and on the website. Lots of weirdly structured or cut-off sentences, even a few formatting errors. Clearly not the work of a major corporation.