Yes, it looks like something that landed near Roswell, but this Skype-certified speakerphone will land in the UK later this month, its manufacturer, US Robotics, said this week. Officially dubbed the USR9610, the £50 gadget connects to a host PC's USB port and then via the VoIP network to callers around the globe.

The unit is bus-powered, USR said, so it's eminently portable - no bulky AC adaptor required. And there's a headphone socket built in for folk who want to listen in privately or record conversions for training purposes.

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USR also touted the saucer-shaped speakerphone's sound quality, pointing to its noise suppression and echo cancellation system.

“You normally wouldn’t expect a speakerphone with this sound quality to be so easily portable," claimed a USR UK spokesman. ®