How's this for unfortunate timing? We had a chance to check out VestaLife's very cool little Ladybug speakers the other night at a CES press preview, and we deemed the things a perfect sub-$100 holiday gift for the ever-lucrative teen/tween market. Unfortunately, as the event implied, these guys are making their debut at CES (and Macworld), meaning that they'll be missing the seasonal buying spree by a good month or so.

Mind you, it was a pretty packed show, so we didn't actually get to test the product out--I expressed some concerns that the subwoofer on this tiny iPod speaker dock is on the rear of the dock itself, meaning that bumping the latest Daft Punk record might lead your hard drive-based iPod to start skipping like there was no tomorrow. The company's guy assured me however, that his years working in the sound industry have helped him to address such problems.

Still, it's a damn cool little dock. It's named the Ladybug because of the unfolding speakers, which mimic nature's aphid-eating iPod charger. It makes for a good looking and compact player.

The speaker dock runs on AA batteries (or AC), has a built-in auxiliary input, AV out for vide, and a USB connector for syncing to your PC. The Ladybug will be available for just under $100 in the nebulous time frame of early next year.