MacWorld 2006 has yet to officially open its doors, but the news is already starting to pour in. First up, self-anointed “world leader in touch sensitive interactive textiles for electronics interface design”, Elekson Ltd., has designed a case for the iPod with external controls. That’s right, shove your favourite glossy white (or more recently, glossy black) MP3 player into this fabric sensor case, and you may never need to actually see that iPod again. It will literally disappear into the nether-regions of Elekson’s interactive textile goodness, never to see the light of day again.

All the basic functions can be accessed from the fabric buttons outside of the case: play/pause, track forward, track back, volume up, volume down, and on/off. Like everything else at MacWorld, the company is promoting its compatibility with all things that are prefixed with a lower-case “i,” but this touch-sensitive case should also work with “a host of other audio players.” It even comes with integrated speakers and a handy belt clip.

Because Elekson typically produces OEM merchandise, you’ll likely find the iPod fabric case under some other name and perhaps with a slightly different look or design, rather than being marketed under the Elekson brand name.