Built by Bill Owen of Mnpctech.com, the so-called ION Cube draws on a few fairly obvious influences, and makes use of a combination of CNC milled sheets of aluminum and laser cut pieces of acrylic which, combined with the rest of the build, apparently took over a hundred hours to complete.
On the inside, and one of the impetuses for the contest, is the ZOTAC ION ITX 330 motherboard, which is intended for small, low-power systems just like this (and less flashy ones, too).
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/13/i...esign-contest/