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World's Smallest Projector

Posted by samzenpus on from the there-are-no-small-roles dept.

SkinnyGuy writes "Mixed into all of PCMag's CES preview coverage is an interesting story about a projector that's no bigger than an iPod. An early version showed up at last year's CES, but some of the guts weren't inside the small body. Now they are. It uses lasers to project the image. Really fascinating, futuristic stuff."

27 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Underwater Projection by daddyrief · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't let the, sharks get a hold, of this one...

    --
    "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." -Thomas Jefferson
  2. Obligitory laser post by stas2k · · Score: 3, Funny

    Frickin' lasers! Now all we need is some sharks.

    1. Re:Obligitory laser post by stderr_dk · · Score: 3, Funny

      Really, really small sharks...

      --
      alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" ; # https://pipedot.org/~stderr & http://soylentnews.org/~stderr
    2. Re:Obligitory laser post by wizardforce · · Score: 4, Funny

      will angry mutated sea-bass suffice?

      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  3. now that is progress by jacquesm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Finally something that is not wasting 90% of it's energy as heat, not to mention replacing ridiculously expensive bulbs every few hundred hours.
    A low intensity version of this and you don't need a projection area any more, just beam it in directly :)
    note to self: do not stare into laser with remaining eye...

    --
    MP3 Search Engine
    1. Re:now that is progress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually.. their original product plan had the image directly beamed into your eye... virtual retinal display. Rumor has it that Bill Gates suggested they turn it around and point it at a wall instead. Their "Power of one" motto pointed out that there were no problems with dead pixels ( unless of course you lost one color or the "one" pixel ). The nicest part in my opinion is that there is no focus as the image is being transmitted from what would be the focal point ( hence the "virtual image" bit ). I suspect this focus-less projector will allow better "surround" virtual reality systems.. just blast the image onto full-face visor! They must've thought of this.. it's such an obvious use?

        As far as the laser.. I don't think it uses a laser anymore.. the led update was surprisingly richer and made the laser version look like chicken scratches.

        Nice to see they might make some money off of this technology instead of turning into a boring barcode scanning company. Maybe they had some other money makers to shake lately?

  4. I refer you to my signature... by Kawahee · · Score: 4, Funny
    Why is that comma there?

    It uses, lasers to project the image
    I thought that we had editors to check for this sort of, thing.
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    I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.
    1. Re:I refer you to my signature... by foobsr · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why is that comma there?

      Everything gets smaller, brains included.

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
    2. Re:I refer you to my signature... by cnettel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The only editor you need is emacs.

    3. Re:I refer you to my signature... by LaoChe1984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yours, is the incorrect, one. Why, is that comma, there? I thought, that we had editors, to check, for this sort of thing. There, fixed those, for you. James T. Kirk

  5. My Hope by robbiedo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope to hook this up to my laptop while playing Duke Nukem Forever with Chinese Democracy blaring on my stereo. What the heck, lets throw Obama a bone and have him in the White House.

  6. Laptops by ianare · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This would be awesome for an ultra-portable laptop: just a keyboard without the screen, just project onto any wall ... or use a very light roll-up screen.

    1. Re:Laptops by ZJVavrek · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Or one of those laser keyboards. Like this. http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/ Get some reasonably powerful device, add the two of those and maybe some kind of location sensing finger ring for a mouse... voilà, now you have a justifiable reason for Linux on your cell phone. Not that you needed one.

    2. Re:Laptops by johannesg · · Score: 4, Funny

      You want to combine this with a projected keyboard (http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/). And possibly a wiimote-based multitouch interface instead of a mouse. Add a bit of cackling and you'll look like a mad wizard!

      You know what, I think the 21st century has arrived at last!

    3. Re:Laptops by Tekgno · · Score: 3, Funny

      ->I put on my robe and Wizard's hat...

  7. Possibilities for embedded devices? by zykhou · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While I'm sure the original price tag will be steep, this product could actually have some pretty sweet applications.

    Imagine a singular device, the size of a cell phone, that could be a wholly working portable computer. You set it down and it projects a screen wherever you need it. Imagine that projector with something like this, and some sort of mouse replacement, and you'd have all your IO needs on the go. Instead of being restricted to tiny screens and keyboards, your portable device could be competition for your main desktop (which seems to be the route that consumer electronics are heading).

    I know I can't wait for the day when I carry around one wallet sized (or smaller) device that is an audio player, a cell phone, and feature complete computer, capable of being used for the same applications my laptop is for, but with far less weight and size. Hopefully with devices like this, I won't have to wait until I'm near dead to enjoy such luxuries.

  8. Would be great for multi touch touchscreen by mrjb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lately I've been giving some thought about how the hard part of multi-touch touch panel is the projection. Such a screen can be built from a sheet of glass+webcam, but the problem is that projecting an image back onto it requires a rather expensive projector. A $200-$300 laser projector would take this into the realm of 'affordable' technology.

    It could also render the OLED technology of the 'optimus maximus' keyboard obsolete- many people have a second VGA port that they do not use. Using this port to display a key map onto an essentially transparent keyboard would do the same. It could also allow people to choose the decoration to be displayed on the rest of their keyboard.

    --
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    1. Re:Would be great for multi touch touchscreen by apt142 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      At $200-$300 my first thought was, could this replace my TV set? I'd just need a tuner, which I could get for my computer. It sure would be nice to reduce all of my entertainment equipment to one computer, a speaker system and an iPod sized projector.

      The resolution isn't what I would like, especially if I wanted to hook it up to my computer. But, I'm sure that'll improve in future versions.

      --
      Star Pirates
  9. This Isn't Going to be Good for the Community by matty619 · · Score: 5, Funny

    And just think, by simply using 50 mW lasers, it will now be possible for the masses to skywrite commercials on the cloud cover. Or at the very least, everyone can have their own Bat Signal Device. Or project a 500' Goatse on a downtown sky scraper. I don't see how this can possibly go wrong. -M@

    1. Re:This Isn't Going to be Good for the Community by jacquesm · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think your power calculations for skywriting are off by several orders of magnitude. That sort of laser is best not used near anything combustible either, not unless you want it to combust that is :)

      A friend of mine who pioneered lasers in pop music (for Genesis in the Peter Gabriel days) once turned down a proposal to implement this because of the limited range of conditions when it would operate and the enormous power levels required, it's a bit of a difference to project something on a wall 5' away from you vs on a semi-transparant medium several hundred meters away. Of course you don't need to take my word for it, or you may have meant your original post in a sarcastic way (but that's hard to tell here sometimes).

      a 50 mW laser will carray a good distance as long as you don't start scanning it, then it quickly becomes useless.

      --
      MP3 Search Engine
  10. MEMS vs Holographs by aphxtwn · · Score: 3, Informative

    Last year a different company made news demonstrating a monochrome version of their pico laser projector (PVPro) last year. They used LCoS to generate diffraction patterns rather than using a MEM mirror. http://www.lightblueoptics.com/

  11. What's the brightness on it? by MSRedfox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I own a PK20 pocket projector. It fits in the palm of my hand, does 800x600 native, and uses ultra-bright LEDs with DLP tech to handle the images. It gets 10,000 hours of lamp life but is fairly dim as a result. It is much brighter then the first gen, PK10, but it still gets washed out easily. In a lightly lit room, I can do a 40" image, and in pitch darkness(or almost black), I can project around 60-70" without issue. I'm curious how the brightness of the lasers will be. Will it be able to project a 5' image in a lit room, or will it need the lights fully dimmed? I also wonder what the viewing angle will be, will it be very narrow with a fast drop off to the sides (which would make it less then ideal for portable presentations). Does anyone have any actual specs on the unit?

  12. Cell phones will have these! by MindPrison · · Score: 4, Funny

    No doubt!

    Personally I cant wait - this is TOO much fun, imagine the on-the-fly presentations you can do with this baby, no longer youll have to wave everyone over to your microscopic cell-phone screen to say "watch what I did this weekend".

    Oh wait...

    Thats not good...

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  13. Good by DerWulf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Very cool product. The name sucks though. Google finds 2.560.000.000 hits for "SHOW".

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    ___
    No power in the 'verse can stop me
  14. Re:I bet the image is horrible by awol · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, those scanning electron beams suck so much, the laser has got to suck too. Right??

    --
    "The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
  15. Microthis, Microthat by Conanymous+Award · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's up with all these companies from Redmond, Washington being called Microsomething? Is Microvision something that is needed to see Bill's Micro-soft?

  16. Re:Mess with the teachers by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    A classroom? Are you kidding? Think about using this in a White House Press Room Briefing to project video evidence of the lies!

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?