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Sunday, March 30, 2008

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Mini-Projectors On The Way?

The New York Times is talking about the coming wave of mini-projectors that one analyst is saying will hit the market at around $350 and be carried around in your shirt pocket. Also intriguing is that supposedly these pocket sized projectors will allow you to show your stuff on any flat surface.

On many levels this would be a boon, although I’m intrigued by a couple of points. I’m amazed at the suggested pricing on this even with the caveats about how good an image these things will display. I’m also intrigued about the slant of the article, since the writer makes a leap that we’ll soon see these little projectors everywhere and they’ll become as annonying as cell phones.

Accessories

3/30/2008 8:57 AM MST

Mini-Projectors On The Way? Comments [6] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Sunday, March 30, 2008 10:33:39 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

If and when these things hit the market, I hope that the designers will include little "legs" that can prop the projector up on its side so that a portrait-mode image from a tablet PC can be projected.

Mark (K0LO)

Sunday, March 30, 2008 11:55:02 AM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

Isn't it strange that people in the know about most things electronic, like GBM and its readers, are not aware that these things are on the verge of being mass-marketed but some journalist suddenly comes up with this little gem of information. I'll believe this when I see it.
Who wouldn't want something like this at around $350, but I think we are some years away from such a device being in everyone's pocket.
When it comes to being informed about 'stuff', I rely on sources like GBM and jkOnTheRun, not the NYT.

SteveW

Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:12:51 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

When this does become more commonplace, keep in mind that a projector in essence immediately gives you a 3D input device as well.

Over about the last 5 years researchers have demonstrated a number of systems where the projector can sense the surfaces in the environment to project correctly, and with a few sensors, it even knows how you move the projector relative to a wall, for example, and can stabilize the image as well as enable pointing. In the research literature these are usually called projection/vision or projection/camera (procam) systems. Pretty darn cool stuff.

Ken Hinckley

Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:41:24 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

People have also thought of such projection as replacing computer displays in some situations.

Mickey Segal

Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:54:55 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

See this:
http://www.microvision.com/pico_projector_displays/howitworks.html

Erich

Sunday, March 30, 2008 9:16:25 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)

When I read the NYT article, I was amazed that they did not mention Microvision, TI, or Light Blue Optics. These three have been leading the development of tiny projectors.

Several of these projectors will be on display at CTIA this week.

These will be ideal for "public" display, and can be paired with Head Mounted Displays for "private" display.

Chuck

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