Large flat-screen TVs were all the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, but companies such as Microvision Inc. are putting their bets on viewing images on a much smaller scale, Reuters reports: video projection from devices as tiny as cell phones. While commercial products with so-called pico projectors are still relatively rare, Microvision and rivals such as Texas Instruments Inc. and 3M Co. were promising strong prospects for pico projection at CES. Microvision showed off a stand-alone projector that looked like a big bar of soap and projected crisp video images using laser technology. Its big hope is to embed the technology in a range of consumer electronics, including cameras and phones. “We believe that in a five-year forecast, your phones will all have projectors,” Microvision’s director of communications, Matt Nichols, told Reuters. Texas Instruments, a major supplier of projection chips, has its pico projectors embedded in several commercial devices, including dedicated mini-projectors and two phones from Samsung Electronics Co. “Everybody is just completely jazzed about” pico projectors, said Frank Moizio, manager for TI’s pico business…
Are pico projectors the next big cell-phone trend?
Posted By Meris Stansbury On In Around the Web,IT Leadership | No CommentsAre pico projectors the next big cell-phone trend?
Posted By From staff and wire reports On In Around the Web,IT Leadership | No CommentsLarge flat-screen TVs were all the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, but companies such as Microvision Inc. are putting their bets on viewing images on a much smaller scale, Reuters reports: video projection from devices as tiny as cell phones. While commercial products with so-called pico projectors are still relatively rare, Microvision and rivals such as Texas Instruments Inc. and 3M Co. were promising strong prospects for pico projection at CES. Microvision showed off a stand-alone projector that looked like a big bar of soap and projected crisp video images using laser technology. Its big hope is to embed the technology in a range of consumer electronics, including cameras and phones. “We believe that in a five-year forecast, your phones will all have projectors,” Microvision’s director of communications, Matt Nichols, told Reuters. Texas Instruments, a major supplier of projection chips, has its pico projectors embedded in several commercial devices, including dedicated mini-projectors and two phones from Samsung Electronics Co. “Everybody is just completely jazzed about” pico projectors, said Frank Moizio, manager for TI’s pico business…