Publication
Pico Projectors' - Firefly or Bright Future?
Raimund Dachselt; Jonna Häkkilä; Matt Jones; Markus Löchtefeld; Michael Rohs; Enrico Rukzio
In: ACM Interactions, Vol. 1/2012, Pages 5-10, ACM, 2/2012.
Abstract
There's something magical about light.
Perhaps you can remember using a torch as a child to trace a space story on the bedroom ceiling; or, more excitingly, still, to enhance scary stories under the canvas of a tenting holiday. Or, on a long, lazy summer afternoon, the school vacation coming soon, reflecting the sun off the glass of your watch, daringly close to the teacher's face.
Today's mobile technology landscape already has its magical devices: the alluring, touch screen phones and tablets. Perhaps though, in these trapped light boxes, we are missing something of the wonder of projection. Heads down, we prod the surface of these Narcissus pools, consumed mainly by our own reflections as we engage in the digital world.
There is an emerging mobile technology, though, that might save us from this introverted computing. Through the emergence of various pico projector technologies it is now possible to build projector phones; camcorders with built in projectors; and, small accessory projectors that can be connected to other mobile devices.