Sony Xperia Touch turns any surface into an Android Tablet

In a congress dominated by smartphones and tablets, Sony brought to MWC a curious little device that can turn any surface into a tablet: the Xperia Touch.

SPUD foldable display lets you carry a 24" monitor in your pocket

A long time ago I used to joke about the future imagining inflatable monitors you could fill up to the pretended size. Now, this SPUD reminds me of that, with a collapsible 24" display you can carry around anywhere.

TouchPico Android pico-projector turns a wall into a touchscreen

People my age will still look at touch devices and feel like it's something like out of a science-fiction movie. But for all those that were born in the last 10 or 15 years, touchscreens are something that are quite common - as proven by all those kids trying to touch TV screens and projection screens and trying to interact with it just like they do in a tablet or smartphone. With this TouchPico, they'll actually be able to do it.

LightBeam Physical Displays and Interface

No one even thinks about it anymore. A futuristic interface shown on a screen is now... common. But things change if those same interface "jump out" into the real world, as this LightBeam predicts.

Using picoprojectors to turn any surface into an interactive movable screen isn't new, nor is using real-life objects to interact with it - such as rotating a coffe mug to access Facebook (as seen on the video). But it serves to show us that our future homes still have a long way to go. Who wouldn't like to be able to access the internet, or recipes, or video-chatting with friends when you're on the kitchen -for instance- and using the available physical objects as "controllers"?

Let's hope the falling prices of picoprojectors and 3D cameras like Kinect allows this kind of technology to come to our houses soon... Unless Google's digital augmented reality glasses don't make it obsolete by then.



[via Engadget]

Immersive Projection Gaming [iPhone]

An iPhone and a Pico-projector, that's all it takes for you to create your own "holodeck"... sort of.

Thanks to a picoprojector that keeps the image in focus no matter what and the digital compass and accelerometers on the iPhone, you can turn any room into a virtual environment where any game can come to life.

... now, if we add a couple more projectors for 360º coverage... hummm... Star Trek Holodeck, we're getting there... :)

Projection Mapping

What can you do with Projection Mapping? Lots of stuff... and sometimes the results are truly mesmerizing, as this simple setup that provides a near magical experience. Watch the following video.


ENVISION : Step into the sensory box from SUPERBIEN on Vimeo.

Megapixel Interactive Display with 28 Projectors

Students at the University of Tromso, Norway, have stitched together an impressive 22 megapixel interactive display - though we should better call it a video wall!
It uses 28 projectors to achieve its 7168 x 3072 pixel resolution, and relies on 16 webcams to allow "multitouch" (though touchless) operation.

To create a truly impressive demo, they've used a 13.3 gigapixel image, that can fluidly be moved around and zoomed in/out at will.

Watch it in action:

Do It Yourself LED LCD Projector

When you talk about home cinema, no one can deny that: the bigger the screen the better!

Unfortunately, big screen TVs aren't usually within our desired price range; but, what if you could build your own LCD LED video projector?

That's exactly what you can find, with detailed step-by-step instructions at Instructables. A really creative project that will surely appeal to everyone you invite to see a movie with. :)

Architectural Projection Mapping

Some more excellent examples of what you can do with large-scale projection mapping.


Battle of Branchage from seeper on Vimeo.



Why wonder what Jean Michel Jarre would have accomplished if he had this kind of stuff available back in the days. ;)

Ericsson Spider PC Concept

Ericsson has revealed their Spider Computer concept, using a laser projected keyboard and pico-projector screen.



Considering we've had these type of projected screens around for some time and they've never became widely adopted, is this a doomed idea, or will it it make it more popular this time? After all, people are now enjoying the "multitouch experience" with Surface-like devices becoming highly regarded and "wantable."

Projection Mapping in Spain

One more amazing example of what you can achieve with projection mapping.

This time in Spain at Festival Ingràvid.

Telenoika Audiovisual Mapping @ Ingravid Festival, Figueres 9/2009 [FULL] from Telenoika on Vimeo.

Digital Wallpaper via Projection Mapping

Here's another interesting example of how to use projection mapping top bring new life into a shop's digital wallpaper.

Check the video:


Hirzberger Events - Digital Wallpaper from Gregor Hofbauer on Vimeo.

Projecting Video on Glass

Ever seen those shop windows running video ads? Ever wondered how they do it?

It's no secret it's kind of mesmerizing watching a video projected on a transparent glass screen.

If you ever tried doing it yourself you've probably noticed your video gets projected right through the glass, so... how can they get their video to "stick" to the glass?


Well... you just need a little help from a friend called 3M and their 0.3mm thick Vikuiti rear projection film.

The results, are simply amazing:



This rear projection film does allow for some impressive in-vitro ads. :)

Virtual Firework indoors

It's a pity it became available after the 4th of July, but if you're a big fan of fireworks you won't be able to resist this virtual firework prjector from Sega Toys?


You'll be able to create your own fireworks shows choosing from the 55 existing explosions.


It works with AAA batteries and is quite small - so you can carry it with you whenever its needed.

It costs about $160... which may or may not be worth it depending on how much you love fireworks.

One thing's for sure... it certainly is a lot safer than handling real firework!

Dreaming Building

You should know by now just how much I love projection mapping, which projects images into real objects and surfaces with amazing results.

In this Urbanscreen project, this building suddenly comes alive just as if it were dreaming.


555 KUBIK | facade projection | from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

Projection Mapping in Car Prototyping

Who would have thought of using projection mapping to better visualize car prototypes?

Apparently, it's being done... right now. Check the following video:

Build your Multitouch Surface for $350

Everyone has already seen some sort of demo video of MS Surface - or similar - but the question remains: how long till we can have something like that in our own homes?

According to Maximum PC, you can have it right now, and all you need is some spare parts and $350 to build your own multitouch "Surface", using open-source software (Touchlib, AMCap, FlashOSC.)


Maximum PC's Multitouch Surface Computer from Maximum PC on Vimeo.

You can find all details you'll ever need and a step-by-step tutorial at MaximumPC.

TED Talk - Pattie Mae Sixth Sense

Another impressive video presentation from TED Talk.

Pattie Maes shows us a glimpse of the future and how man-computer-environment interactions have still so much to evolve.



A must-see presentation.

Projection Mapping at its Best

It's impossible not to be amazed by Projection Mapping, a technique that uses simple projectors and images carefully adjusted to make a 3D canvas pop into life.

This is also one of its biggest hurdles: you need to carefully align everything to achieve the proper effect... Unless you leave that to your computer. Sure, it would require a lot of computer power to analyze and adjust the images in 3D space, but... isn't that what computers are for?:



You can even do similar things in real time (using OpenCV and vvvv, via AntiVJ):



And if you think abstract images are all you can do with it, check out this amazing (but slightly creepy) example of projection mapping with a human face:



via [Augmented Engineering]

Christmas Tree Projector

Want to transform your Christmas day into a more modern light and sound show?
Well... here's something you can easily do with a single projector.


TreeWaxHD from klipcollective on Vimeo.