The blog AppleInsider has an intriguing recent post about a subsidiary of Foxcomm (who makes Apple's phones and touches) working on micro projection technology. Here's the summary:
Micro projects are an emerging technology for small form-factor handheld devices comprised of miniaturized hardware and software that can project digital images onto any nearby viewing surface, such as a wall of projection screen. They're positioned at devices like the iPhone and iPod touch, which are sometimes too tiny to accommodate interfaces for connecting directly to external displays or televisions.
Not just Apple but apparently all the big smart phone players are into this and will have initial offerings by the end of 2009.
What I found intriguing is an idea that surfaced in a comment on this blog post (reinforcing the notion of the value in the long tail). One can imagine a computer/smart phone that is just a keyboard and has this technology built-in. No need for a display; this keyboard computer/phone just projects the screen for the user. If this gizmo is a combination of computer and smartphone, then it addresses the cramped keyboard issue on current mobile devices. I'm looking at the Logitech wave keyboard I'm using to type this post and can imagine easily all the gear needed to supply the functionality of a MacBook fitting into it. Who needs a netbook, especially when computer, smart phone and ipod functions could rendezvous in a single device?
Reminds me of the old "flying wing" aircraft that the Air Force experimented with during the period 1940-1960.
The ability to project a screen from a pocket device will allow ad hoc groups to form, share and view content.
A learning group can work anyplace that they can project an image. No more need for dedicated rooms with projects and computers....social learning can be spontaneous.
Technologies such as these will push us to think in new ways about learning spaces.
Posted by: Joshua Kim | July 07, 2009 at 07:56 PM