eager reader

Tuesday's 'VHS' column resonated with some readers. In our review of 'Super 8', I summoned the ghosts of 'The Goonies' and 'Blow Out'. Both are great films. Until today, I could think of nothing at all that they had in common.

Today's Gizmodo ad for a nasty 3M pico projector brought my review back to my mind. It, too, summons ghosts of cinema past to lorem ipsum up however many words 3M paid for. The first two were 'The Goonies' and 'Blow Out'.

I think the odds of that specific evocation are probably not as long those of Pirate Willie's treasure being real. I do think they are pretty long.

I like cosmic balance. I'll keep it going by reposting my own thoughts on pico projectors  from my September piece 'ewaste: big picture':

> As far as I can tell, most of the recent
> innovation in the projector market
> is in 'pico-projectors'. These take
> some of the very same DLPs used in
> more expensive projectors and pair
> them with 50 lumen LEDs. This seems
> like an attempt to move down-market
> without first having a market. These
> projectors still cost hundreds of
> dollars and typically can't produce an image
> larger than a cheap laptop in a room
> with any ambient light.

I stand corrected. Gizmodo's  3M projector is (up to) 60 lumens, not the 50 I so disparaged. $299 from Amazon. They do make a big deal out of the DLP.

Unfortunately, the 3M is actually kind of interesting. They market it as a 'streaming projector' but the stream is courtesy a Roku stick that sits in a pocket in the back. I think the stick is the Roku 3400R Streaming Stick ($99 from Amazon). The projector contains its own battery and powers the stick. 

That's almost interesting. These new sticks look a bit like beefy USB thumb drives or 3g modems but they are actually a new thing -- HDMI sticks. They hang off a male HDMI plug, draw power from an attached display, consume content over wifi and excrete video. This is as close a device as has yet been constructed to Douglas Adams' 'Babel Fish'. I don't care to consider the theological implications.

Here's the actual interesting bit. Roku's not the only fish in the HDMI stick waste lagoon. There is probably an entire Chinese factory that does nothing but make new factories to build Android HDMI sticks like this. $55! Yow! 3M actually built a cheap, projecting life support system for Android sticks and they just haven't figured it out yet.

3M? Are you (or your Gizmodo lackeys) reading? I'll take two and I'll call you in the morning. Contact me in the comments below and I'll stuff some Android in there and give you a spiffy review. Just don't expect me to claim a viewing distance of up to 120 inches.

Once you guys finish that, build your (up to) 60 lumen projector into a recessed retrofit ceiling fixture (like this) with a short-throw lens and I'll buy several to use as digital wall washes. That would show those sissies over at Philips just where they could stuff their ZigBee lightbulb.

Sorry for the insane consumer electronic product planning spasm. Bunnie is busy hacking DNA and someone has to pick up the slack.