Project Videos onto the Wall from Your Cell Phone

Yes, the world is getting carried away by portable video on your iPod, PMP, and cell phone, but most people can't stand the small screens. Here at CES, I saw the PicoP, one of the coolest and potentially hugest new technologies I've seen in a while. The PicoP is a mint-sized, laser-based display module designed for cell phones that lets you project the videos stored or streamed on your cell phone onto the wall. It's also great for projecting still images onto a wall, a handy use in our camera-phone-filled world.

Alas, it's only a prototype, but Microvision, the light-scanning technology company, is working on getting this tiny module into cell phones, though there's no specific date or confirmed takers yet. The company is displaying the technology here at CES with a modified smart phone that projects Windows Media videos onto a screen. This promises to do for impromptu dorm-room "happenings" (or plain old slide shows) what portable iPod speakers did for on-the-fly hotel-room dance parties.