Novalux Lasers Make You See the Big Picture on Your Tiny iPod

laserWe really never got the logic behind handheld video players with screens so small even John Goodman looks like he’d been working out with Calista Flockhart (while Calista herself is hardly visible).

And yet electronic gadgets of this nature seem to multiply like rabbits. There’s Apple’s iPod video, Motorola Q, the K-PEX and Creative ‘s Zen Vision:M and so on. Even mobiles are gearing up for next-gen 3D games for those their teeny, weeny screens.

Is it just our bad eyesight or is this video downsizing hard on your eyeballs, too? No, it’s not just us! And that’s where Novalux steps in. The company is introducing tiny, laser-based projectors that could transform pocket-size devices into full-blown entertainment systems.

The images produced by these handheld projectors can be projected onto walls, tabletops or the backs of airplane seats. In a bright room the images could be increased to the size and brightness of a 10 in laptop screen. But without illumination, the projected image can be up to 10 feet. According to its makers the quality of the images would stunning since lasers generate richer colors than LCD screens. And unlike other projectors, laser-based units requires no focusing. The laser beams form sharp images from any distance.

While laser projection technology is old news, new miniature lasers and mirrors make it possible to build cheap projectors as small as the thumb. The mini-systems use micro lasers and a micro scanners (tiny pivoting mirror) smaller than a pinhead. The lasers fire at the mirror, which reflects the light onto a surface one pixel at a time but so quickly that the entire screen appears to be lit at once. The company said their system is capable of creating an 800-by-600 image at a 60-hertz refresh rate, which requires projecting 28.8 million pixels per second. Novalux plans to ship its primary-color lasers by mid-2007.

Via Wired News

laserWe really never got the logic behind handheld video players with screens so small even John Goodman looks like he’d been working out with Calista Flockhart (while Calista herself is hardly visible).

And yet electronic gadgets of this nature seem to multiply like rabbits. There’s Apple’s iPod video, Motorola Q, the K-PEX and Creative ‘s Zen Vision:M and so on. Even mobiles are gearing up for next-gen 3D games for those their teeny, weeny screens.

Is it just our bad eyesight or is this video downsizing hard on your eyeballs, too? No, it’s not just us! And that’s where Novalux steps in. The company is introducing tiny, laser-based projectors that could transform pocket-size devices into full-blown entertainment systems.

The images produced by these handheld projectors can be projected onto walls, tabletops or the backs of airplane seats. In a bright room the images could be increased to the size and brightness of a 10 in laptop screen. But without illumination, the projected image can be up to 10 feet. According to its makers the quality of the images would stunning since lasers generate richer colors than LCD screens. And unlike other projectors, laser-based units requires no focusing. The laser beams form sharp images from any distance.

While laser projection technology is old news, new miniature lasers and mirrors make it possible to build cheap projectors as small as the thumb. The mini-systems use micro lasers and a micro scanners (tiny pivoting mirror) smaller than a pinhead. The lasers fire at the mirror, which reflects the light onto a surface one pixel at a time but so quickly that the entire screen appears to be lit at once. The company said their system is capable of creating an 800-by-600 image at a 60-hertz refresh rate, which requires projecting 28.8 million pixels per second. Novalux plans to ship its primary-color lasers by mid-2007.

Via Wired News

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