Light Blue Optics unveils Light Touch: a 10-inch touchscreen pico projector based on lasers (video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted January 5th 2010 12:37PM
posted January 5th 2010 12:37PM
posted January 5th 2010 12:37PM
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Awesome. Unlimited potential.
@Oflife
frikkin lasers!
Thats exactly what the old optical keyboard needed!
@Oflife If only this thing had a freaking camera i would scrap the idea of getting a new phone and save up for one, might just do that anyway but i would stop everything for a camera!!
@Oflife
Much more useful than a tablet PC IMO!!
@theevil I dont see this as a standalone device. I consider it more of a competitor to MS's big ass table. Like how your phone sits on the table and data is pulled from it, I would see this concept working best as a display and input device for a phone.
I could see this catching on at Office Depot if it were built into desks. Have a desk light branch out from the top. That is if they could get phones to easily work with it. I'm thinking in the future when wireless video standards are common place.
@Omen20 Sorry for double post. I could see this bringing graphics tablet style input to a more general audience. If the display were larger, more accurate and could be used with a stylus, then this could act as a desk calendar. People could jot down notes, and swipe between different screens like an Android phone does. Have widgets and so forth lighting up their workspace.
I really want this now lol.
@theevil Sorry for double post. I could see this bringing graphics tablet style input to a more general audience. If the display were larger, more accurate and could be used with a stylus, then this could act as a desk calendar. People could jot down notes, and swipe between different screens like an Android phone does. Have widgets and so forth lighting up their workspace.
I really want this now lol.
@Oflife
Well, I wouldn't get too excited. I guess fingers don't have shadows? The hands in the demo appeared to be a little hollow...
cool.
@Digital1 Until the first 5-year-old sticks gum on it at that table, or the first clumsy teen busts it off the changing room wall. If it's a few bucks, it might work, but cost will likely keep this out of the mainstream...at least for a while. And no, I'm not a hater, just a realist.
@CRA1G All I said was that it was cool. As in a cool concept. I said nothing about mainstream viability.
That looks super awesome I can think of so many uses for that. Me wants asap!
Great just what I need finger cancer
@Dapman02
Y'know, lasers don't cause cancer. And even if they did, they'd be awesome anyway! PEW PEW!
@Dapman02
Lasers don't cause cancer: sharks cause cancer!
Huh? So it is kind of a mini computer itself, not just a screen for other devices? I'm confused
@iCello
basically yes.
@Esat Dedezade
Really? Aww, I would buy it if it were just a screen/input device (as long as the price was right.
That puts me right off though.
It might actually be an output device as well, I don't see why it couldn't be if its not, though I don't know if it would have the multi touch features etc, might just be a basic display then.
Freaking awesome! Whats good about this is its like an entry level version of the Microsoft Surface. So for the companies and consumers that wouldn't be able to afford the expensive M.Surface they can at least have some of the same feature for half the cost. Just wish it was android so it would guarantee many uses... now we just have to hope its able to be modded!
@no6969el
Agree with everything apart from the Android comment. I don't see why that is relevant. I played around with my first Android device last week and I really really fail to see what all the fuss is about? Its nice and everything, can't really fault it, but its not revolutionary or game changing. I think Android is starting to become then new Apple (mobile OS).
@Esat Dedezade
The best way to word this.... If you just played around with it meaning you used the ui.... then of course you wouldnt get it. The reason why I would want it on this device is because if its the companies program (or OS) then any functions of it will be in control of the company. If Android was on it, then there are a poop-ton of developers allready for it to make the product usable for many different reasons (media center remote, carputer keyboard.. i dont know just ideas like that)
So yes... Android is very cool, but for reasons that the average user doesn't even think of.
More examples of why android is awesome for me....
I didnt like the onscreen keyboard... so I downloaded another app that replaces it. Now its skinned with my fav team.. or fav color..
I like to use my laptop when im out and about but lack internet.. well downloaded the wifi/3g tether app and Walla.. i can.
Say I didnt like my home screen... cool, just download a different home app and walla.
whats that? You ran out of space on your internal storage for apps.. thats ok.. android can be modded to run apps of SD...
Ahh.. i dont like my dialer.. its cool.. i just changed it to one I like better the other day..
what else... oh yea.. sitting at home, see a commerical for a newer android phone.. see a kick butt feature that I dont have.. so I log onto XDA developer forums.. find the proper files and guess what. My phone has the newer phones special features.
Any true android user/modder PLEASE feel free to add to my list.
@no6969el
Good reply, I can see why you like it, though literally every single point you mentioned, I can do on the HD2 running win mobile 6.5 too, again also making use of the amazing XDA forums ;)
Personal preferences I guess, but its nice having a mature discussion on here for once, so thanks :)
@no6969el
You just explained why Windows CE runs everything.
@no6969el
I think to further clarify we can look at the points that no6969el made above:
1.) "I didnt like the onscreen keyboard... so I downloaded another app that replaces it. Now its skinned with my fav team.. or fav color"
- I have 2 keyboards for the HD2, including Swype, a 3rd party one which I downloaded and installed with no problems.
2.) "I like to use my laptop when im out and about but lack internet.. well downloaded the wifi/3g tether app and Walla.. i can"
- This came as an out of the box feature with the HD2, called WiFi router and can be downloaded on other win mo phones.
3.) "Say I didnt like my home screen... cool, just download a different home app and walla."
- I did this just yesterday. custom wallpaper and icons, not to mention the awesome weather animation :)
4.) "whats that? You ran out of space on your internal storage for apps.. thats ok.. android can be modded to run apps of SD"
- The Hd2 had this oput of the box, no need to mod it and I'm sure its the same for all win mobile devices out of the box, no mods required. All of my apps run off the SD card.
5.) "Ahh.. i dont like my dialer.. its cool.. i just changed it to one I like better the other day"
- Not as simple to change as the keyboard, but I'm sure XDA have ways to change it.
6.) " so I log onto XDA developer forums.. find the proper files and guess what. My phone has the newer phones special features."
- Ditto :)
@Esat Dedezade
It's basically a matter of people who got into the smartphone game with the iPhone. The lockdown was all they knew. Then Android came along and "introduced" functionality that WinMo has had for years.
@no6969el
More examples of why android is OLDHAT for me....
no6969el wrote: "I didnt like the onscreen keyboard... so I downloaded another app that replaces it. Now its skinned with my fav team.. or fav color.."
OH, you mean just like Windows Mobile has had for years.
no6969el wrote: "I like to use my laptop when im out and about but lack internet.. well downloaded the wifi/3g tether app and Walla.. i can."
OH, you mean just like Windows Mobile has had for years. Tethering that is.
no6969el wrote: "Say I didnt like my home screen... cool, just download a different home app and walla."
Oh, you mean just like Windows Mobile has had for years.
no6969el wrote: "whats that? You ran out of space on your internal storage for apps.. thats ok.. android can be modded to run apps of SD..."
Yea, Windows Moble for years again.
no6969el wrote: "Ahh.. i dont like my dialer.. its cool.. i just changed it to one I like better the other day.."
rinse, repeat...
no6969el wrote: "what else... oh yea.. sitting at home, see a commerical for a newer android phone.. see a kick butt feature that I dont have.. so I log onto XDA developer forums.. find the proper files and guess what. My phone has the newer phones special features."
Yea, again, pretty much like any Windows Mobile phone has been for years.
So what you've confirmed is that Android is doing the same thing that WiMo has been doing for years only they're marketing it better so people think that it's better.
@strommsarnac they've been doing those things for years so one would think by now such improvements should've found their way to standard WinMo distributions, but no such luck. All kind of things have appeared except the things that consumers wanted so when competing products appeared (iPhone, Android, BlackBerries, Pre) that offered what consumers really did want, everyone abandoned WinMo in droves. Forward to now and WiMo is relegated to a tiny market of hobbyists and tinkerers. The Gartner group said they won't last more than this year.
@strommsarnac
I never said that Winmo didnt do it before....I know what they were capable of I had a few phones that ran it. The only difference I see is execution. The same feature that I had issues with using on the Winmo phone work alot better on android. The whole experience as a whole TO ME.. is better with android, easier to flash, better form of distribution for the ROM updates (update via my phone I get an alert when theres an update) Constant feature updates... I guarantee that the android forums sees more new apps, programs, or other android phone ports AND ROMS then the WinMo section in XDA.
I wont argue if these features are available on winmo. Its about how much content is available to mod or change my phone. Currently microsoft isnt making and releasing cool applications/widgets(winmo user is like whats that..LOL) /intuitive OS (still waiting for that.)
Anyway I guess at the end of the day its all preference, cause I could put "my opinion is" in front of all I say and it wouldn't sound any different.
If they can fit this inside a smart phone one day then I'll be a very happy man.
Win.
Don't you just love the future!
@Cydoniac
Not by default.
ill get the babes to go!
The interface he's typing on looks kinda like Google Wave.
this would be awesome if it interacted with other projectors for like a boardroom type setup... no longer the need for laptops in the conference rooms.
It's weird if it runs its own OS. Why not just have it plug into the monitor and peripheral ports, so that it's projecting the screen and receiving feedback? It should just be a peripheral for any pc.
Neat display but seems extremely dangerous as a touch screen since something as simple as a finger ring or shiny nail polish could take out your eyesight.
@pax copia - I don't think the lasers they're using in the projector has anywhere near enough power to harm your eyesight, especially not reflected. Otherwise they'd never get it through the regulatory process...
This really does have a great deal of potential and I can see them appearing everywhere. It is rather sad that even with the unlimited potential this offers the only thing they come up with in the video is the usual flipping through and resizing photographs (which nobody wants to do anyway). Whoever produced that video should be ashamed.
I looked closely at the photos and demo video but surely they are not accurately showing that placing your fingers into the image will create a shadow and block out the image below. This might not cause a huge problem for certain applications of this projector but I can see it not being quite as good as it might otherwise be, because you will have to keep moving your hand out of the image to check other information, which is not the case with a conventional touch screen.
@stu55y
I was thinking the same thing. Wouldn't it be distracting if your fingers got lit up as well?
If only this thing had a freaking camera i would scrap the idea of getting a new phone and save up for one, might just do that anyway but i would stop everything for a camera!!
It would be a WIN is it was not its own OS but linked to iPhone or Android via blutooth, or wireless USB dongle. You could basicaly dump the laptop and just cary this and your phone,
@xclntgig
Apple doesn't even allow the iPhone to be used with a simple 3rd party input device like a keyboard. Hard to believe they would ever let the iPhone connect with this or any other 3rd party interface.
Pew Pew!
On a more serious note: this looks pretty awesome, at least in the concept images/video.
Nice! Now make it even more compact en put in some spectacles and we're in business!!
cool! would like to actually see some product action shoots rather then photoshop concepts
just plain cool.
With the camera and projector that high up and shooting from that angle, you're going to run into shadow problems (from your own finger) under certain circumstances. Not to mention that typing on a hard surface for more than a few minutes is NOT a pleasant experience.
Still, very cool. It won't replace your desktop, laptop, netbook or smartphone, but for the right usage pattern it's got potential...