Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Explay Nano Projector Pocket Display
The Explay nano-projector engine, a matchbook-sized projector, has been successfully tested. Science fiction Grandmaster Jack Vance would be pleased.
(Explay nano-projector engine)
The display is under development by Kopin Corporation in cooperation with ExPlay. Kopin provides microdisplays for military and industrial buyers; ExPlay specializes in the consumer market. Dr. Bor-Yeu Tsaur, Kopins executive VP for display operations explains:
“A key requirement for a nano-projector is high brightness at low power consumption. We have engineered the display pixel technology to increase the effective optical aperture and transmission, which significantly increases optical efficiency. We believe our proprietary compact, highly transmissive microdisplay combined with a unique optical engine technology from Explay should enable an ultra-compact nano-projector.”
(Explay Matchbox-Size Nano-Projector Engine for Mobile Applications)
In addition to its small size, the ExPlay nano-projector is always focused, using its laser-based diffractive diffractive optical technology. The projected image can be as small as 7 inches diagonally, or as large as 35 inches. The displays are in full color.
Science fiction writers have been specifying this device for more than a generation. In his 1971 novel The Anome, Jack Vance wrote about a mysterious Earthman (Ifness) who used a remarkable display device.
Ifness drew from his pocket a tube of dull black metal an inch in diameter, four inches long. Along the flattened top a number of knobs caught the light and glittered in Ifness' hand. He made an adjustment, pointed the tube at the wall beside Etzwane, and projected a cone of light.Etzwane had never seen a photograph so detailed. He glimpsed several views of the Corporation Plaza, then Ifness made new adjustments, sending a thousand images flickering against the wall.
(Read more about Jack Vance's pocket display projector)
For other science-fictional technologies that are now real, take a look at the Heliodisplay midair projector and the True 3D Plasma dispay (with real plasma!). I love these small projectors; when can I have one for my camera (to show pictures directly), for my daughter's iPod (that's one tiny screen - if I paid for the video content with allowance money, I should get to see it, right?) and for other stuff I haven't even thought of yet. What would you use it for? Thanks to writer & editor Dominic Brown for sending the tip for this item along with a quote and citation. Read a bit more about this device at ExPlay.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/2/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Display ")
Did Frank Herbert Predict Bistable Displays Like E-Ink?
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.' - Frank Herbert, 1964.
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...' - Iain M. Banks, 2010.
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come, HG Wells, 1936.
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.' - Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
Meta's Horizon Studio's Unique Avatars From Text Prompts
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
VaMEx Biomimetic Mars Robot Inspired By Skink
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...'
Did Frank Herbert Predict Bistable Displays Like E-Ink?
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
'And here they began to build...'
China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.
Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
DIY Robotic Content Farming
'The chief wheeled to the master machine and pressed a button.'
Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
