In your pocket

Mitsubishi pocket projector

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In the long-term cause of de-screening the office desk and the subsequent introduction of hi-resolution head-mounted displays, gesture control and space-economical CAD-monkey work-bunks, I've been watching the development of the pico projector. OK, also pocket projectors.

At last, this month manufacturers, Mitsubishi for one, seem to have decided to kick the spin monkeys into to touch and come up with the real gizmos. You'll soon see the projectors as devices the size of a cell phone and sometimes actually built into cell phones - although there's always an embarrassed silence when you ask why. People who've seen them at geek shows say they do the job well enough albeit with a pretty small screen size and in quite dim rooms. The 'screen' is, of course, a wall or an ad hoc piece of white cardboard propped up at the back of your desk. Could even be the shirt back of someone you don't like. Whatever, the pico-projector means an end to the current architectural office topography. And then the introduction of those head-mounted screens...