Giving new meaning to "portable projector", researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena have devised a portable projector no larger than a sugar cube.

How did that happen? Instead of using micro-mirror arrays as in traditional projectors, this device employs just one mirror which can be tilted around two axes (bet you didn't think of this before). When it comes to the light source, the red and blue diode lasers are already small enough, but the green lasers are still getting a makeover.

Apparently, if the green ones can be made as small as the red ones, then the sugar cube-sized projector will become a reality. Next stop, thrill your lecture audience by projecting slides directly from your PDA. File this under "strange but true."

(Read via The Raw Feed)