Recently in Inventions Category

Imagine a tiny mobile phone with a 40 inch screen! I've been saying for years now that this is the future not only of mobile phones, but of mobile computing in general.

I never predicted we would have it upon us so soon though: 3M have just unveiled a projector about an inch wide that can project a 40 inch image at VGA resoulution! (640x480). And apparently we'll be seeing them in devices as soon as early 2008!

Here's a video showing pretty decent picture quality in a lit room:

Now that we have a decent output mechanism, we only need a decent way of inputting data. Laser Projection Keyboards are cool, but not sure if I could live without good 'ole clickety-clack of a proper keyboard.

I found myself at a braai last weekend with a large group of fellow Generation X friends spending half our time in the swimming pool and the other half (gasp!) playing with the Nintendo Wii, swinging around "Wiimotes" like mad playing tennis, pool, baseball and so forth.

One of the really fun games was a simple little cartoon fishing game. Up to four people could play, but we only had two WiiMotes, so I tried to rig up my cellphone as a Wiimote after a few beers. Just like the Wiimote my Nokia has sound and vibration, but no luck getting it to work together by randomly swinging it around and pushing buttons.

So then I thought it would be pretty cool to run some Wii games directly on my cellphone rather than having to carry a console and TV around with me when I feel like a "Wii".

An iPhone already has a motion detector built-in, so it can do all the things a Wiimote can do! It even has WiFi so you can have some quick and easy "Wii Play Parties"

Now just imagine people riding to work on the tube swinging their iPhones around as they try to catch some fish...

See the picture below of my new "invention". I call it the iPii