Awesome Stuff: On Display

from the look-and-see dept

For this week's awesome stuff, we're talking all about monitors, projectors and display technology.

Beam

My first thought about Beam — a compact projector that plugs into any light socket and is controlled by your smartphone — was that it's a great idea. My second thought was that it can't possibly be bright enough. But, refreshingly, the video and pictures of the device in action don't make any attempt to deceive on this front: the projections are shown to be rather dim, but still visible, which is the best you could expect from 100 lumens. It's limiting, but it doesn't make it useless, and in the right circumstances for the right applications, Beam could be a very cool solution.

Displio

In a world of rapid device convergence, there's still something very attractive about the idea of dedicated single-purpose units like Displio: a small, configurable wi-fi display that can monitor anything from the weather to an eBay auction. Sure, you could get a smartphone widget or a desktop screensaver to do that job, but would it really feel the same? Some people already do this, at a high cost — I recently visited an office where every conference room was managed by a separate wall-mounted iPad with the sole purpose of scheduling meetings. The Displio looks like it can do that job for $100 a pop.

ScreenStick

This one's not a display, but a display accessory. The rise of mobile gaming has brought with it a revolutionary wave of innovative game design tailored for touch screens, but it's also brought a slew of games that struggle to force traditional control schemes onto these radically different devices. The most common and frustrating of these is the simulated on-screen joystick, which never feels natural and puts a huge cognitive barrier between the player and total immersion. The ScreenStick is not the first attempt to solve that problem by attaching a true joystick right to your touchscreen, but it is one of the nicest designs and best prices I've seen, perhaps capable of becoming a mainstream accessory among the mobile gamers of the world.

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Filed Under: awesome stuff, display, gaming, projector


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2015 @ 10:33am

    Nostalgia feeling when I saw the ScreenStick.

    Anyone remember these? (arrow key joystick)
    http://www.instructables.com/answers/does-anyone-know-how-to-build-a-manual-arrow-keys-/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2015 @ 12:17pm

    Beam is overpriced beyond belief. Screen Stick is refreshingly affordable. What is it with crowdfunding and price gouging?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2015 @ 1:53pm

    unfortunately, kickstarter has turned into a scammers paradise with absolutely no oversight by KS and no responsibilities by the devs to the backers.. the name of the game is to talk a good game and get a crapload of money then get past the 90 day mark so backers cant get their money back..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2015 @ 2:06am

    Re:

    is there no legal way to make the company actually produce something? An investment (if you could call it that) where you have all the risk and no return or share of the company sounds pretty bad.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Leigh Beadon (profile), 22 Feb 2015 @ 2:58am

    Re:

    I dunno. I've backed lots of things on Kickstarter, and while most of them did end up taking longer to produce than planned, I've never been "scammed" by someone who was trying to take the money and run.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Leigh Beadon (profile), 22 Feb 2015 @ 2:59am

    Re: Re:

    (I have however noticed that a lot of impatient backers start accusing project creators of being scammers and criminals the moment delivery is a month or two behind schedule)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2015 @ 7:56am

    Re: Re:

    Kickstarter projects aren't usually about investing. Backers have no stake, controlling or profit sharing or otherwise. Crowdfunding comes primarily in the "I have a thing I want to do but I don't want to pay for it (or don't want to limit it to what I can afford)" variety and the "Hi there, I'm a marketing/sales rep from a company that wants to sell X. Pre-order X for 15% off the $399.99 eventual sale price now!" variety.

    I have seen cool crowdfunded projects and pre-ordered stuff from them. I've never invested a cent into one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Rekrul, 23 Feb 2015 @ 5:27am

    Is anyone else bothered by the way smartphones are now being treated as a universal remote, to the point that you can't even use new a lot of new devices if you don't have a smartphone?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Leigh Beadon (profile), 23 Feb 2015 @ 7:46am

    Re:

    Yeah, I know what you mean. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense to utilize the smartphone for that purpose -- on the other hand, it's a little frustrating when there is no alternative. Especially if it's a network device that absolutely should be controllable by desktop software or a firmware interface in the device itself.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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