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Posts Tagged ‘Target Stores’

Tiny mirrors fuel smartphones with video projectors

Two new gadgets debuting this week show off the video projection capabilities of the digital light processing chips made by Texas Instruments.

The LG eXpo smartphone has a TI-based DLP Pico projector attachment, allowing the $179 phone to show movies, videos or a slide show on a blank wall or white surface.

Brightboxe also introduced a multimedia/gaming DLP projector in Target stores in Southern California. The projector works with game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii. The $199 projector has a native 480p DVD resolution and a 500:1 contrast ratio. You never need to replace its lamp as you do with other projectors. It can show images ranging from 60 inches to 100 inches.

Both devices use the TI technology, which consists of chips with millions of micro-machined mirrors on top of them that reflect light to create sharp video imagery. TI engineer Larry Hornbeck invented DLP in 1987. The chips contain 2 million mirrors, each of which is a fifth the size of a human hair. The mirrors are set on hinges and can switch on or off several thousand times per second.

The 1.8-ounce LG phone can project a crystal-clear image up to 60 inches in size. That means you can use your phone to share pictures, videos, and even make presentations to small groups.

These devices are engineering marvels and could generate a new market for TI’s DLP chips, which used to form the backbone of rear-projection TV sets. But flat-panel TVs have pretty much killed off that market. Here’s a link to a video of the Brightboxe product.

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Livescribe expands its line-up of Pulse smartpens for digital writing

It may seem like an uphill battle, but Livescribe is still trying to replace the 99-cent ballpoint pen with a $199 computerized smartpen known as the Pulse. And it’s not doing such a bad job at it.

Today, the company is launching a couple of new models that will expand its line-up of Pulse pens, and it is also expanding its sales reach by signing up Best Buy, Apple Stores, and Staples as new retailers. The pen is already sold through Amazon.com and Target stores.

The appeal of Livescribe’s digital pen is that it can record lectures while you take notes and it can translate your handwriting into text. Livescribe has a built-in computer and flash memory. With that, it can store audio and handwriting and synchronize between the two. If you put your pen on some notes that you have written during a lecture, the optical reader in the pen will detect the words. The pen can then play back the audio that you were hearing as you wrote down those words. That’s a terrific tool for college students listening to their professors. You don’t have to worry about missing something that the speaker said. That’s just one of many benefits that come from the digital capture and recall system that is built into the smartpen and its accompanying smart paper. Other benefits: you can highlight some words and it will translate them into another language.

The company will now offer Pulse pens with 2 gigabytes ($169.95) or 4 gigabytes ($199.95) of flash memory. The latter can store more than 400 hours of audio.

For $249.95, Livescribe is also offering the Pro-Pack bundle, a new option for the business professional. The Pro-Pack includes the 4GB Pulse smartpen in a black color, an A5 size starter notebook, a leather carrying case, handwriting to text transcription software, and the new Pro Charging Cradle.

Livescribe says it has been pleased with the sales of its pens. The company won’t say exactly how much it has sold since launching in the spring of 2008, but it says the numbers are well into the six figures. By no means is that an outstanding performance. But it certainly looks like it’s enough to keep Livescribe in the game as it tries to educate more people about the benefits of spending lots of money on a pen.

The company was founded in 2007 and has 70 employees. Over its history, the company has raised $48.8 million. Investors include Aeris Capital, Lionhart Investments, and Vantage Point Venture Partners. There are related smart pens on the market from Leapfrog Enterprises, but those pens are aimed at much younger users. Livescribe targets its smart pens at college students and adults.

Later this year, Livescribe plans to launch an application store, much like Apple’s iPhone AppStore, where users can download apps related to entertainment, education or productivity. Livescribe encourages partners to create third-party applications for the pens.

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