Remember that nifty little gadget from last year, the external LCD projector that can display images from a mobile phone? Well, Texas Instruments took the idea one step further by creating a cellphone with the projector built right into the device: the Pico Projector.

The device is still in its early stages, and a prototype was demonstrated at a Pepcom event in New York. The actual projected image from the device looks like it still needs some improvement but it's already looking to be pretty nifty.

No more suffering small screens on your mobile phones, and judging from the demo in the video uploaded by Popular Science, it looks like it might make a good substitute for a portable media device as well.

Apple's new hobby is being tailed by other hobbies, and the iPhone might be more the gaming platform than Apple would have originally conceptualized. A search at Google Code, a project site not very different from SourceForge, revealed a project entitled "iphone-sdl-mame," which was created to port SDL MAME to the iPhone.

 

MAME, or Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, provides a machine the capability of emulating arcade game hardware using just software. It has been ported to several platforms already, be it proprietary or open platforms. Personal computers are a favorite target platform, but even consoles have had their share of MAME ports.

But now, it appears even the multi-capable iPhone will get to emulate arcade games, although issues of control interfacing and performance will undoubtedly come to mind. Not to worry, however: the project hasn't touched that stage yet, and the MAME prototype is still 'coming out of its shell' - in a manner of speaking.

As of press time, only kasiersoze staffs the project. Here's to hoping other MAME encoders appear from the Internet undergrowth and lend a helping hand.

Boy Genius Report has landed an exclusive prototype for the yet unreleased Motorola Z9. Although iPhone users will most likely stick to their guns, those of us who don't might want to take a gander at some place else.

Thin and sexy like the rest of its generation, the Z9 is now a slider, which seems to be a growing trend with Motorola phones. Sporting a nice big screen sort of like the RAZR2 series, the Z9 will have 3G support, a 2 megapixel camera with a built-in flash, Motorola Synergy Os, Live Video Share, and a slot for your microSD.

It's branded by AT&T who has a dedicated browser key on the phone. It also has AT&T firmware and will be compatible with the upcoming Motorola V9 handset. It's not an iPhone, but the Z9's a different kind of sexy.

You may use our Read link below to head on over to BGR's site for more pics.

With Apple's iPhone now out, the Internet rumor mill has turned its attention onto other smartphones. Today we have some interesting - and, please note, unconfirmed - rumors about LG's new Windows Mobile smartphone.

According to Arne Hess of The Unwired, the new LG smartphone is reportedly being readied for "a semi-exclusive cross-European launch in September". The phone will reportedly have Windows Mobile 6 Professional as well as UMTS.

Furthermore, HSDPA support remains unconfirmed along with the smartphone's supported GSM and UMTS bands. The LG Windows Mobile smartphone is also rumored to have Wi-Fi by default, but some carriers may choose not to activate it.

The design will be similar to the LG Prada and will be touchscreen-centric. The final phone will also reportedly not have the joystick or D-pad that the prototype seen at the 3GSM World Congress had.

Someone has finally stepped up to challenge Samsung's claim on the title of world's thinnest LCD, and that someone is... Samsung?

As it turns out, subsidiary Samsung SDI has announced that it has bested its parent company's shortly-held record by a few millimeters. According to The Korea Times, Samsung SDI's LCD comes in at a mere 0.74 millimeters thick, more than enough to push Samsung Electronics' 0.82 mm thick LCD down to second place.

Samsung SDI's new record holder is still in prototype form, and still has a ways to go before it actually finds its way onto phones. The company has already announced that it will make an appearance on their "next-generation phones."

Right now, though, consumers can expect to see Samsung's thicker-yet-still-really-thin 1.9 mm LCD, which will be going into mass production before it winds up on the new Ultra Edition II handsets this spring.

Market Watch reports that technology giant Microsoft has just filed for a gadget that'll most likely be taken as the company's answer to Apple's iPhone.

According to the filing, which was submitted Monday to the Federal Communications Commission, Microsoft and other firms will submit for the agency's approval a prototype of a wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. It describes a wireless device that utilizes OFDM, a technology that can be used to route digital TV and voice calls among devices.

While the FCC filing makes no mention of the Zune, analyst Rob Enderle said that the filing seems to indicate "an internet device or a mobile VoIP phone," that "certainly could be a Zune derivative product." A VoIP-enabled Zune would be greatly different from the iPhone, which is intended for use on cellular networks.

Here's a cool feature for what's to come in mobile tech. Microvision has recently announced the release of their miniature digital projector - that little device on the right. The projector, according to Microvision, is designed to be embedded in future generation cell phones and PDAs, allowing users to beam images of their videos onto a nearby flat screen - like a wall. And to give you guys an idea of the unit's size, that rectangular object beside it is actually a mint chocolate piece.

Since the thing is still a prototype, don't expect to find it in your shops anytime soon. However, for the guys who want a closer look, Microvision will be unveiling this gadget on this week's CES event in Las Vegas. Given the other previous announcements regarding the CES, we're expecting it to be something a tech fan's Nirvana for the next few days.

Still, it would have been cool to see this thing mounted on a PSP or DS, and the possibilities it could mean for modding. Just think - Projector + GPS Pack = Shion's palm pilot from Xenosaga.

IBM, together with the Macronix and Qimonda research team, has demonstrated a device that claims to be the "Flash-killer." Why? Apparently, the prototype storage device is 500 times faster than Flash and uses less than half the power of Flash memory and can be built in super thin form factors.

The prototype would be showing what its got on the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineer's (IEEE) conference in San Francisco which happens this week. For those techies who want details, the IBM thingamajig uses a new Germanium-Antimony semi-conductor alloy in a device with a 3nm by 20nm cross section.

In layman's terms - it is smaller than today's flash and it is something that would take ages to perfect. Aside from that, the 500 time faster than flash memory is also blessed with a less than one-half the power consumption. Commercial availability - 2015

The IBM-Macronix-Qimonda project isn't the only one trying to do this. Samsung is also developing their very own phase-change RAM (PRAM) which is 30 times faster than flash and is targetted for a 2008 release. Intel and ST Microelectronics are doing the same thing and Elpida is targetting for a 2010 start of commercial PRAM production.

Apple's vision of a buttonless world featured a touchscreen mounted on an actuator that served as display, button and touchpad, all in one integrated package. Designer Pilotfish and sensor maker Synaptics have another vision of that buttonless world, a prototype for a cellular phone that maximizes display by deleting the traditional keypad interface (and luckily, none of our writers have to agonize over patent documents to translate into, well, English).

Onyx is really just a display with a sensitive transparent touch screen from Synaptics called "ClearPad" covering its display surface. Just like current touchscreen smartphones, except that the ClearPad is more transparent and will react properly to inputs using the tip of your thumb or finger - current-day touchscreens are not as transparent, and not as sensitive, even to a hard-tipped stylus. Just like touchscreen mobiles, users dial numbers and open and close applications on the Onyx by signs and gestures swiped onto the touchscreen. And a neat feature advertised by Pilotfish and Synaptics is that the Onyx will recognize body parts: answer your phone just by pressing the Onyx against your cheek...as though you were answering the phone.

Come to think of it, we did feature one article before where the future of the mobile phone/PDA/smartphone might be single-handed use, but that was with traditional touchscreen-based mobile OS being retooled for button/d-pad operated smartphones. Could Onyx and its ClearPad be the bridge to the best of both worlds, a one-hand-operated touchscreen mobile? We'd love to get our hands on one when the prototype makes its debut August 21, but that's just a prototype. We'd love to see a commercial model in the market soon [As a sidenote, the ClearPad will be released commercially later this year, so we'll probably see this input tech on more than Onyx soon].