6 ms·

The tiny Instagram projector

70 points by kumar303 13y ago

ziko 13y ago
Always good to see a new physical product on the market. All is well but I decided not to part with $35 for this product - simply because 9 photos are there forever and you can't change that. If you had a web interface where 10 of your photos could be selected and then projected, now that's what I'd be willing to pay for. I'm sure it'll be a success though.
- r4vik 13y ago
  That's exactly what they've built, look at 'Create a wheel' - you can get new ones for $8.99
- relix 13y ago
  I'm not so sure it'll be a success. The price point of $9 for 9 pictures is very high. It's understandably so considering the effort involved, but as a pure value-for-money trade I feel it's too high. A lot of of their targetmarket will probably try it out but it might soon die out after the novelty wears off.
hahla 13y ago
This is awesome, the companies other projects look cool too [1]. I remember seeing their other project foldable.me on kickstarter, I wonder why they didn't take that route this time? [1] http://mintdigital.com/portfolio http://mintdigital.com/portfolio
ck2 13y ago
Very cute. But very 1970s? I mean copy picture to usb stick, put stick into TV or DVD player?
- ihuman 13y ago
  It is arguable that, with the filters and square photos, instagram is also trying to emulate the past.
bennesvig 13y ago
Love the idea. I bet having a video showing people what it looks like in use would increase conversions by a significant number.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  Or it'd send conversions through the floor if it looks like crap (tiny cheap battery-powered LED bulb...)
jack-r-abbit 13y ago
Why Instagram only? Their blog links to a Kickstarter update that explains that, but it is for Backers only.
- workbench 13y ago
  Just better marketing really. Obviously there isn't any technical reason why it is
- acomjean 13y ago
  Probably because Instagram has a third party api that allows printing and other services to access photos easily. And as pointed out instgrammers are not "pixel peepers" so a low quality projector image is not going cause complaints. (I am a pretty happy instagram user at acomjean)
- ryanwatkins 13y ago
  The company, Mint Digital, also prints Instagram to magnets - StickyGram http://mintdigital.com/portfolio http://mintdigital.com/portfolio
  - jack-r-abbit 13y ago
    That still does not explain why they chose to offer their services only to Instagram users when accepting a pic directly uploaded to their site(s) is a fairly easy task. They suggest a work around of just creating an Instagram account. But I don't want an Instagram account. OTOH, I don't want their projector either. A magnet I could use... but I can get those lots of places that don't require an Instagram account.
deelowe 13y ago
I will be reminded of how completely out of touch I am with reality these days if this does well. That said, I somewhat jokingly predicted this trend previously. With the explosive growth of digital information and electronics, I think we'll see a renaissance of analog, mechanical, and otherwise "physical" things. Perhaps sometimes people don't want everything to be electronic/digital? Example: digital photo frames.
- DanBC 13y ago
  Lomo did pretty well for a while. Instagram itself shows people want broken analogue style things. Digital photoframes + instagram style filters might be popular?
- jedahan 13y ago
  We are using this as part of a physical escape-the-room game. Its a great prop, good price, and has a hidden puzzle whose meaning is in the images. Much more interesting than a screen with a slideshow, and enforces order which a bunch of printed photos wouldn't do.
  - deelowe 13y ago
    Sure. And, reading my comment again, I can see how it might be seen as a little negative. To be clear, I think this is an excellent idea. I believe the pendulum has probably swung a bit too far in the "everything must be digital" direction and people are starting to crave analog alternatives again. To me, this sounds bizarre, being a child of the 80s and all, but I can see how this trend totally makes sense for most people.
- mtrn 13y ago
  At Hackday Paris in 2011 (48h hackathon), the winners among 49 teams were a group of three, who made listening to music a more haptic experience again. They called it NoiseBox, but they seem to have abandoned it: http://noisebox.herokuapp.com/ http://noisebox.herokuapp.com/. It was a cute hack and won, because it combined hardware, software and some magic. I liked it very much, but then, why not just go straight to vinyl for the experience? See also: UK vinyl sales up 78 per cent in 2013: http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/69832 http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/69832
bryans 13y ago
I have no doubt that, given the proper marketing, the cute factor will make this a trendy gift for one holiday, either Christmas or Valentine's. But it's definitely one of those neat little things that could get its 15 minutes and, for a bunch of folks, be hidden in a box somewhere as a small reminder of the weird shit we did along the way.
DGCA 13y ago
That's not a tiny Instagram projector, that's just a tiny projector.
1337biz 13y ago
I would love to have something like this for doing impromptu presentations. But unfortunately I do not hold many presentations under a blanket. Seriously, how usable is this in daylight? Or is this just some 10 sec "ha, that's nice and now what?" gimmick?
untog 13y ago
I'd be a lot more inclined to believe it if I saw photos of the images being projected on a wall. Somehow I don't believe that tiny projector will look too good.
- brandon272 13y ago
  I very much doubt that the projector is of high quality or that the projected images would look very good. But if you're an Instagram user you're probably not extraordinarily picky when it comes to viewing high quality, high resolution images anyway. :)
  - untog 13y ago
    I'd say that Instagram is perfect for its medium. The photos look great on my phone. They even look good on my tablet. But blown up? Perhaps not.
- mlindley 13y ago
  You can kind of see in the third video here: http://projecteo.tumblr.com/post/49179591369/projecteo-instructions http://projecteo.tumblr.com/post/49179591369/projecteo-instr...
- nsfmc 13y ago
  i picked one of these up as a kickstarter backer and i was also 100% skeptical of the quality, but it's actually quite good and, more than anything, endearing. the caveat of course is that the size and scale of the projector means you're not going to project from yards away, my best results were about a foot and a half away in a dark room, but at that scale, i was impressed at how well the photos resolved.
noonespecial 13y ago
The really cool thing about how digital technology has changed the world is that by the time you buy this dumb plastic toy and just 9 of those little wheels, you could buy this pico-projector and project all of the pictures you'll ever take. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001L4L7AQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=1369844086&sr=8-8&pi=SL75 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001L4L7AQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=...
- harpastum 13y ago
  Non-mobile link: http://www.amazon.com/Optoma-EP-PK-101-Pico-Pocket-Projector/dp/B001L4L7AQ http://www.amazon.com/Optoma-EP-PK-101-Pico-Pocket-Projector... Optoma EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector ($114.99)
  - noonespecial 13y ago
    Much better. Thanks. On my phone, on the road.
    - mattdeboard 13y ago
      Hopefully not driving
  - zimpenfish 13y ago
    Or a mere £191 if you're in the UK. Wait, what?
  - bradbatt 13y ago
    Thanks. I never understand why websites don't do this automatically - especially big ones like Amazon and YouTube. When visiting a URL and they detect that you are on mobile, they send you over to the mobile URL. Why not do the opposite when they detect you aren't? In fact, why have a separate URL at all? They should be able to serve up the same content from the same URL for web or mobile or whatever device.
- onetwofoursix 13y ago
  Except it's three times more expensive. And anyway, I really don't think guys at Projecteo are aiming at those in the market for a portable projector. Yeah it is a borderline toy I guess, but that doesn't mean it's 'dumb'. Seems cool as a quick little gift for someone, it has that charm/novelty factor that everyday people will like. No need to dismiss it solely because it's technically inferior to a serious $130+ device, they're both aimed at totally different people.
bluthru 13y ago
Some people work hard to reduce waste and pollution in society. Others choose to do this.
- guiomie 13y ago
  ahaha. Kinda true.
- meraku 13y ago
  Lol, true, true. Everyone who buys one of these things will end up sending them to a landfill soon enough.
  - xyzzy123 13y ago
    One of the phrases that changed my world view was "waste in transit". You know those dollar stores full of crap toys, plastic bibs and bobs, screwdrivers that will strip after two uses, etc? All those things are on their way to the landfill, they just happen to briefly pass through someone's house first...
LandoCalrissian 13y ago
I think I'm getting hipster overload with this idea.
alvesjnr 13y ago
This is as much cute as useless.
mseebach 13y ago
I once had half a plan to do make a Kickstarter campaign for a portable vinyl recorder (dictaphone style, except wildly impractical) to troll hipsters. I wonder if this is similar.
chops 13y ago
It's interesting the throwback trend to the old slide projectors. A friend of mine has an app for iPad and AppleTV that mimics the old slide projectors called "The Carousel" (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carousel-slide-projector-for/id572401095?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carousel-slide-projector-for...). Basically, it uses the iPad like an old slide projector (complete with the chunk chunk sounds, visuals, and controls), and then "projects" the slides to AppleTV (which is then made to look like a projector screen). And I believe it also streams the pictures from Instagram, but I'm not positive. Screenshot: https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/553590_359166274177153_712695225_n.jpg https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/553590_359166274...
- nairteashop 13y ago
  This is a very cool app. Carousels always remind me of this poignant bit from mad men: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus
  - chops 13y ago
    That scene was actually the inspiration for the app (if you notice in the photo I posted, it's actually the first image from the Mad Men presentation).
Turing_Machine 13y ago
How about View-Master format? :-) Actually, that's not a bad idea. Anaglyphic or polarized 3D would be cool, too.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
momchenr 13y ago
I think the traffic that this post is generating is totally throwing off their launch_email campaign stats... The link above is to: http://www.getprojecteo.com/?utm_source=Projecteo+site+sign+ups&utm_campaign=cf223d797b-launch_email5_29_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7b9c6bc380-cf223d797b-72942813 http://www.getprojecteo.com/?utm_source=Projecteo+site+sign+...

70 points by kumar303 13y ago

ziko 13y ago

Always good to see a new physical product on the market. All is well but I decided not to part with $35 for this product - simply because 9 photos are there forever and you can't change that. If you had a web interface where 10 of your photos could be selected and then projected, now that's what I'd be willing to pay for. I'm sure it'll be a success though.

r4vik 13y ago
That's exactly what they've built, look at 'Create a wheel' - you can get new ones for $8.99
relix 13y ago
I'm not so sure it'll be a success. The price point of $9 for 9 pictures is very high. It's understandably so considering the effort involved, but as a pure value-for-money trade I feel it's too high. A lot of of their targetmarket will probably try it out but it might soon die out after the novelty wears off.

hahla 13y ago

This is awesome, the companies other projects look cool too [1]. I remember seeing their other project foldable.me on kickstarter, I wonder why they didn't take that route this time? [1] http://mintdigital.com/portfolio http://mintdigital.com/portfolio

ck2 13y ago

Very cute. But very 1970s? I mean copy picture to usb stick, put stick into TV or DVD player?

ihuman 13y ago
It is arguable that, with the filters and square photos, instagram is also trying to emulate the past.

bennesvig 13y ago

Love the idea. I bet having a video showing people what it looks like in use would increase conversions by a significant number.

kalleboo 13y ago
Or it'd send conversions through the floor if it looks like crap (tiny cheap battery-powered LED bulb...)

jack-r-abbit 13y ago

Why Instagram only? Their blog links to a Kickstarter update that explains that, but it is for Backers only.

workbench 13y ago
Just better marketing really. Obviously there isn't any technical reason why it is
acomjean 13y ago
Probably because Instagram has a third party api that allows printing and other services to access photos easily. And as pointed out instgrammers are not "pixel peepers" so a low quality projector image is not going cause complaints. (I am a pretty happy instagram user at acomjean)
ryanwatkins 13y ago
The company, Mint Digital, also prints Instagram to magnets - StickyGram http://mintdigital.com/portfolio http://mintdigital.com/portfolio
- jack-r-abbit 13y ago
  That still does not explain why they chose to offer their services only to Instagram users when accepting a pic directly uploaded to their site(s) is a fairly easy task. They suggest a work around of just creating an Instagram account. But I don't want an Instagram account. OTOH, I don't want their projector either. A magnet I could use... but I can get those lots of places that don't require an Instagram account.

deelowe 13y ago

I will be reminded of how completely out of touch I am with reality these days if this does well. That said, I somewhat jokingly predicted this trend previously. With the explosive growth of digital information and electronics, I think we'll see a renaissance of analog, mechanical, and otherwise "physical" things. Perhaps sometimes people don't want everything to be electronic/digital? Example: digital photo frames.

DanBC 13y ago
Lomo did pretty well for a while. Instagram itself shows people want broken analogue style things. Digital photoframes + instagram style filters might be popular?
jedahan 13y ago
We are using this as part of a physical escape-the-room game. Its a great prop, good price, and has a hidden puzzle whose meaning is in the images. Much more interesting than a screen with a slideshow, and enforces order which a bunch of printed photos wouldn't do.
- deelowe 13y ago
  Sure. And, reading my comment again, I can see how it might be seen as a little negative. To be clear, I think this is an excellent idea. I believe the pendulum has probably swung a bit too far in the "everything must be digital" direction and people are starting to crave analog alternatives again. To me, this sounds bizarre, being a child of the 80s and all, but I can see how this trend totally makes sense for most people.
mtrn 13y ago
At Hackday Paris in 2011 (48h hackathon), the winners among 49 teams were a group of three, who made listening to music a more haptic experience again. They called it NoiseBox, but they seem to have abandoned it: http://noisebox.herokuapp.com/ http://noisebox.herokuapp.com/. It was a cute hack and won, because it combined hardware, software and some magic. I liked it very much, but then, why not just go straight to vinyl for the experience? See also: UK vinyl sales up 78 per cent in 2013: http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/69832 http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/69832

bryans 13y ago

I have no doubt that, given the proper marketing, the cute factor will make this a trendy gift for one holiday, either Christmas or Valentine's. But it's definitely one of those neat little things that could get its 15 minutes and, for a bunch of folks, be hidden in a box somewhere as a small reminder of the weird shit we did along the way.

DGCA 13y ago

That's not a tiny Instagram projector, that's just a tiny projector.

1337biz 13y ago

I would love to have something like this for doing impromptu presentations. But unfortunately I do not hold many presentations under a blanket. Seriously, how usable is this in daylight? Or is this just some 10 sec "ha, that's nice and now what?" gimmick?

untog 13y ago

I'd be a lot more inclined to believe it if I saw photos of the images being projected on a wall. Somehow I don't believe that tiny projector will look too good.

brandon272 13y ago
I very much doubt that the projector is of high quality or that the projected images would look very good. But if you're an Instagram user you're probably not extraordinarily picky when it comes to viewing high quality, high resolution images anyway. :)
- untog 13y ago
  I'd say that Instagram is perfect for its medium. The photos look great on my phone. They even look good on my tablet. But blown up? Perhaps not.
mlindley 13y ago
You can kind of see in the third video here: http://projecteo.tumblr.com/post/49179591369/projecteo-instructions http://projecteo.tumblr.com/post/49179591369/projecteo-instr...
nsfmc 13y ago
i picked one of these up as a kickstarter backer and i was also 100% skeptical of the quality, but it's actually quite good and, more than anything, endearing. the caveat of course is that the size and scale of the projector means you're not going to project from yards away, my best results were about a foot and a half away in a dark room, but at that scale, i was impressed at how well the photos resolved.

noonespecial 13y ago

The really cool thing about how digital technology has changed the world is that by the time you buy this dumb plastic toy and just 9 of those little wheels, you could buy this pico-projector and project all of the pictures you'll ever take. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001L4L7AQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=1369844086&sr=8-8&pi=SL75 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001L4L7AQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=...

harpastum 13y ago
Non-mobile link: http://www.amazon.com/Optoma-EP-PK-101-Pico-Pocket-Projector/dp/B001L4L7AQ http://www.amazon.com/Optoma-EP-PK-101-Pico-Pocket-Projector... Optoma EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector ($114.99)
- noonespecial 13y ago
  Much better. Thanks. On my phone, on the road.
  - mattdeboard 13y ago
    Hopefully not driving
- zimpenfish 13y ago
  Or a mere £191 if you're in the UK. Wait, what?
- bradbatt 13y ago
  Thanks. I never understand why websites don't do this automatically - especially big ones like Amazon and YouTube. When visiting a URL and they detect that you are on mobile, they send you over to the mobile URL. Why not do the opposite when they detect you aren't? In fact, why have a separate URL at all? They should be able to serve up the same content from the same URL for web or mobile or whatever device.
onetwofoursix 13y ago
Except it's three times more expensive. And anyway, I really don't think guys at Projecteo are aiming at those in the market for a portable projector. Yeah it is a borderline toy I guess, but that doesn't mean it's 'dumb'. Seems cool as a quick little gift for someone, it has that charm/novelty factor that everyday people will like. No need to dismiss it solely because it's technically inferior to a serious $130+ device, they're both aimed at totally different people.

bluthru 13y ago

Some people work hard to reduce waste and pollution in society. Others choose to do this.

guiomie 13y ago
ahaha. Kinda true.
meraku 13y ago
Lol, true, true. Everyone who buys one of these things will end up sending them to a landfill soon enough.
- xyzzy123 13y ago
  One of the phrases that changed my world view was "waste in transit". You know those dollar stores full of crap toys, plastic bibs and bobs, screwdrivers that will strip after two uses, etc? All those things are on their way to the landfill, they just happen to briefly pass through someone's house first...

LandoCalrissian 13y ago

I think I'm getting hipster overload with this idea.

alvesjnr 13y ago

This is as much cute as useless.

mseebach 13y ago

I once had half a plan to do make a Kickstarter campaign for a portable vinyl recorder (dictaphone style, except wildly impractical) to troll hipsters. I wonder if this is similar.

chops 13y ago

It's interesting the throwback trend to the old slide projectors. A friend of mine has an app for iPad and AppleTV that mimics the old slide projectors called "The Carousel" (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carousel-slide-projector-for/id572401095?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carousel-slide-projector-for...). Basically, it uses the iPad like an old slide projector (complete with the chunk chunk sounds, visuals, and controls), and then "projects" the slides to AppleTV (which is then made to look like a projector screen). And I believe it also streams the pictures from Instagram, but I'm not positive. Screenshot: https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/553590_359166274177153_712695225_n.jpg https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/553590_359166274...

nairteashop 13y ago
This is a very cool app. Carousels always remind me of this poignant bit from mad men: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus
- chops 13y ago
  That scene was actually the inspiration for the app (if you notice in the photo I posted, it's actually the first image from the Mad Men presentation).

Turing_Machine 13y ago

How about View-Master format? :-) Actually, that's not a bad idea. Anaglyphic or polarized 3D would be cool, too.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

momchenr 13y ago

I think the traffic that this post is generating is totally throwing off their launch_email campaign stats... The link above is to: http://www.getprojecteo.com/?utm_source=Projecteo+site+sign+ups&utm_campaign=cf223d797b-launch_email5_29_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7b9c6bc380-cf223d797b-72942813 http://www.getprojecteo.com/?utm_source=Projecteo+site+sign+...