A picture in your palm

(PopSci.com) -- Texas Instruments's Pico Projector is small enough to fit in a cell phone (albeit a chunky one, if the prototype we saw is any indication) but bright enough to shine a 15-inch-wide image even in a well-lit room.

TI first showed the device at last year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and it's made only one public appearance since then, said TI representatives who busted it out a small reception in New York last night.

Seeing really is believing with this tech. Point the Pico at any even vaguely flat surface -- a wall, someone's back, the palm of your hand -- and it's movie time.

The model I tried works by shining red, green, and blue lasers on a tiny digital micromirror device -- the same kind of chip that powers DLP movie-theater and living room projectors and rear-projection TVs. A new version in development uses light emitting diodes to save money, power and heat. Good thing, too, because the Pico I held last year made a loud whirring sound, courtesy of the cooling fan.

So when can you have your own Pico? It will likely first appear in a cell phone, and probably next year, said TI representative Kateri Gemperle. Will the first cell phone maker break the news at CES in early January? "We don't think a manufacturer would let CES go by without announcing something," said Gemperle. E-mail to a friend

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