The tiny Instagram projector (opens in new tab)

Non-mobile link:

http://www.amazon.com/Optoma-EP-PK-101-Pico-Pocket-Projector...

Optoma EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector ($114.99)

I can only see myself every buying one pico-projector for myself.

I can see myself buying several of these - both projectors and discs - as presents and gifts.

I bet these folk will get a way bigger profit margin on my purchases than the projector peeps will too.

If you're going to get a pico projector, do yourself a favor and grab one of the MPros from 3M; I reviewed a few when these were in vogue and the Optomas (edit: actually, not those but the laser-based Microvision PicoP ones) had a shimmery effect due to their projection method. The MPros cost a bit more and are a bit chunkier, but still fit in your laptop bag easily and produce a better image IMHO:

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Pocket-Projector-MPro160/dp/B00452V...

You are dismissing the emotional factor; I think this is a fantastic gift. It is most certainly easier to send someone a free "e-card", so why are good old "dumb" paper greeting cards still in vogue?

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.

The really cool thing about this tiny film projector is, once you've bought it and a couple wheels, you have an excellent, thoughtful gift. Buying someone a pico projector and suggesting they use it to display those special Thailand pictures just doesn't have the same meaning.

    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.

I've also mentioned this to people, however, not jokingly but in all seriousness. I think it might have something to do with engaging the senses. The more senses you can uniquely engage, the stronger your connection to something will be. Vinyl records, for example, are doing nothing but exploding. I have all of my music in digital format for listening on the go, at work, etc., but there's something special about pulling a record off the shelf and out of the sleeve, setting it on the turntable and dropping the needle on it. It's more work, but you're rewarded handsomely for that work.

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/. 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

Lomo did pretty well for a while.

Instagram itself shows people want broken analogue style things.

Digital photoframes + instagram style filters might be popular?

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.

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. :)

You can kind of see in the third video here:

http://projecteo.tumblr.com/post/49179591369/projecteo-instr...

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.

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)

The company, Mint Digital, also prints Instagram to magnets - StickyGram http://mintdigital.com/portfolio

Just better marketing really. Obviously there isn't any technical reason why it is

Lol, true, true. Everyone who buys one of these things will end up sending them to a landfill soon enough.

ahaha. Kinda true.

This is a very cool app. Carousels always remind me of this poignant bit from mad men: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

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.

That's exactly what they've built, look at 'Create a wheel' - you can get new ones for $8.99

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

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