This Futuristic Watch Sports the World’s Smallest HD Projector

Freakin’ lasers.

I admit it, I wasn’t expecting this watch to wow me like it did. I knew I was about to see a “wearable projector” as I headed into the press conference held in a little side room at the Venetian at #CES2016.  So I figured it just shined the time on your hand—impressive but not earth shattering. Then the folks at ASU used their Cast One watch to throw a five-foot 720p video up onto the wall.

It actually worked pretty well, instantly marking it as one of the coolest demos I’d see at the show. This promotional video gives you an idea of what I saw in that dark room.

Since it was a press conference, they went on to say that it does everything in the world a watch could possibly do and all other previous attempts at wrist-borne tech are crap by comparison. Notwithstanding all the marketing hyperbole, it does look like it’d incorporate tons of innovative and practical features.

The big caveat is that it’d have to strike a pristine balance—for instance, between having enough processor speed and battery life to do what it needs to for long enough to make it worth it. (Would you actually watch full movies or just use it as a slick tool for extending your phone’s screen in quick little bursts?)

Supposedly it’ll be available in China later this year. We’ll see if/when it works in practice. In the meantime, kudos to them for catching us off-guard and presenting some awesome sounding technology that looks like it’d be game-changing.

Who knows, maybe next year they’ll show a version that projects 3-D holograms? 

The robot apocalypse is nigh.