The Beam Projector Makes A Case For Casting

It’s smart, small, and can be screwed into light sockets for cord-less projection.

Despite manufacturers best efforts, projectors have never really broken out of the boardroom. They inhabit the same wouldn’t-that-be-cool space in our mind alongside owning a bar or finally dusting off the old café racer. But no matter how much they might improve at-home movie-viewing, they never really seem worth it when we consider wall space. The Beam, however, makes a convincing case for one. While it resembles a hanging lamp you might spot in a creative director’s loft apartment, the device is a covert media player meant to project content wherever you please. Running a version of Android, the Beam broadcasts apps and streams media via Airplay or Miracast. It projects up to 854 x 480 resolution at 100 lumens, which isn’t the most powerful, but its unique design let you screw it into any free socket making it easy arrange in any apartment. It can also work in tandem with other items like Bluetooth speakers and be scheduled to perform time-based tasks, like, displaying stockmarket feeds at the same time every day or project Hulu when you come home. It’s reached full funding on kickstarter and should be available soon; we’ve already placed a pre-order. Now if only we could find a location for our bar. [$350; beamlabsinc.com]

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