Those ultra-compact pico-projectors that are all the rage these days may well have made the transition from science fiction to reality but the hard truth is that while they’re extremely portable, pocket-able even, their projection results are underwhelming except in the most ideal of environments.

So you couldn’t really blame me when I received the new HP Notebook Projection Companion projector with some scepticism. Just look at it — this thing is downright tiny. At 3.6in by 1.6in by 4.4in and a little over 400g, it fits in any laptop bag and most suit/jacket pockets. It’s nice looking too, with its brushed aluminum shell and petite design, it got its fair share of whistles when people saw it. But critically, does the size compromise the projection quality?

In most senses, no. Sure, this baby isn’t meant to entertain rows of viewers in a big theatre. For its intended purpose — presentations to small groups — the projector capably projects a bright 15-in to 60-in 858 x 600 pixels image from a distance as far away as 8.5ft, with pretty decent colour reproduction to boot.

Instead of a bulb, this uses an LED light source that HP estimates will last about 10,000 hours, and the brightness at 100 lumens is impressive for a projector its size. I quite like the complement of accessories too — a nice carrying case, a tripod (essential for use) and a VGA cable. If anything, it lacks a battery for really portable use. It’s priced fairly well for folks who travel a lot and need a capable yet portable projector at their disposal.

The right route

Even for home use, current gen wireless-G routers just don’t have the capacity for home video streaming and the like, and faster routers supporting the latest Wireless-N standard are fast becoming the standard. Linksys, a sub-brand of Cisco, has launched the WRT610N Ultra RangePlus Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router and the WRT160NL Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link. Phew…quite a mouthful, aren’t they?

Not to say they’re all talk. The WRT610N supports all manners of network security, including WEP and WPA, and even allows you to connect a hard drive via the USB port to share your data over the local network. You also get 5 wired network ports which run at Gigabit Ethernet speed with a data transfer of upto 1,000 Megabits per second. Setup is really easy, but more importantly, this router supports access of a dual band variety. Which means it lets you use both the 2.4-GHz and the 5-GHz bands for running your network, so that slower devices like iPods and older laptops can connect on the 2.4GHz band, leaving the 5-GHz band network free for streaming video to your PlayStation 3 or media player, without either network slowing the other down. Range is pretty fantastic, and you get full-house coverage.

While the 610N is more mainstream, the WRT160NL is meant for those for whom having a version of Linux on their router matters (hint: not most of us). For those interested in messing around, this lets you install applications like BitTorrent downloaders and add support for USB printers and 3G modems for Internet access etc. Outside of this, the 160NL is a pretty standard Wireless-N router, with the added benefits of the external antennae and USB drive support. It lacks the gigabit port of the 610N, which may bother some desktop users.

• Price: WRT160NL: Rs 7, 499; WRT610N:
Rs 10,999 (matching dual band USB network adaptor:
Rs 4,499) lURL: http://bit.ly/9LS5Xt

Go play

Archos, long the benchmark for portable media players, are making a play for the red-hot tablet market with a series of Android-based tablets. There’s something for everybody, with devices ranging from small personal-media-player-like devices with 2.8-in and 3.2-in screens to higher-end 4.3-in, 7-in and 10.1-in tablets. These will ship with the latest Android 2.2 “Froyo” version, while only some of them have the more-touch-friendly capacitive touchscreens and front-facing cameras. They lack the all important applications, but make up in media playback capabilities.

• URL: http://www.archos.com/
• Price: From $100 to $300