The National Trust’s Dunster Castle in Somerset is notorious for its ghostly goings-on which never fail to spook both visitors and staff. As part of a wider project to bring the Castle to life for new and existing audiences, 20/20 has created an exhibition in the Castle’s Crypt that showcases the ghosts as well as the castle’s history and resident bats.

For this project 20/20 co-ordinated all the interpretation elements including design, artwork, copy, illustrations, additional photographic images and audio visual, as well as all carpentry, manufacturing and installation.

Step inside the Crypt and it appears as any other store room would; full of crates and barrels. But take a closer look and the castle’s hidden history, myths and unusual inhabitants start to come alive.

A spooky atmosphere is created through an audio exhibit documenting real life ghost stories told by the castle’s staff and residents, whilst other ghost tales are brought to life by the voice of actor Clive Swift – famous for his role as Richard Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. Using a black light torch, visitors can also find hidden messages written in UV ink on a collection of photos and sketches, and a shadow theatre enhanced by a selection of props is a fun interactive for children.

The immersery, audio-visual experience is continued into the bat room. A batcam monitor shows live footage of the bat roosts in the chapel and a virtual bat roost has been created by projecting archive footage from the batcam into an alcove. Bat sounds can be heard via a wind-up audio device, whilst a calendar documents the fascinating year in the life of a bat.

The kitchen rooms tend to be the most popular at National Trust properties, however visitors are unable to access such rooms at Dunster Castle. To provide a sense of what the kitchen was once like, we created an audio exhibit telling real stories from kitchen staff records down a ‘waste pipe’ from the kitchen located above the Crypt.

Despite budget and listed building constraints, the Crypt – an empty, dark room that once confused and disappointed visitors, has been transformed into an truly sensory visitor experience.

Optoma recently launched the new Optoma PK301+ projector to replace the now end of line Optoma PK301. This new model is very similar to the much higher priced pocket projector from Optoma, the PK320. The new Optoma PK301+ Plus, is not only a fraction of the price of the Optoma PK320 but it has almost all the same benefits.

New Features Optoma PK301+

The Optoma PK301+ is based on the original Optoma PK301 but with key differences

• Brighter – 100 Lumens, widescreen images up to 150” (381cm)
• Better contrast – for sharper, clearer images
• Great price

Optoma PK301+ comparison table

Thank you to everyone who visited the 3M/ Personal Projector stand at Gadget

Sheridan using her new MP410

Show Live in Birmingham’s NEC arena.  There was an exceptional turn out and many of you took advantage of the competition we ran on the stand.

We are delighted to announce that this year’s winner of is Sheridan Webb from Merseyside.

Congratulations on winning the brand new 3M MP410 projector with 300 lumens of LED brightness, with optional Wi-Fi streaming, WXGA resolution and more…

Sheridan sent us a couple of photos of her using it to present for her training company, ‘Keystone Development’– Thanks Sheridan!

Here is Sheridan’s 3M MP410 connected to a laptop, ready to make a PowerPoint presentation…

Sheridan's projector connected to her laptop, ready to present

Here’s our round up of some of the cool things we saw at this year’s Gadget Show 2012. These are our highlights of the gadget show 2012

The SoloWheel

Costing nearly £2000, it’s not the cheapest gadget at the show, but it is certainly created a unique talking point. With speeds of up to 12mph it is also the greenest method of transport at the show, operating on just one Li-Ion battery. The gyroscopes mean that you just have to hop on and lean to ride!

3M CP45 Camcorder Projector

3M Camcorder CP45 Highlight of Gadget Show 2012

Record HD video and pictures, then share them instantly, anywhere, with anyone at up to 65” without the need to sync. Just put it in your pocket and create your own memories as you go. No more passing around you r small screen devices to get the big picture!

Aurasma Technology

You will see it in Budweisers new FA Cup app in pubs this summer, use your Smartphone on the Aurasma beer mats to bring 3D to life. Hold the FA cup above your head in celebration for yourself (well, almost), just point and see!

50 Cent’s headphones

Following in the steps of the Dr Dre’s ‘Beats’ range, 50 Cent and Ludacris came to reveal their new range of high end audio equipment. Speaking on the launch, 50 Cent said: “As well as the sound quality, it was very important to me to make something durable”.

Slouch Mat

A revolutionary mouse mat design with mouldable base that ‘slouches’ and grips a range of

Slouch Mouse Matt

uneven and narrow surfaces to provide a stable and level mouse mat. A special grip dot base and mark resistant pad allows it to be used even with optical devices. It feels great too

AYE Gear

Take everything everywhere without a bag with AYE Gear’s handy, tech friendly clothing. These products have pockets galore with water resistant fabric that allow you to store everything from an eTablet, to a Smartphone to your spare coins and access them easily.

Update your garden furniture and put a fish pond in the middle of it, just don’t let the cat see the gold fish!

Gaden furniture with a fish pond inside

Zip wire – great experience from go ape

3D printers– if like me you’ve always wondered about these check these in action, now

3D Printers

from £800 to make your own cube

Dancing Robots – loving this one that dances to Beat It

Product of the show: 3M MP410 Mini Wireless Projector

Gadget Show 2012: 3M MP410 wireless mini projector steels the show

Last year a 3M product almost topped the Gadget Show Product of the Show award but narrowly missed the Top 5 slot as their ultra cool pico projector lacked wireless streaming but this year wireless has finally arrived. The New MP410 is the worlds smallest, brighteest LED projector at 300 lumens – its Bright, Shiny, Very Tiny and Wireless Too.

Stream your pictures, videos, presentations from iphone, tablet or laptop with incredible image quality from an LED 300 lumen projector.

At this year’s Gadget Show Live, Personal Projector Ltd has teamed up with 3M to exhibit some groundbreaking new products in wireless streaming and high powered pocket projection. There will also be some amazing bargains with up to £200 off certain projectors, now from only £99.

Even if you are not going to the show we are offering the chance to win a Free ticket to the Friday, Saturday or Sunday show as well as the opportunity to enter our competition to win the new 3M MP410. Read on to find out more.

On the 3M / Personal Projector Stand: Offers / Competition / World First demo

• The world’s smallest LED projector at 300 lumens, capable of wirelessly streaming content from most Smartphones, tablets or laptops (3M MP410)
• A new high brightness camcorder projector: Instantly record and projector photos or videos at surprisingly high quality (3M CP45)
• The launch of a new high powered pocket projector from 3M, (3M MP220)
• Bargains galore: A breakthrough in high quality projectors at low prices, previously £200, now from only £99!!
• Competitions are always popular on the Gadget Show so we are offering a chance to win a free ticket to the show as well as win the new MP410 wireless projector worth £500!!

Win a Free Ticket to the Show

‘Like’ Personal Projector on Facebook for a chance to win a free ticket to the show on Fri 13^th-to Sun 15^th April at Birmingham’s NEC arena.

New Products

1. 3M MP410 Wireless Projector – Last year Personal Projector narrowly missed out on having ‘product of the show’ due to a lack of wireless streaming capability by the Pico Projectors.
This year it has arrived!

The 3M MP410 is the world’s smallest 300 lumen projector with wireless streaming capabilities and high definition image output.

Bring along a Wi-Fi enabled Smartphone and see how great the wireless streaming capabilities of the new 3M MP410 are by projecting photos and videos at huge image sizes.

2. Camcorder Projector  – New all in one video camcorder with  high brightness pico projector built in so its one click record and project to share movies & photos. Find out more

3. 3M MP220 – Due for release this month, the new super compact and bright LED battery mobile projector connects to almost any device, projects at 65 lumens and includes on-board memory.

Price Breakthrough

1. 3M MPro120: Now only £99

The 3M Mpro120 is the best value for money projector on the market today, saving you up to £200 and offering features and accessories normally only available on higher priced models. It includes a carry case, tripod, 4 hour battery life, 0.5w speakers and the best “price to brightness ratio”.

It can be connected to  iPads, Smartphones, Laptops, Games consoles or other AV equipment, plus with plug & play setup it is easy for everyone to share movies, images & presentations with sound on this great pass-through device.

Visit the product page here for more info…

2. 3M MPro150: Now only £149

With its 15 lumens of brightness, 2GB interchangeable Micro SD card and integrated speakers, you can download presentations from a computer, mobile phone, iPod, iPhone, videocam or PDA and share from the 3M MPro 150.

The MPro150 supports the most popular applications in the Microsoft Office suite and Adobe PDF, plus movie, photo and music files. Run whole presentations or show images and videos with one powerful, pocket sized projector.

Visit the product page here for more info …

Find us at Gadget Show Live, Birimingham NEC, 10^th to 15^th April,

Stand D172 Hall 10 – next to the Hub Theatre

3M have recently announced the release of the 3M MP410, the world’s smallest 300 lumen LED palm projector. The killer feature of this projector however is its ability to use an optional dongle and steam content directly from your mobile, laptop or tablet/ iPad. It is available for Pre-Order now from Personal Projector at an exclusive £25 Pre-Order discount until April 9th. With a strap line of “Bright, shiny and incredibly tiny”, you can expect great things from this as a pocketable device, including two world firsts:

1. Stream media from your mobile!
2. Smallest 300 lumen Pico projector we’ve seen!

Stream from your Tablet, Smartphone or Laptop
The most impressive feature has to be the adoption of the new downloadable application for your portable media devices. This works in conjunction with the brilliant wireless adapter (optional) to enable you to wirelessly stream content to the 3M MP410. Leave your laptop at home and make your presentation from your mobile device or stream images in your lounge directly from your phone: The app is compatible with BlackBerry, iPhone/ iPad or Android device.

Bright & Tiny (300 lumens)!
This is the world’s smallest pico projector with 300 lumens so it doesn’t hold back in the specification stakes with WXGA/720p resolution, HDMI, VGA & USB connectivity as well as wireless streaming capabilities. The super bright LED light source allows you to present in most meeting room environments, as well as use instant on/off technology so that is is ready to present when you are.

Enhanced memory & connectivity
You may prefer to load content directly onto the 3M mobile projector. 3M MP410‘s 1Gb onboard memory, micro SDHC (upto 32GB) or USB to make sure you’re always ready to go. Alternatively, you can utilise the HDMI or VGA connection for great quality projection. Also, it comes with a VGA cable and carry case as well to make your presentations run smoothly every time.

Overall, the 3M MP410 LED projector is the one to beat right now, simply because of its size, brightness image quality and not least the amazing wireless capabilities. Pre-Order now at www.personalprojector.co.uk for £475 inc. Vat (offer lasts until 9th April 2012 only) pre launch.

Visit the product page here for more information…

For many people pocket projectors are an ideal way of watching/presenting small images on a much larger screen whether its from an iPad, Smartphone or laptop. Up until now such devices could cost upto £400 or were of dubious quality if they were anything less than £150.

As with most technology mini projectors have moved on leaps and bounds in the past couple of years so some of the 2^nd generation pocket projectors are now appearing on the market at £200 discount to their launch price. This makes them very attractive as the second generation devices were brighter and offered more accessories than is the current trend.

3M were the first to get in on the LED pico market so this is the best place to start if you’re looking for a bargain with the best “brightness to price ratio” or “price to accessory ratio”

Whilst there were some previous pico projector models at £99 inc vat such as the Adapt Pico Play, they were only half the brightness of the 3M models now avialable. Also the Pico Play came with virtually no accessories (tripod etc) when compared with the 3m models.

3M Mpro 120 (£299 now £99 inc vat)

The 3M Mpro 120 was a breakthrough pocket projector when it launched in terms of size, design and overall value for what’s included in the box. Launched at £299 its now available for just £99 or (£83.33 ex vat) which is an absolute bargain in a box and makes it the cheapest pocket projector on the market today. It is also without a doubt the best value projector on the market today as it offers many features and accessories normally only available on higher priced models. It includes a carry case, tripod, 4 hour battery life, 0.5w speakers and the best “price to brightness ratio”.

The 3M pico projector also has the ability to connect to iPads, Smartphones, laptops, games consoles or other AV equipment and has a simple plug & play setup. It is easy for everyone to share movies, images & presentations with sound on this great pass-through device. It includes an AV cable but you will need a separate cable to connect to iPhone/iPad.

3M Mpro 150

If however you’re looking for the ability to project without connecting to any other device at all then take a look at the 3M MPro 150 which has all the features of the 120, plus its brighter and has powerpoint/pdf  viewer onboard so you can project straight from the palm of your hand with no wires.

Overall, both projectors offer incredible value and would make the perfect gift and are ideal for personal use, business or travel.

Curry’s & PC World have again joined forces in the retail world, this time to offer a new online streaming and download service for UK customers.

As of March 1st, knowhowmovies.com have offered the streaming and/or download of the latest TVshows, Movie titles to your PC, Ultrabook or MAC (although you can only currently download movie titles to MAC’s) for a monthly subscribtion fee of £0

Although you can only currently download/stream the titles to your computer, it’s promised that you will soon be able to view them from your mobile smartphone, games console, BluRay player, Tablet & TV

Disney, Momentum pictures, Warner Bro’s and Pixar are all on board from he get-go, with 1,500 titles available from 1st March, so it looks like they’re ready to give other established services like NetFlix, LOVEFiLM, Hulu, Apple Tv, Google Tv a run for their money in the future.

TV shows cost from 99p to £3.99 for a new show, films from £2.99 to £12.99 and are available in full HD and 5.1 Dolby Surround. This is an exciting time for TV and Movie lovers as competition in the market increases, now you can download and play with a Pico Projector

JVC & Kenwood are developing their own, laser based Heads-Up-Display (HUD) for vehicles. It looks set to be the next mod con for cars

Will we soon be seeing this technology fitted into new cars, everywhere?
Click below to see the video example

Kenwood\’s new laser HUD

The Samsung Galaxy beam projector phone was launched yesterday at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress and was instantly coined as the “Galaxy S in life raft yellow”. Whilst this might be appealing to some will the projection capabaliities live up to the mark and not drain the all important battery power Smartphones crave these days whilst providing a nice true image of the amazing photos or videos you just took.

Projector Phone capabilities are a bit of a damp squid…

-          Its a 15 lumen projector but it doesnt appear to use DLP which means you loose a lot of contrast and pictures can look very dim when compared to an equivalent 15 lumen DLP projector, especially if they are not tweaked to get the max power like stand alone pico projectors are. Mobile phone companies are reluctant to do this as it drains the battery so the best performance is never obtained from a 15 lumen projector in a phone at the moment.

-          The 2000 mAh battery would be our key concern as Samsung is not renoun for its long battery life and with a projector added in the battery wil die extremely quickly which is why we prefer companion projectors with their own battery or even better cases with external battery and a built in projector like the Pico Genie A100 so your projector has its own power supply and conversly it can also charge your phone if it runs out of power (iPhone 4 / iPod Touch 4).

Overall its a nice idea but you will need to compromise too much on the projection and battery for it to be really useful at the moment so the Pico Genie A100 or any of the ultra light pico projectors with their own dedicated battery that allow you to connect to just about any device from Smarphones, laptops to iPads, will be a better option for most.

If you’re interested in having an ultra portable projector for use with your phone, check out our Pico range for more info and the Pico Genie A100 if you have the iPhone 4/ 4s/ iPod Touch.