Holograms are something you only expect to see in sci-fi movies right? Well apparently not anymore it seems. With the aid of some fog and three Pico projectors a group of students from the Osaka University were able to create the effect of a hologram with a 3D image being projected on the amongst the fog.

Although Fog Projectors have been around for years the technology is fairly restricted and only 2D images are capable of being projected at one time. This is why when three projectors are used at once showing three different angles of the same image the illusion of a 3D object is created. The news comes from an article at DigiInfo TV.

In the article it explains that the fog is concentrated to one area and the three projected images also focus on the same area. The fog then acts as a parallax barrier so whatever angle you look at the image you are only seeing one angle at a time. If the number of images being projected was increased the illusion would be even more effective.

Check out the video we have below of the image being projected. What do you think of this use of fog projecting? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Could they be staging a comeback? Recent reports would suggest they are! Sony Ericsson has filed for a patent, it is a little unclear as to what the patent is for but we have a picture to show you which is below. It is good to see them getting hold of the Pico Projectors too, you can read more about them here and here.

The way I see it is they are trying to add a projector screen onto a smartphone that you can pull out at will, once out obviously from the picture you can see that the Pico Mini Projector will place the image on the screen.

I have been wondering for the last couple of years how long it would be until we had a device like this, you technologically advanced cellphone that is a little different. This offers some thing new that other companies may not even buy into, kind of a niche.

One of the guys at slashgear.com, Chris Davies has suggested a couple of ways of attaching the screen be it a hard one or like a miniature roller but I think they should do this a slightly different way. Looking at the patent picture it shows a clam shell shape obviously this is subject to change but if it was a similar design, perhaps it could have something that physically slides out of the device. Almost like when you take the memory card out of a camera here you press it in and then it comes out slightly so that you can grasp it then pull it out to the desired size.

This isn’t the first idea for a device like this, a similar idea but different design is present in the other Pico Projector phones which you can find plenty of pictures of on Google by clicking here but also below is a sample to get you thinking.

Have you got any ideas for a mechanism that might work? Let us know in the comments below.

According to this report from Apple Insider, the information has surfaced from Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities. On recent tours to Asia, he revealed that suppliers are very interested in including mobile digital tv and miniature pico projectors, two features that could become the most-desired features in future smartphones on the market.

Although the iPhone 5 wasn’t specifically mentioned in White’s discussions with suppliers, he believes that the iPhone 5 would be equipped with such features, as it would be very attractive from Apple’s point of view.

Considering the craze surrounding Apple’s retina display for the iPhone 4, we tend to agree with him. All Apple needs to do is think of two unique names for Live TV and the Projector, ‘Facetime’ style, and then they will probably have another winner on their hands.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you welcome the idea of mobile live tv and a projector facility on the iPhone 5? We’ll bring you more news on this story as we get it.