Holo-rific!

Was commenting to a co-worker the other day about how "yeah, PDAs are getting smaller, but like laptops, the screen is now the limiting size and we need that holographic crap like in Star Wars....'Obi-Wan, you're my only hope' and all that".

Once again, reality is right on the heels of sci-fi:

A new device developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology uses lasers to project "real" 3D images into the ether. A special projector can cast three-dimensional shapes of white light between 2 and 3-meters into the air -- previous devices only tricked the eyes into thinking the image was 3D. The images are created by blasting the nitrogen and oxygen in the air at fixed points resulting in glowing plasma emissions which hang-out just long enough to etch an ephemeral image.

Now we just need Emperor Palpatine to show up and execute Order 66.