Today's Top Three Trends in Projector Rental News

Perhaps you’re wondering what’s going on in the wonderful world of projectors. Perhaps not.

But there does happen to be a whole lot going on, and we’re happy to tell you about it.

The Rockford Discovery Center Museum Gets a Serious Projector Upgrade

The Discovery Center Museum in Rockford just got a $20,000 grant to pay for a serious upgrade in its planetarium. The new projection system is capable of casting seasonal 3D images of the suns, stars and planets as they would be seen from the surface of planet Earth.

The $20,000 funds were allocated from the Kiwanis Club, and free planetarium shows will be available on the weekends with paid admission.

According to Kenneth Staaf, a past affiliate of the Kiwanis Club, “This is an opportunity for a child’s mind to open up and explore things they wouldn’t see otherwise.” He added, “This is extraordinary to have this kind of planetarium. You would have to spend a couple hundred bucks to take the family to Chicago to see theirs, but you are not going to see anything there that you can’t see here.”

Zeiss Projector Retires

Even as the Rockford Planetarium births a new projector innovation, the University of North Carolina is preparing for a funeral. The University’s long tenured Zeiss VI Star Projector is being replaced by a newer, more impressive $1.5 million model donated by GlaxoSmithKline. Reactions from the locals have been mixed, as there was a feeling of pride associated with the Zeiss projector – it was the actual model that the first astronauts used to map the stars before the first flight into space.

Technology changes, however, and sometimes old models can become obsolete. RIP, Zeiss VI.

Sassy New-Age Pico Projector Delivers Eye-Tracking Game Controls

Distinguished planetarium projectors are one thing, but there’s a sassy new kid on the block: the Pico projector, and all it represents.

These diminutive portable projectors are finding their way into laptops and mobile devices – their small size makes them appealing to partakers of the mobile revolution. And the students at the University of Texas in Austin are harnessing the power of Pico to develop a camera that, paired with a virtual reality gaming setup, allows for hands free controls similar to those associated with the Xbox Kinect.

Editor’s Note: This article was sponsored by Vernon Computer Source, a global IT company and a provider of world’s most impressive projector rental inventory. We rent all manner of projectors -- including the cutting edge.