Raining weekend.

Last weekend was so emo. Southern California weather is going through the weird weather stage again. It rained the whole day on Sunday, makes lazy Sunday even lazier.

On Saturday, Aaron and I got a new toy! Aaron bought this cool projector called Cinemin Swivel from WowWee at Brookstone. We felt in love with it as soon as the guy showed us how it worked. It was amazing! It was amazing to us because one time while laying on bed, looking at the ceiling and we said to ourselves that if we ever have a house, we will install a big TV on the ceiling so we can just watch movies while laying on bed. With this new toy, we can do it without big installation hassle! It basically project whatever movie/music videos you are playing on your ipod/iphone/ipad or even your computer! on wherever you want. Because of the swivel, we can adjust the angles and how far we want it to be. The tiny Cinemin Swivel (about my palm size) can goes up to 60 inches (as big as 60 inches tv!). The down side to this Cinemin Swivel is that it has to be shown in a dark room because the build in lights are not bright enough for a regular light room. Also its build in speaker is a big low; however, you can always use your external speaker!

Pros :
Includes iPod/iPhone adapter
Long-lasting battery (135 minutes)

Cons:
Relatively low brightness (8 lumens)
PC connectivity requires extra-cost accessory

Bottom Line:

Designed primarily as an Apple accessory, the Cinemin Swivel projects colorful iPod and iPhone images right out of the box.

Review: 

WowWee's Cinemin Swivel is one of the more distinct pico projectors on the market thanks to its swiveling design, which allows you to project images at various angles, including straight up at the ceiling.
In case you don't know what a pico projector is, as its name implies, it's a miniature handheld projector that's capable of casting a big image (WowWee says the Cinemin Swivel can project an image from 8 inches to 50 inches). The key to these pint-size projectors is that they use an LED light source that's very energy efficient. Pico projectors come in different shapes and sizes; most cost between $200 and $300, and they currently sport resolutions up to 640x480 pixels, though the Cinemin Swivel only offers 480x320 pixels or HVGA resolution. This model uses DLP technology for projecting an image. That's the same technology employed in many rear-projection TVs, but projected on an external wall, movie-theater-style, instead of the backside of a TV screen.

The Cinemin Swivel is similar in size to competing pico projectors, but the 3M MPro120 is slightly smaller and more compact. Weighing in at 6.4 ounces and measuring 5 inches by 3 inches by 8.5 inches, the Swivel model does indeed fit in a pocket (or easily slips in a laptop bag) and comes with a protective sleeve.
The projector is designed to sit on a flat surface, then tilted slightly upward (yes, there's a hinge in the middle of the projector that allows you to tilt the front up). Like other pico projectors, this one doesn't have any keystone settings, so getting a perfectly rectangular image does take some tinkering, and you do have to play around with the focus as you move the projector around.
The Cinemin Swivel can use any video source with a composite AV output, such as most portable DVD players; invest in a separate $30 VGA adapter, and you can use a laptop as well. But WowWee has made a conscious effort to market to iPhone and iPod (with video) owners, bundling in an Apple adapter cable. The adapter comes with a short, detachable foot-long AV cord that connects your Apple device to the projector. There's also a port on the adapter that allows you to connect your iPod or iPhone to your computer via USB and charge it at the same time. The Cinemin Swivel runs for about 2 hours on its removable lithium ion battery; it can charge via USB as well.


My opinion:
We got this baby including the extra adapter for our laptop total of $300.00 ($230 for the swivel and $30 for the extra part + tax) at brookstone. I know if you use amazon link (links below), you can get cheaper deal. We just did not want to wait to test it out, so we went ahead and got the projector. My opinion is that this baby worth every penny. Its projected pixel is big enough for home and and its size is small enough for someone who travels often. It's a good deal for couple hundreds.



Here is a youtube review for the toy. Check it out yourself at your local brookstone.

p.s. Amazon has it for cheaper price.  
and you need this extra part for your computer. 
















Here is the youtube review.