The Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference reminds me a bit of a university faculty party: pretentious (just like this post's title), hyperintellectual, noble -- especially as the conference Webcasts its pearls of wisdom before the unenlightened masses just. Every. So. Often. But I have to say that this presentation sounds wonderfully, magically cool.

Wired brings word of Pattie Maes and her assistant, Pranav Mistry, who created a way to project a gesture-powered, connected, wireless display onto ordinary objects, which could then be read and interacted with by the user.

"The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror -- all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface -- walls, the body of another person or even your hand."

Some examples: Mistry visits a bookstore, and begins browsing a book. The device scans the book (apparently using optical character recognition) and projects an Amazon star rating onto its cover. In another, Mistry draws a circle on his wrist, and the device projects a watch.

I couldn't help but wonder whether the demonstration was faked, as the projected display merely facilitates interaction, and doesn't seem to require any management itself. But you know what they say about advanced technology and magic...

There are two other videos on the Wired page.