Ericsson Spider Computer Projection-Packed Concept [Video]

The wisdom of designing gadgets that look like spiders when so many people find the many-legged bugs creepy is arguably lacking, but that hasn't stopped Ericsson.  The company's latest concept is the so-called Ericsson Spider Computer, a tripod design that will incorporate a full PC, pico-projector, laser keyboard and integrated 3G, and offer the people of 2020 an easily transported computing setup.Video demo after the cut

Unfortunately that 2020 timeframe means the components of 2009 are a little too large to fit into Ericsson's wishful-thinking mockup.  Instead the company have been demonstrating a rather more mundane (and arguably less frightening) prototype, which so far only squeezes in the projector, laser keyboard and a multiformat card reader.

Still, you can see the direction they're going in: why make do with a tiny display and tiny keyboard (or lug around a huge display and a huge keyboard) when you can project them instead?  The track record of low-resolution pico-projectors and finger-hurting laser keyboards doesn't exactly fill us with confidence, but perhaps the world of 2020 will only ever use soft-touch surfaces.