Ellington

How can your life be truly full and rich when you don't have a personal digital projector? (I ask myself this kind of stuff all the time.) Two different companies—LumenLabs and Benq—are offering $500 projectors for the first time that might make our collective personal projector dream a reality. The LumenLab (http://www.lumenlab.com) PM Projector is the first full product from a company that focuses on do-it-yourself projector kits (PM stands for "pre-made"). It's $499 shipped, supports component and S-video input as well as VGA, has a built-in TV tuner, and it uses extremely inexpensive bulbs, unlike many professional projectors. It includes built-in speakers, a remote and picture rotation for mounting to the ceiling, if you're so inclined. The Benq model (http://www.benq.com) only offers 800x600 resolution for PC connections, but it's brighter and pre-configured for HD TV output. (It's also $100 pricier.) Hook it up to your theoretical Apple iTV device and you're in the home project theater business for just a few Cs. (Both are due for release in November, just in time for someone else to feel obliged to buy it for you. Yahtzee!)