The Coolest IT Gadget In Year 2008

That has gotta be the R2-D2 Projector!! Check this out!!

Oh you know you want it. Ever since this January debut at CES, you’ve been pining for the iconic friend of righteousness and home DVD projector. Let’s just hope you saved up the ¥388,500 (about $3,160 or 43,000 galactic credits) to take him home. The 1/2 scale DLP projector features a slot-loading DVD player, 1,800:1 contrast, 1,500 lumen brightness, and resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels. But you’re not buying this based on specs alone now are you. Limited production run of 1,000 units begins “this fall.” Prepare.

If there’s a normal, unpretentious home theater projector out there in the universe, this is the projector it’s farthest from. Star Wars fans will be knocking each other over to get to Nikko’s R2-D2 home theater projector, which shoots video out of its eye (it would have been perfect if it used the hologram-projector port, though). The resolution is only 800 x 600 (south of high-def), but speakers are built in, and so is a DVD player as well as an iPod dock. And it wouldn’t be R2 if he didn’t move — you can make him follow you anywhere in your house via the remote control.

And have we mentioned the remote control? A replica of the Millenium Falcon, it’s a riot in its own right, with controls that pop out of the engines in the back. Too sweet. For that extra Jedi atmosphere, be sure to pick up a Darth Vader popcorn machine. It could be in stores as early as the spring for a little more than 2 Gs. Enjoy some video of R2 in action after the jump.

Maybe some kind soul can get me this cool gizmo for me as an early Christmas present.

`lush;-