Uh-oh. It looks like those metal-scavenging Jawas have finally gotten their grubby paws on R2D2 and have turned him into... well, an iPod dock. As spotted at the CES 2007 floor, this little droid won't exactly pilot your X-Wing for you anymore, but it CAN play your tunes and project your movies.

At the Nikko Home Electronics corner, the R2-D2 DVD Projector was spotted being sold for more than US$ 2,000. You can pop in your favorite DVD movie in the slot and project the show onto your wall. If you're tired of that, R2D2 can also play your CDs or hook up to your iPod.

This guy's true purpose is to play DVDs though, and can display an image on the wall at up to 80 inches wide, or he can tilt up so he can project onto the ceiling, just so you can lie back while you watch the latest season of "House MD".

As for the remote, the remote control slides out of a replica of the Millennium Falcon. Besides controlling the projector though, this remote can also move R2D2 himself, making him go forward, reverse, right, left, and do pivot turns as he makes his signature bleeps and boops (I have to admit, that is so darned cute...).

Now if only he came with his mini-zapper and his rocket boosters, it would be perfect.

Here's a little device that will definitely get your attention.

Think of an LCD projector that you would normally use for your class or office presentations, or for your own home theater to watch movies on. Now, make that projector smaller. As small as a mobile phone.

We're not pulling your leg here. There really is a device now that's portable and very useful especially for those who have mobile devices like cellphones and iPods.

The Nano-Projector from Explay is a mini projector which you can plug into your mobile devices directly. It displays the image on a screen as big as 30 inches.

The Nano-Projector's engines are made with a proprietary ASIC that binds the components used including a unique laser-based diffractive optical technology and a proprietary technology for enhancing micro-display efficiency.

The mini-projector from Explay will be released early 2007 for an as-yet-undisclosed price.

Midstates are a Chicago-based band, describing themselves as avant-space rock. I'd put them down more as indie-prog or some such, but that's neither here nor there. What's interesting is their claim to be the first act to replace band members with an iPod Video for both their musical performance, and a visual one.

Midstates were invited to play support on a fairly major tour, but their keyboard player, guitarist and drummer couldn't make the dates. Rather than turn down the tour, they decided to record audio tracks for the keyboard and guitar parts and to video their drummer in the studio. Mixing it all down into single-song video files on the singer's iPod Video, off they went on tour (with a lot more space in the van than they were used to). At each venue, Midstates hooked up the iPod's audio output to the amps and it's video output to a projector - the audience could hear the full band and see the drummer as though he was playing live via hi-tech satellite link. The two 'real' members of the band could cue up any track they liked on the iPod and play along.

Whilst the projected video drummer is a fantastic idea, there's nothing new about using an iPod for your live backing tracks. London's iDou have been doing this with an iPod Shuffle for ages. The two of them turn up onstage with a bass and a guitar respectively, and an iPod Shuffle loaded up with drum tracks, keyboards and samples hanging from the mic stand. They set it to shuffle mode, press play, and try to keep up with whatever songs come around until they run out of time. Great fun. Fully embracing the digital music revolution, their debut gig back in May of last year is available as a podcast here.