A couple of years ago, I couldn't talk to anyone about smartphones for two minutes without them shouting in ecstatic delirium, "Have you seen the new iPhone 5?" Of course, they were talking about this concept video, which everyone in their right mind knew was a "concept" for no less obvious reason than the fact that it was titled as such and created by an animation studio. Except hundreds of people around me still believed it was the real deal. Before I digress any further into the naiveté of common mortals when it comes to technology, I'll remind you of the one feature in that video everyone thought was super cool and that has made it onto countless other concept videos for various companies and products: the projected keyboard.

Not one to be told that such concepts shall remain forever locked in some fanboy's wet dreams, Lenovo has decided that maybe, potentially, it could bring them to market. What we have here is another concept video, released by Lenovo during its Tech World conference, but the fact that the company officially decided to put its name behind it shows that it has at the very least seriously thought about it. That grants it more credibility than some animation studio's graphic prowess.

But the projected keyboard isn't the only feature of Smart Cast. Lenovo imagines the device to have a focus-free laser projector that can send images and videos onto walls (like current pico-projectors, but with a better technology than DLP) and a swiveling mirror part with a kickstand that lets you project on a surface in front of you — think keyboard, virtual piano, Fruit Ninja, and more.

It's crazy, and crazy awesome at the same time. But given Lenovo's current interest in embedded projectors (Yoga tablets), it's not hard to imagine that the company may really be working on something like this in a secret room inside its R&D labs.