Laser rifles on the coming?

Chemical based lasers are already a reality, even if not battlefield tested at the moment. One problem though is that these devices are big and heavy, unfit for small arms. As a matter of fact, the first likely carrier would be a boeing 747.

But now, wired reports of an electrical laser under development, the kind that is small enough to be turned into a laser rifle ...
Yes I am sitting here with a grin on my face, what off it? :p