So far, the tractor beam can only tug on polystyrene particles in water. Also, because of the mechanism by which it operates, if you were to scale it up for use on macroscopic objects, the intensity of the laser would vaporize the target.

Still, it's a step in the right direction and should be taken as nothing but good news.

Thanks to your comment I realized OP was not talking about a measure of time when he said minute.

The way the word is pronounced is "My Newt", it just means that something's small or insignificant, if you didn't catch on already. I know the pronunciation always baffled me when I first heard the word.

Alright, sorry for wasting your time friend, I was just making sure is all.

The tractor beam is called a Bessel beam, however it can't simply be upsized (It is, after all, just photons acting in a certain way). But I'm sure we'll get there eventually.

We already have the full tractor, why would we need to put it into a beam? Improved farming? I dont see why we need it.

sorry, fucked up on trying to format collums into my post.

keep in mind i'm going from the science fiction standard, not how it probably works

imagine the strains that stuff like cranes have when lifting heavy loads.
the tractor beam would be able to remove the weight leaving less stress

some other practical uses
-air lifting injured from mountain regions.
-Timmy stuck down a well? Not any more!
-removing the junk satellites that now orbit the earth and pose risk of hitting other satellites

with advancement into handheld realms:

military:
-ability to disarm people from afar leaving war having less casualties
-(amusing the beam can push) Moving bombs to high altitudes for "safer" detention


other
-getting that remote with your tractor-beam keyring
- a cool alternative to lavalamps where you just toss objects to float around in there

there are more possibiluitys but i'll leave that to your imagination.

Let me help you out here,

"Tractor"
"Improved farming"

wait.. i'm too tired to think/read what others post right now. good night sir.

tl;dr

Im havin a gigle m8