Common Paradox Tech Blog

Old media loves nothing quite so much as writing about their own impending death. And we always enjoy adding our own two cents – the AP not knowing what YouTube is, the NYTimes guys reading TechCrunch every day, etc.

Speaking broadly, I like what Reuters, Rupert Murdoch and Eric Schmidt are saying: the industry is in crisis, and the daring innovators will prevail. Personally, I still think the best way forward for the best journalists, if not the brands they currently work for, is to leave those brands and do their own thing.

But as one of the innovators in the last go round, I think there’s a much bigger problem lurking on the horizon than a bunch of blogs and aggregators disrupting old media business models that needed disrupting anyway. The rise of fast food content is upon us, and it’s going to get ugly.

Time magazine has made the Motorola Droid its number 1 gadget of the year while our beloved iPhone ranked in at number 4 behind the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader, and the Dyson Air Multiplier. What pushed the Droid to the top of the heap of these gadgets was the combination of its Motorola hardware [...]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Time Magazine Ranks the Moto Droid Ahead of the iPhone 3GS

We’ve seen plenty of those tiny lens add-on kits for cellphones, but never before have we seen the equal of the Phone-O-Scope: 18-55mm glass attached to the iPhone. And it’s no wonder, because the process was anything but simple.

ILM Research Engineer Bhautik Joshi disassembled his iPhone only to stuff in part of his DVD player, the laser pickup, which houses three miniature magnifying lenses. These lenses are what made it possible for the iPhone to accept the light/images beaming through the 18-55mm lens, which was carefully positioned through PVC pipe, duct tape and cursing.

The results?
(iPhone left, modded version right)

The Phone-O-Scope doesn’t take especially superb images, and it’s a bit clumsy to handle. On the other hand, it’s fun to shoot with and produces very analog (almost Holga-like) results.

We’re just glad someone did it, finally, so we didn’t need to duct tape our iPhone to our dSLR Flight of the Conchords style. [captin nod via MAKE via OhGizmo!]

Last year, Apple began marketing its iPod touch as the “funnest iPod ever,” a nod to the significant popularity of the game applications available on the iPhone/iPod touch App Store. Games designed by third-party developers have been big sellers for the platform, and now Apple itself looks like it wants in on more of the fun — it’s advertising for an in-house game developer.

Last year, Apple began marketing its iPod touch as the “funnest iPod ever,” a nod to the significant popularity of the game applications available on the iPhone/iPod touch App Store. Games designed by third-party developers have been big sellers for the platform, and now Apple itself looks like it wants in on more of the fun — it’s advertising for an in-house game developer.

Earlier this week, I took a look at a number of free tools designed to give your Windows 7 desktop a bit of a makeover. One of these, Rainmeter, is a comprehensive application that can substantially alter the look and feel of your desktop beyond anything you could possibly modify with Windows’ default settings. Just how much can you mess around, you ask? If this week’s "Download of the Week" is any indication, then the possibilities are near-limitless. For DeviantArt user UltraBE has transformed the plain ol’ Windows desktop into a HUD from the popular zombie shooter Left 4 Dead–and this new look isn’t just cosmetic. It’s a fully-functional statistics engine for your system.

You might think I’m joking; you might even think that this amalgam of a gaming interface and the Windows desktop is just too far from reality to make sense. Still, you can’t deny the sheer coolness of this comprehensive skin. Instead of a list of Left4Dead survivors and their health, the people-in-your-party boxes transform into usage meters and battery life indicators for your system. The individual icons representing gear that your party would be holding are now buttons that can be customized to launch programs, folders, registry keys, or Rainmeter add-ons, amongst other options. The system clock and computer uptime is integrated into the desktop as if it was a countdown before your helicopter to safety takes off.

According to UltraBE, the skin itself is super-customizable to better recreate the Left 4 Dead experience on your desktop. Ten separate wallpapers are included with the Left 4 Dead HUD Desktop and, a nod to detail, you can even change the icon of the gun on the right-hand side of the screen to reflect what’s being used in the real screenshot. Although the entire Rainmeter-based display adjusts to fit your specific resolution, UltraBE warns that the design isn’t made for desktops below a resolution width of 1280 pixels–sorry, tiny netbooks.

As you would expect, you have to first install Rainmeter to benefit from this zombie-charged interface. Selecting the new look is as easy as hopping into the newly released RainBrowser utility, which allows you to select, configure, and preview new Rainmeter skins prior to applying them.

Download Left 4 Dead HUD Desktop here

Every Wednesday, Maximum PC picks a new free or shareware download as its favorite of the week. Have a nifty application that you can’t live without? Twitter David Murphy @acererak with your latest suggestions.

For those hoping for a re-enactment of the Kanye/Taylor Swift viral video that became an Internet meme, SNL didn’t deliver the goods last night. There was, however, a nod to one of the biggest Internet fads of the year, as guest host Taylor Swift included a mention of the event in her “Monologue Song” (video below).

For those wishing to relive the meme one more time, check out our Top 10 Kanye West Interruption Parodies.

For international viewers, versions of the clip are still available on YouTube.

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: kanye west, taylor swift

An anonymous reader writes “The first public white space network officially launched on Wednesday in Claudville, Virginia. It uses sensing technology from Spectrum Bridge with software and Web cams supplied by Microsoft and PCs from by Dell. The project was funded the TDF Foundation. White space networks use unlicensed television spectrum and have been called ‘WiFi on steroids.’ They offer more bandwidth, over larger areas, than does WiFi. IT companies duked it out with broadcasters for years to get white spaces approved by the FCC. They finally got the FCC’s nod in November, 2008.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Small Businesses are the driving force behind growth and innovation in the American economy, and their inspiring stories reverberate across all industry sectors. American Express and NBC Universal are proud to support the small business community, so they’ve partnered to create the Shine A Light program in order to honor standout small businesses everywhere.

It’s down to the wire with three finalists vying for the winning nod. And who provides that winning nod? You do! Your votes will determine which of these three hard working small businesses will receive $100,000 in grant and marketing support from American Express.

Read through the inspiring stories of these three finalists – a telecommunications company, a paint and hardware store and an organic baby food company – and cast your vote for the most inspiring story. It means a lot and can make a real difference to one inspirational small business.

Vote today!

(This post is brought to you by a client of Federated Media. For more information on sponsored posts please read here.)

Finally, an NES cartridge casemod I can get behind without weeping uncontrollably. This one houses a complete library of NES games, uses the original buttons, and hides inside the Super Mario/Duck Hunt combo cartridge. But wait, there’s more:

There’s also an mp3 player, movie player and an FM radio receiver. The video out is also intact, meaning this little guy can be used to play on the big screen.

Games in action below:

To answer your question, yes, this mod is very similar to one we’ve featured before. This one is cleaner, boasts more features, and plays Game Boy games too, so it gets the nod today. Nice work.

Oh, and the answer to the headline question, by the way, is unicorns. They would exist. [Ben Heck Forums via technabob]