Filed under: Hacks, Odds and ends, iPhone

Sure, you can take the commercial approach and just buy a telephoto lens for your iPhone, or hack together a macro lens, but if you're looking to combine the two into a hacked-up telephoto lens held together with a heaping of duct tape, look no further. Bhautik Joshi created the Phone-O-Scope as an experiment "to transmit light from one optical device to another to make an image". The result is an iPhone with duct-tape, cardboard, putty, PVC pipe and an SLR lens attached. It certainly won't win any design awards, but it does produce some very unique imagery.

Check out the tutorial for instructions on how to create your own, as well as side-by-side comparisons of a standard iPhone's pictures compared to the hacked-up iPhone shots.

If you're not a tinkerer at heart, you'll probably wonder why he bothered to produce an item as large as a standard DSLR but took worse photos. However, if you were one of those kids who quickly took apart your new toys just to see how they worked, this may be a little experiment you could appreciate.

[via Hack-a-Day]

TUAWDIY DSLR iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Reviews, Graphic Design

Continue reading Super-panoramic showdown for Mac

TUAWSuper-panoramic showdown for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Reviews

Continue reading Super-panoramic showdown for Mac

TUAWSuper-panoramic showdown for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhone

Here at TUAW we've seen lots of uses for the iPhone as a remote control, but if you were watching and thinking that those projects were way too safe, then the guys at Waterloo Labs have got you covered. They approached the project with a low budget and DIY attitude, building a low-cost (relatively speaking) car that is controlled by a first generation iPhone. Not content with just building the car, they also chose to car-surf on the hood and roof, Teen Wolf style, while testing their handiwork.

While we at TUAW do not condone such dangerous behavior, we can recommend that you watch this other video by Waterloo Labs as a more in-depth instructional video on how to build your own vehicle.

TUAWDangerously driving a car with an iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Desktops, Hacks, iMac

SSDs, or solid-state drives, are all the rage in portables these days. They come in MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs directly from Apple (with the appropriate upgrades, of course), and we've seen people upgrade their old-school mechanical drives, hack in a second drive to take advantage of the speed of a shiny new SSD, oreven put one in an AppleTV.

Desktop computers are usually left out of the solid-state love-fest. After all, 3.5" drives are usually less expensive than a 2.5" drive of a similar capacity, and desktop machines are less prone to damage to the disk since they are usually stationary when running.

However, there are times when a solid-state upgrade to a desktop machine makes sense. For Jason Siebert, this was one of those times. When the drive on his 24" iMac started showing the tell-tale signs of a drive on the brink of death, he decided to tear the machine apart and throw in a smaller & faster SSD, and use his Drobo for external storage. Installation was simple for the most part, but some adjustments had to be made to allow for installing a 2.5" drive in the space of a 3.5" drive, and some finagling of the drive due to a too-short SATA cable.

The result is a pretty satisfying speed increase when it comes to opening up applications, and especially when running a virtual machine. Check out the installation instructions and first impressions on Jason's website.

Any upgrades like this should be performed only by skilled users, and of course it may will void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk.

TUAWPutting an SSD upgrade in a 24" iMac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Audio, Podcasting

There's no shortage of podcasting equipment out there for amateurs or professionals. These audio devices can range from a few bucks to a few thousand bucks, which sometimes makes it difficult to figure out exactly what equipment is best for you. Well, lucky for you Dan Benjamin at Hivelogic has written a very thorough article on the best equipment in every price range. It covers all bases, from the person who has never recorded before to the person making the leap into the "pro" category and ready to drop a grand to improve audio quality.

As an amateur podcaster myself I was a little surprised that my beloved Ubercaster and Blue Snowball were left out in the cold, but the article is still very helpful to people looking for the best hardware and software at different price points. If you've been considering buying or upgrading your gear, this is the article to read.

TUAWPodcasting advice for the amateur or expert originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Xserve, Apple, Mac mini, Mac OS X Server

TUAWMini gets a server-style upgrade originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iTunes, Music

Within days of the iTunes 9 and iTunes LP announcement, people had already thoroughly hacked apart the iTunes LP format only to discover it was just a clever combination of images, HTML, CSS and Javascript. Because any web developer could create an iTunes LP, it seemed strange that indie labels were left out in the cold, with LPs having a high cost of entry and no distribution of their LPs on the iTunes Store.

We do have a report this morning of Apple announcing that they'll be opening up the LP format, but a few inventive artists appear to have leapfrogged that step towards glasnost. It was only a matter of time before someone starting offering iTunes LPs in other ways, and iTunesLP.net is that someone. They're already offering up Disney's Fantasia in the iTunes LP format, but no music is included.

Installing the LP is as easy and double-clicking the downloaded file, but for the music to play properly it must be correctly tagged and named, and of course you need a legitimate way to get the music in question. Even though the site only offers 1 LP currently, it has plenty of tutorials and directions on how to create and distribute your own.

As long as no copyright laws are being broken, I think creating and distributing these LPs is a great idea. It offers users the chance to create visually stunning LPs for older music that the labels wouldn't bother with, and it offers indie labels the chance to get iTunes LPs out there, even if they're not yet available directly in the iTunes Store. With Apple's new policy towards opening up the LP format, this may be a brief opportunity for the workaround, but it's nice to see.

TUAWDistributing iTunes LPs without iTunes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

Long before I was an Apple nerd, I was a horror nerd. More specifically, I was an Evil Dead/Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell freak, and even maintained a website devoted to their 1993 masterpiece. I'm both surprised and excited to see my two obsessions collide in the form of an iPhone app devoted to Army of Darkness [iTunes link], the third of the Evil Dead series. Sure, some people use their iPhones to be more productive and create spreadsheets, but sometimes you just need a simple app that screams "shop smart, shop S-Mart!" or "see this? This is my BOOMSTICK!"

The app is a simple soundboard app, consisting of 16 audio clips from the film that can be played at the touch of a button. There's also a "slideshow" mode where you can hear all the clips in a row accompanied by an image slideshow. It is definitely not the most full-featured iPhone app, but for the horror fans out there it will make a great addition to your iPhone dock.

The app is free and, as far as I'm concerned, essential to every iPhone. If you like it, be sure to check out the other MGM soundboard apps [iTunes link] with audio clips from Robocop, Silence of the Lambs, Fargo and Rocky (all free except for Rocky, which is $0.99).

[via iPhone Savior]

Thanks to Seth for the tip!

TUAWGimme some sugar, baby: Army of Darkness sounds on the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Odds and ends, iTunes, Graphic Design

TUAWInside the new iTunes LP format originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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