So your cellphone has GPS, push email, and camera functions all built inside it? While those are pretty impressive, the handset still can’t take a photo without your manual help. This DIY project hacks a standard handset, using a Picaxe microcontroller that enables your handset to capture images without you being there - all it takes is a simple SMS and you’re good to go. Of course, this would work great only if your camera phone does not come with any sort of sliding lens cover, else your effort will amount to naught.

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Sorry for not writing in so long. Finals stress is rising up around my ears and I’m FREAKING OUT OKAY.

So, thought I’d stop by and share something with you that made me smile.

Photojournalist Saves Puppy

He saved the puppy and stayed true to his job. Now that’s what I call multitasking.

Tomorrow, I will write real content that will be awesome.

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Not to blow our own trumpet (most of you know anyway) but earlier this year we published a pretty awesome book. Of course ALL of our books are awesome, so let’s just say that this book is super awesome. You’d know it as The Principles of Beautiful Web Design written by Jason “the designer man” Beaird…

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t improve on Jason’s magnificent authoring job, so we’ve decided to do something a little different. I’d like to introduce you to…

The Principles of Beautiful Web Design – Hardcover Signature Edition

Yep, that’s right: this brilliant book is being released in super-durable and simply gorgeous hardcover format…

Don’t bother looking in your local bookstore or Amazon — these puppies are exclusive to sitepoint.com, and they’ll hit our warehouse on December 17.

There are only 1000 signature editions arriving, and we’re giving you, the SitePoint faithful, a chance to get in first!

Place your order before the 17th and it’ll be shipped the second the books arrive. The sooner you order, the more cash you’ll save…

Here’s how it’ll work:

• Order by December 3 and pay only US $39.95 (save 20%)
• Order by December 16 pay only US $44.95 (save 10%)
• Or you can pay the full price from December 17 onwards of US $49.95 (and save nothing!)

To sweeten the deal, you’ll also get a FREE PDF copy of the book (worth $29.95) and a FREE color reference card (worth $9.95) with every order.

Now I don’t need to convince anyone how good this book is — the 10,000 copies we sold in the first month are proof enough. Or perhaps the hundreds of positive reviews from people like you tell the story. There’s no denying it, this book rocks!

Here’s my favourite customer quote: “The chapter on color is worth the full cost of the book but then the rest is just icing. Really, really good icing.” Matt Gromes.

Perfect for your coffee table, or to replace your existing overworked copy, this signature edition also makes the ideal gift for a friend or colleague.

Be a part of SitePoint history by owning an exclusive copy of our first-ever hardcover book.

Secure your copy now!

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, RumorMonger, Fandom, Distribution, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images

Director Sam Raimi is asked once again about Spider-Man 4 … and he literally beats a reporter to near death. Read all about right here on Cinematical!

No, he didn’t hurt anyone (please, Raimi wouldn’t hurt a fly), but Comic Book Resources did ask him again about Spidey 4 … and they somehow managed to spin his answer into something that’s just slightly different from what we already know. He did say that as soon as the strike is over, he’ll begin working with a writer on the screenplay — but that it will be up to the writer whether they’ll continue the same storyline or mix things up a bit. What’s most important to Raimi? “I’d very much like to see Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, so I have a personal interest in that, but certainly anything’s possible.” Oohh, Kirsten Dunst just got bitch-slapped! Check out the full interview here.

Director Lexi Alexander’s new and (hopefully) improved Punisher flick has nabbed an interesting release date. Apparently, Lionsgate has scheduled Punisher: War Zone to be released on September 12, 2008 — a month that’s been kind as of late to genre pics like Underworld and Resident Evil. Rome’s Ray Stevenson stars as FBI agent Frank Castle, who arrives in New York to take on an underworld boss who plots to take over — wait for it — the underworld. Oh yes, they’re saving the aboveworld for the sequel. Julie Benz, Dominic West and Doug Hutchinson co-star. [via JoBlo]

Finally, for those who have always wanted to watch Shia LaBeouf hug another guy for an uncomfortably long time, new video and pics from the set of Eagle Eye have made their way online. JFX Online has a batch of LaBeouf stills, as well as video of the Spielberg apprentice shooting a few scenes while he frolics around the set. Disturbia director D.J. Caruso once again teams up with LaBeouf on a film about a young slacker and a single mom (Michelle Monaghan) who get all mixed up in a terrorist cell plotting a political assassination. Add to that the fact that LaBeouf really hugs a dude (”It’s okay Shia, it’s not your fault they signed you up for seventeen Transformers flicks”) … and you have the recipe for a delightful little thriller heading our way this August 8.

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Filed under: Cellphones, CES, Handhelds

Oh HTC, you cads. What did we find while carefully sifting through mountains of seemingly useless and definitely boring FCC data? Well, for starters, we unearthed reports on the HTC-made CLIO200, a heretofore unknown device that appears to be making its way through the approval process. Using our Miss Cleo-like “sixth sense,” we’ve discovered that the unit will sport CDMA, EV-DO, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. The FCC is referring to this little guy as a UMPC (and it does have the telltale air vents of a such a device), though it also seems like it could be a mobile phone of the TyTn variety (at least from the looks of the diagrams depicting it being held to a user’s ear). Despite this minor confusion, we can promise you that at the very least it is certainly not a Sony Clie, nor an Clio NXT. Want to get “all” the “details?” Direct your browser towards the FCC site and immerse yourself in a world of impenetrable digits and charts.

Update: As some of our astute readers have pointed out, this appears to be nothing more than the HTC Shift, no stranger to the pages of Engadget. We have no idea why the company has decided to start calling the device the Clio, but at least now that this mystery has been solved, we can all get some much needed rest.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Where is Bipasha? She is not in Bollywood and more importantly she is not with her hot dude John Abraham. Hey guys, she is in her hometown Kolkata.You might be thinking that she is spending some time with her parents. No yaar, she is busy shooting for her first Bengali film. She is enjoying this […]

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Filed under: Peripherals, e-Distribution Games

What is Aquatopia? We finally had a chance to play last week’s Eye download. Of course, using the word “play” might be a stretch. The interactive screensaver takes advantage of the Eye by allowing you to tap on the top of the water. Some fish will follow the motion the camera detects, which is an interesting novelty … but that’s all it is.

Unfortunately, Aquatopia simply doesn’t engage enough to warrant a purchase. Yes, it’s only $2 — but that could easily go towards more involving affairs. What Aquavita is sorely missing as a screensaver is the ability to launch when the PS3 is idle, akin to Folding@home. That simple addition might make it far more worthwhile. Forcing the game to launch defeats its “screensaver” purpose.

Visually, Aquatopia is okay. Seeing yourself in the reflection is meant to simulate the feel of looking into glass and it works. With just a little more interactivity, like the ability to drop fish food, we would’ve enjoyed this experience a lot more. Just pass on this one.

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Computers, Gift News

If you planned to get your hands on one of Amazon’s hot little eBook readers before Christmas, we’re hoping you’ve already ordered. Amazon’s Kindle reader dropped a few weeks ago and has already taken the world by storm — despite being little more advanced than Sony’s Reader. The Kindle is now so popular that Amazon can’t keep up with demand, indicating that any new orders won’t be delivered before Christmas.

Amazon’s product page now warns: “Because we ship Kindles on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. Your Kindle will not arrive by December 25th.”

We all know what that means: it’s time for eBay Kindle craziness. A quick search this morning showed auctions for new Kindles closing for well over $800, twice what Amazon is asking.

From The Raw Feed

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Related Links:

• Amazon’s New Kindle Displays eBooks and Newspapers
• Is the Amazon Kindle Really the iPod of Books?
• Verizon Wireless To Let You Use Any Phone On Its Network

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Filed under: Gaming, Household

We’ve seen Nintendo’s famed NES brought back to life thanks to a needle and some thread, and now Microsoft’s latest console is getting the hand-sewn treatment, too. eBayer inkyfingersjunior has apparently found his / her calling in life, as these Xbox 360 plush pillows look pretty snazzy. The units reportedly take some five hours to create and measure almost the same size as their functioning counterparts, ‘cept these come with a little extra fluff and a lot less hardware. Currently, a number of variations are available to the highest bidder, but we can’t help but favor the comical “Red Ring of Death” edition. Good luck resisting, fanboys.

[Via Xbox360Fanboy]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Time Warner (TWX), Economic data, DJIA

Fortune — which like BloggingStocks is owned by Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) — believes that the stock market needs to fall another 18% in order to put equity investment risk and return back in balance. Thanks to what it calls the equity risk premium — the amount of additional return over risk-free treasury bills that an investor needs to justify buying riskier stocks — the market has further to fall.

How did Fortune arrive at the 18% drop? It calculates the current equity risk premium by adding stocks’ earnings yield which it gets by flipping the market’s P/E on its head (calculating E/P) to the inflation rate and then subtracts the t-bill yield. Then it compares the current value with the long run equity risk premium to conclude that stocks have a ways to fall before their prices align with that long-run value.

Here are the numbers. The market currently trades at a PE of 16 — but based on adjustments to remove short term spikes by Yale market guru Robert Schiller — Fortune uses a PE of 22 — which is the inverse of the market’s earnings yield of 4.5%. Investors expect equity returns of 7% — calculated by adding expected inflation of 2.5% to that 4.5%. To get the equity risk premium of 3% Fortune subtracted the 10-year treasury rate of 4% from that 7% expected return. Got that?

But we’re not there yet. Over the past 50 years, the risk premium has averaged around 5%. Given the ease of diversifying portfolios and the Fed’s ability to smooth economic cycles, investors only need 4%. To get from the current equity risk premium of 3% to long run level of 4%, Fortune calculates that stocks still need to drop an additional 18%.

Technology stocks like Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) are likely to take a hit. Google’s P/E now stands at 52 — so an investor expecting a 10% annual return would need Google’s market capitalization to double to more than $400 billion by 2014. Even if Google kept a P/E of 30, it would need to earn $13 billion by then. Today, it earns about $4 billion. So its profits would need to more than quadruple in seven years. That seems like quite a stretch to me.

What do to about this 18% market tumble? You could sell now and wait for the market to fall and then buy back in when it hits bottom. Unfortunately, nobody rings a bell for you when that happens. Or you could just prepare for a rocky ride and hold onto your stocks for the long run.

Update: How did Fortune arrive at the 18% decline? To get the equity risk premium from 3% to 4%, the E/P has to rise from 4.5 to 5.5. This is equivalent to a P/E decline from 22 to 18, which is 18% (22-18)/22. If Fortune had assumed that stocks would converge on their 50 year equity risk premium of 5%, the E/P would need to rise to 6.5 — the P/E equivalent would drop from 22 to 15.4 — representing a 30% decline.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Google or Time Warner securities.

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