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Turn your iPhone into a microscope for $10

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Surely it can't be too hard to make this. Photo: Kenji Yoshino/MAKE
Surely it can't be too hard to make this. Photo: Kenji Yoshino/Make

Taking macros of your monitor or American Apparel hoodie with your iPhone is so last year.

A Make Magazine tutorial shows you how to make a powerful microscope with up to 375x magnification using just your iPhone, a clear plastic panel, a piece of plywood and some inexpensive hardware.

If you’re a DIY-er that knows how to drill holes and take apart a laser pointer on a keychain, you could be taking super up-close pictures of cricket legs and your cat’s tongue before you know it.

Get These Five Great Mac Games For Under $15

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kotorLG

It’s the weekend–time to relax, chill out, play some video games. You know, the usual. We checked out the new Mac Game Store app today to see what was on special, and found a ton of great games for $15 and less. Here they are, all available from the new Mac Game Store app or website. All of these are great games (except that sixth one, but it’s great for nostalgic reasons alone), so consider it money well spent.

The Pi Mount Is As Cute As Pie, And Cheaper

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If you were to divide $9 by π, you'd get $2.86. Just saying, is all.

 

 

$9. Nine lousy dollars. With nine bucks, there’s no way you could make an iPhone stand this good, even buying parts from the cheapest of hardware stores. Hell, the only way to make a functional iPhone holder with $9 is to head to the bank, buy a roll of quarters and sit the iPhone up on top.

Which is hardly as elegant as this very practical-looking Pi Mount.

 

Fuzel Does Photo Grid Layouts Just Right [Review]

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Fuzel is another one-dollar photo collage maker for iOS. There are dozens of others, so what marks this one out?

Well actually it’s rather impressive. To start with, it has a lovely natural interface that begins with the faux-textured front cover of a photo album, with your most recent creation poking through a hole. Swipe this aside, and keep swiping through your creations, just as you would with a real album.

Just Buy Yearly And Stop Forgetting Other People’s Birthdays [Review]

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Hands up if you forget birthdays all the damn time. Hey, whoa, slow down. I can’t see all of you at the back. Waaaaay too many hands. Wait. No, OK, hands down. Let’s do this differently.

We’ll forget about the counting bit, and just assume that pretty much everyone forgets birthdays and ends up hating themselves just a tiny bit more each time. Especially when a few months later, the person whose birthday you forgot remembers yours, and sends a perfectly judged gift too. Dammit.

Serenity App Hopes To Soothe Away The Worries Of The Day [Review]

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New from Tap Tap Tap is Serenity, a relaxation app for iPhone or iPad.

Relaxation app? What’s one of those? It’s an app for relaxing by; in this case, a digital jukebox of all things peaceful, calm, tranquil, and imperturbable. It plays sounds and moving images to lull you to sleep, or at least to a less troubled state. It’s an anti-alarm clock. Without the clock.

EA Is Giving Away Games For The Holidays

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dailydeals

Ever since Electronic Artists (EA) started investing in the mobile games scene, the company has produced a flurry of titles that have been a big hit with Apple fans. With the combination of console to iOS ports (FIFA 12, NBA JAM, Dead Space) and original content made exclusively for iOS (Max & the Magic Marker, Fantasy Safari), EA has become one of the hottest game developers for the iPhone and iPad.

Now that we’re rolling into the holiday season, EA is starting to feel the Christmas spirit and has created a “Daily Deals” page that highlights new deals on their most popular games.

How Would Apple Make A $50 iPhone? [iFixIt Q&A]

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Earlier this week, a report surfaced claiming that Apple is currently working on a more affordable model of its iPhone 4, which is set to launch alongside the iPhone 5 later this year. The device will reportedly be aimed at those looking to purchase an iPhone with a tight budget, and will have just 8GB of storage in order to keep costs down.

This got us thinking: how would Apple bring down the price of an iPhone 4 to appeal to low-cost subscribers? How exactly would they make an iPhone 4 that would cost $50 or so with a two year contract? We’ve been speaking to Miroslav Djuric of iFixita popular online repair shop that produces how-to repair guides and tear-downs — to try and find out, and we think we know how Apple would do it. Here’s how.