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• 10 Strange Gadget Situations Caught on Camera
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• Rainn Wilson on His Nikon DSLR Short Film, and Why Dwight Would Taste Banhammer
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Stunning, isn't it? Apparently every single of the itty-bitty windows in the model can be lit up and there are effects to simulate day and night time. I guess that it's not surprising that the electricity costs alone are making mini-Moscow enough of an expense to get pushed onto the auction block.

Oh, if only I had the space and money to spare. I could be a Russian Godzilla. [Atlas Obscura]

Sometimes the journeys we take through this life begin and end in the most unexpected ways. My encounter with Welles in the last days of his life centered on a common interest: Sony's new one-piece camcorder, the Betacam. It had just come to market and Welles, always the genius filmmaker, had big ideas for what he could do with one. With Welles there were no limits. "You can't do that" wasn't in his vocabulary. This was a short, but very passionate story.

At the time I was running Television Matrix, a small video production facility in the Sunset-Gower Studios in Hollywood. I had been in California only a short time, having moved from Miami the previous summer. I had started in video production in 1975 and had been shooting mostly news for the networks throughout Latin America. Business was good because the networks were switching from film to tape in this period and they were short of video crews. In late 1982, I purchased something totally new—one of the first Sony Betacams delivered in the United States.

Beta Goes To Hollywood

One of our clients in Miami had been Entertainment Tonight. During a lull in a location shoot with Robin Leach, then an ET correspondent, I'd shown him the new Betacam. Leach had been offered a chance to do his own television show, but could find no one in the mid-1980s who could bring in a one-hour episode for his very low budget of $100,000. The Betacam, Leach thought, might be the answer.

"Could this work?" he asked me at the time. "Maybe," I responded. Only the Sony Betacam camcorder—the first one-piece camera and recorder ever made—and a standalone player existed. To edit, one would need to connect the player to another format to finish the work. That would mean integration with a one-inch Type C format system.

Leach made me an offer. If I could figure out how to make all the technology work, he would move me and my crews to LA to do the production on his new reality show. That motivated me to call Charles Felder, then the president of the tiny Sony Broadcast office in New York. My timing couldn't have been better. It turns out that Sony had the same thoughts about how to extend the Betacam and I had brought them the right project at the right moment. In a flash, we made a deal. In exchange for a small financial investment on my part, Sony would build an experimental facility in LA. They would make it a "first" that they'd advertise and show to others in Hollywood.

The Hottest Video Editing Suite in Town

The prospects were exciting for everyone. An elated Robin Leach began to plan for the new show, and I, along with several freelance crew members that I had worked with, moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1984. One of the reasons we picked the Sunset-Gower lot (the old Columbia Pictures Studios) was it housed the broadcast center for the 1994 Olympics in LA that summer. When the Olympics ended, the networks would have a huge fire sale of their used broadcast equipment on the same lot. I had targeted the pieces we needed in advance, bought the gear, and moved it to our new edit bay days after the games ended.

We were lucky enough to hire Jim Fancher, now chief science officer at Technicolor in Hollywood, to build the facility. He was far more than a brilliant engineer. As a hands-on "can do" guy, he was also a natural-born negotiator who could coordinate the different technical approaches of companies whose gear would not work together. I will always picture Jim lying on his back under a rack of gear talking with tech support at some company about why their product wouldn't work.

Somehow, thanks to Jim, it all came together on time and on budget. By fall, we were ready. The show, now called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, went on the air. To be honest, I thought it was dumb idea that would last for one season if we were lucky. All I really cared about was that we had moved to Los Angeles and that Leach had paid for everything. I was ready for whatever came next. I can honestly say it was one of the great shocks of my life when the show became a major hit. I was totally unready for it.

We had built the first interformat edit bay in the nation (Betacam to one-inch), and Lifestyles was the first major magazine show to be shot using the new format. We had made history. The cost of television production had come down—way down. At least by half. Word spread fast and we were running facility tours in no time. Sony even hired Milton Berle to do a two-page ad for the facility and the technology concept behind it.

Enter Orson

A freelance editor for our show, Paul Hunt, also did some sound work for the legendary actor/director/producer/genius Orson Welles. He told Welles about our Betacam facility, now running almost around the clock, and from that moment on the great man's insatiable curiosity about every new sound and imaging technology took over. Welles wanted to meet me, and thus came a lunch invitation many film buffs would have died for.

To be honest, I knew very little about Welles. I had majored in television and radio at the University of South Carolina in the 1960s and it was hard to escape the many contributions Welles made to the broadcast and film industries. From audio special effects to remarkable moving dolly shots, Welles was a genius of the first order. But outside of having seen Citizen Kane, I didn't know the details of his career nor did I pretend to.

Our first lunch at Welles' favorite haunt, Ma Maison, was a roaring success. For reasons I still don't fully understand, we hit it off. Welles was curious about all things video, especially the Betacam, a device he envisioned to be an Arriflex camera that didn't need film. As our first meeting continued, Welles' small dog, who was seated at the table next to me, kept nipping at my leg. It was annoying, but I didn't dare take a swat at Orson Welles' beloved dog!

That lunch led to many others throughout 1985. In the earlier days of our relationship, he tested me in strange ways. One night, after midnight, Orson (he insisted that everyone call him Orson) called to ask for help in solving a sound problem he claimed to be having. He was recording and editing some narration on his Nagra tape recorder in his bedroom in the hills above Hollywood Blvd.

"Frank, after I do a splice with a razor blade, I get a bump in the sound when I play back the tape. What should I do?" he asked. This was a very strange question from the man who had practically invented modern sound recording. He had scared the nation with War of the Worlds and was asking me such a basic question about audio editing. Though half asleep, I knew he had to know the answer and instantly recognized it as some sort of test.

"Orson, your razor blade is magnetized. Get another one," I answered. "Oh, OK," he responded, apologizing for waking me and then promptly said goodbye. I went back to sleep and never heard of the issue again.

"Call Sony. Make It Work!"

As he learned more about video camcorders and nonlinear editing, Orson became determined to do a video project of his own. We visited New England Digital for a demo of nonlinear sound editing on the Synclavier. As for video, Orson wasn't content with just renting a Montage, one of the first non-linear video editors. He wanted his own, and he wanted it to sit next to his flatbed film editor at home.

As the talk turned to money (it always did in Orson's case), I offered to contribute video facilities and help him raise money for a one-man show to be called Orson Welles Solo. The production would be a retrospective of Orson's favorite theatrical material along with a big dose of magic—both new tricks and archival footage from Orson's glory days as a working magician. Our facility was already booked around the clock, but it didn't stop me from promising Orson anything he wanted.

Through a long and convoluted series of events (and with the help of the late Paul Rothchild, producer of The Doors, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Janis Joplin), the money was raised and the production was set to begin. Now Orson focused on how he'd use the two Betacams we'd secured to shoot the show.

Just as he had accepted no conventional technical limitations when he made Citizen Kane in 1940, Orson approached video in the same unrelenting way. In 1985, Betacams had Saticon tubes—not CCD sensors—and their ability to sync to one another via time code was, to put it mildly, a bit crude. Orson didn't care. He demanded that the handheld Betacams float around the set wirelessly and always be in perfect sync. He also directed that we shoot directly into bright lights and he didn't want to hear about any problems with lag.

"Call Sony and tell them to make it work," Orson demanded, slamming his fist on a table at one point. "Don't ever tell me 'No.'" I called Sony, and Sony responded by sending two expert engineers to help Orson push the video envelope on the project.

The day before the shoot was to begin in November, 1985, the Betacams were tweaked to the max. The jury-rigs—and there were a lot of them—were tested and re-tested. Every engineer and crew member that was to be in Orson's field of view was told that the words "you can't do that" were to be stricken from their vocabulary. With this project, I demanded, we will find a way to do any and everything Orson wants to do. All the old excuses about the limits of video will be left at the front door.

On the Evening Before the Big Shoot

As technical preparations for the shoot continued, Orson taped an appearance in the late afternoon on Merv Griffin's syndicated talk show. Normally, Orson disdained conversations about his past. He'd always say he wanted to talk about the future, not "go down memory lane." But, uncharacteristically, he did go down memory lane that afternoon with his old friend, Merv. Orson charmed the audience, both with stories and card tricks.

After the show, Orson had dinner at Ma Maison and then headed home to finish writing the script for our first taping, now only hours away. Our first day of shooting was to be in auditorium on the UCLA campus. Orson would call when he was ready for us to go to the location.

The next morning, as I awaited those instructions from Orson in my office, the phone rang. It was Paul Rothchild.

"Did you hear the news," he asked gently.

"What news?" I replied.

"Orson Welles is dead."

Orson had died of a heart attack during the night. He was found slumped over his typewriter, working on our script. Minutes later, a Welles assistant called and said bluntly: "Frank, the project has been canceled."

Welles' Legacy and Love of New Technology

I drove home—numb and unable to function. After the initial days of despair, my incredible year working with Orson Welles took on a new dimension. A new journey would begin. Those same Betacams were used to record Orson's memorial service a few weeks later and that event, in turn, introduced me to the remarkable men and women who had been associated with Welles from his days with the Mercury Theater. The film critic Leonard Maltin and I did a documentary with these fascinating people, and I later produced, with Mercury Theater actor Richard Wilson, a retrospective of Orson's best radio work from his personal tape collection.

A couple of weeks after Orson's death, his cinematographer, the late Gary Graver, came by my office for a visit. Gary said something I will never forget.

"I've been driving around for two weeks with Orson's ashes in the truck of my car," he said, matter of factly.

"What?" I responded, quickly envisioning a fender bender with the Hollywood legend's ashes being scattered across an LA freeway.

"I'm not going to take them into my house," Graver said, almost fearing the prospect. "What should I do?"

I thought for a minute, looked a Graver, and said, "I don't know." Some months later, Welles' ashes were buried in Ronda, Spain, on the property of a longtime friend, retired bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez.

The demise of our video project left me yearning to do some kind of major Welles project to fill the void. As I reviewed our time together, I recalled an extraordinary story that Welles had taken nearly two hours to tell me on a leisurely Saturday afternoon a few months earlier. It was about the events surrounding his production of Marc Blitzstein's musical, The Cradle Will Rock, in 1937. It was, Welles told me, the only time in U.S. history that the military was sent out to shut down a Broadway play. He wanted to make a movie about it, but had failed to raise the money.

That was it. I would try to get the film made. It took the support of many of Welles' original Mercury colleagues—including the late actor/producer John Houseman—and a lot of crazy investors to keep the project alive over the years. Most importantly, it took Tim Robbins, who recognized the power of the story early on and spent most of 1990s writing and directing the film that eventually came to the screen.

Houseman once said that it's rare in this life to be touched by real genius. Welles, said Houseman, was the real thing—perhaps the only real genius he'd ever known. Now, I understand what he meant. Welles, long before most filmmakers, saw the powerful potential of small format video. Yet, he was perhaps 20 years too early to enjoy the real fruits of the video revolution in his own work.

Whenever I see a tiny new camcorder introduced, or see Apple upgrade a revolutionary application like iMovie, I think of Orson. Oh, how excited he'd be. The pure magic of it all! If he were alive today, he'd be making his movies without regard to raising huge amounts of money. That, for both Orson and his audience, would be an achievement that we'll never be able to enjoy.

Frank Beacham is a New York City-based independent writer at www.beachamjournal.com. Beacham was executive producer of the 1999 Touchstone Films release of Tim Robbins film, Cradle Will Rock. He and George Demas have written Maverick, a new play based on the events described in this story.

Top CC image from Scary Cow/Flickr; shot of Orson with camera from MovieMail, which sells the brilliant latter-day Welles documentary F for Fake.

Those are my favorite charts in the bunch (and probably the most useful ones), but you can follow the links to check out the rest. My only request is that you give me a cozy cabin somewhere peaceful when you use this knowledge to succeed where I've failed. [Flickr via Bibliodyssey via io9]

This was the decade of the first face transplant, the first extinct species brought back from the dead, and printable human tissue; a decade that brought us closer to synthetic life forms and the invisibility cloak. But we've whittled it down to ten of the decade's biggest science stories, with discoveries, advances, and topics that are sure to change our lives in the next ten years.

It's Full of Planets: This was a big decade for planets, and not just because Pluto got a downgrade. In 2005, astronomers discovered Eris, a dwarf planet larger Pluto (as well as smaller dwarf planets Haumea and Makemake). Eris' discovery prompted the International Astronomical Union to actually define the term planet, leading to Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet. But the discovery of Eris after all this time suggests there is still a lot to learn about our solar system.

We also got our first direct look at exoplanets, worlds outside our solar system, thanks to the Hubble Telescope. In 2008, astronomers at the Keck and Gemini captured the first images of planets orbiting distant stars. And the planetary discoveries just keep getting more exciting; just this week, astronomers announced that they had observed a super-Earth that might be made largely of liquid water.

Water, Water Everywhere: The world watched on as the Phoenix Lander dug through the Martian terrain for signs of water on the Red Planet. In the summer of 2008, NASA announced it had found definitive proof of water ice on Mars. More recently, scientists discovered that large deposits of water ice exist beneath the planet's surface. This fall, the moon became the center of our watery attention when astronomers found evidence of water throughout the moon's surface. Although the supervillainous plot to bomb the moon didn't seem as initially impressive as we had hoped, the probe did confirm researchers' suspicions that the moon does, in fact, contain a significant amount of frozen water. These discoveries not only reveal more about our solar system, they indicate that, should humans try to colonize Mars or the moon, there will be resources to make survival a little easier.

Shaking Up the Human Family Tree: Humanity got a new great-great-grandmother (or perhaps she's our great-great-great-aunt) in Ardi, a fossilized hominid skeleton found in Ethiopia. Granted, Ardipithecus ramidus was discovered in 1992, but it wasn't until 2009 that she was revealed as a significant addition to our family tree. Although there's technically no "missing link" because humans didn't evolve from chimpanzees, Ardi is, so far, our closest link to chimps, and brings us closer to the common human-chimp ancestor than ever before. Analysis of Ardi's skeleton and probably anatomy reveals just how unlike either chimps that common ancestor is bound to be. One of the Ardi researchers even quipped that when we find that common ancestor, it might look less like we evolved from a chimp-like creature and more like chimps evolved from creatures more like us.

The Book of Life Recorded: Our understanding of human genetics reached a new milestone with the mapping of the human genome. The Human Genome Project announced a rough draft of the human genome in 2000, followed by a more complete version in 2003; the sequence of the last chromosome was published in 2006. Though the genome hasn't been 100 percent mapped, the Human Genome Project has completed its mapping goals. We still have to interpret the sequences we have recorded, but hopefully as we translate the book of our genetic lives, we will get a better understand of how our genes interact and improve our treatment of genetic diseases. Plus, the project has paved the way for sequencing other critters and plants, and, just this week, the lung cancer and melanoma genomes were sequenced.

Changing Your Genes: The promises of genetic engineering have really begun to bear fruit in the last few years, in ways far beyond Alba, the glowing transgenic bunny that grabbed headlines in 2000. In 1999, an 18-year-old with a, inherited liver disease died during a gene therapy trial, after suffering an unanticipated immune reaction to a viral vector. But in more recent years, gene therapy and genetic engineering have shown their promise. In 2000, scientists reported the first gene therapy success, having provided a patient with severe combine immunodeficiency (commonly known as "Bubble Boy" syndrome), though SCID gene therapy treatments were halted when patients developed leukemia. This year, gene therapy successfully treated children with a congenital form of blindness, giving them the ability to see for the first time in their lives. Meanwhile, genetic engineering experiments on animals have cured color blindness in monkeys, created super-strong monkeys, created drug-producing rats, and enabled animals to pass their altered genes to their offspring.

Stem Cells Grow Up: Embryonic stem cells have been a source of contention for years, but in 2007, Shinya Yamanaka helped sidestep that issue when he found a way to reprogram adult skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Stem cells themselves have continued to aid important medical advances. In 2008, researchers generated motor neurons from elderly patients with ALS, an advance that could help researchers better understand the disease. A newly released study has suggested that a mini stem cell transplant could reverse sickle cell disease, and stem cell research has lead to advances in HIV research and the treatment of heart disease.

Climate Change Takes Center Stage: One of the biggest science stories of the decade has been less about scientific advances than about how the public responds to scientific research. Reports that the glaciers are melting faster than expected, a decade of record warmth, and Al Gore's Nobel Prize have all been part of the conversation on climate change and to what extent humans are responsible.

Commercial Spacecrafts Prepare to Take Flight: Amidst NASA budget cuts, commercial spaceflight has come to the forefront. The Ansari X Prize, first offered in 1996 for the first private enterprise that could fly a three-passenger vehicle 100 kilopmeters into space twice in one week. In 2004, the prize was finally won by Mojave Aerospace Ventures' SpaceShipOne. That same year, Virgin Galactic was founded to further space tourism. The company recently unveiled SpaceShipTwo, the first commercial spacecraft. 2004 also saw the certification of the Mojave Air and Space Port, the first licensed facility for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft in the US. In anticipation of the spaceflight business, one company claims it's readying a space hotel.

Our Cyborg Present: In the last decade, humans and machines have gotten closer than ever. We have machines that can read our memories, computers that let us type with our brains, and robotic arms controlled by monkey minds. Perhaps the most impressive cyborg advances have come in the last few months, with researchers hooking amputees up to robotic arms that not only respond to electrical signals from the human brain, but also provide tactile feedback.

The LHC Comes Online: The Large Hadron Collider has just begun colliding proton beams, but its construction represents one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings ever. The immense particle accelerator will hopefully give us first-hand observations of aspects of the universe that have been, thus far, the realm of theoretical physics. Despite fears from doomsayers that the LHC would destroy the world and a series of mishaps that led to claims that the device was being sabotaged from the future, the LHC came online this year and quickly got to smashing protons at record-breaking speeds.

This strange contraption is a DIY plenoptic camera.

Still don't know what that is? I didn't either, but Make explained that "instead of capturing a flat, 2D array of pixels, a plenoptic camera uses an array of microlenses to capture 4D lightfield data. This data can then be processed to create a final image that is focused on any part of the scene." Basically, this means that it takes a lot of little images from different viewpoints and those can then be transformed into your ideal picture. If you want to get dreamy about describing this process, you could say that it lets you travel back in time and fix bad focusing mistakes of the past.

It looks crazy in action, too:

You can follow the links to Futurepicture and actually read all about how to make one of these camera rigs yourself. And if you do that: Please send along some images. I have a fascination with these trippy, crazy things. [Futurepicture via Team Droid via Make]

It even throws LED ground effects when producing steam. Seriously, even if you aren't drying up from the weather, it might be worth the $108 price tag to gut it for a PC case. [Japan Trend Shop via 7Gadgets]

Featured workspaces cover a wide range of designs, budgets, and occupations. We've featured entire offices, individual offices, home offices, workspaces, work benches, and every possible configuration of places therein. Wherever you get things done, we love to see and hear about it.

The following are the 25 most popular workspaces of 2009. Each featured workspace includes additional photos and sometimes video of the workspace, so click on the name of the workspace to check out additional photos and information about it.

If you want to give your workspace a shot at fame in 2010, make sure to check out our guide to photographing your workspace for fame and fortune and then then post it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell pool!

Before and After: Barren Attic to Programmer's Paradise

One of the most popular workspaces we featured in 2009, Mitch's home office was a makeover to behold. He totally gutted his attic and rebuilt the entire thing as a programmer's paradise.

Floating Monitors and Hidden Peripherals

Lifehacker reader acflynn put together a home office with a lot of functional style. The small shelf beneath his monitors actually houses his network gear.

Office on the Forest's Edge

What can you say about reader Peter Frazier's office? It's awesome. It's built into a cliff with a scenic view. It's got grass growing on the roof!

Building The Ultimate Dorm Desk

When you're a DIYer with a desire to build an epic desk for your dorm room, it helps to have access to good tools and materials. One Lifehacker reader used great gear and forward-looking design to craft an ultimate dorm desk.

The Trap Door Desk

How do you maintain a completely uncluttered workspace, but also keep access to basic tools and peripherals? You build, as Lifehacker reader Roitsch did, a desk with a large storage compartment in the middle.

The Computer Cabinet Office

Lifehacker reader Steve Price had a two-fold problem. His previous desk was short on space for all his monitors and the noise and heat generated by having all his computers under the desk was unpleasant. By taking advantage of an alcove in his computer room he was able to cut down on the heat and noise substantially.

The Well-Planned Dorm Room

Just because you're in college doesn't mean that your room has to be a cluttered mess of schoolwork, piled with unwashed clothes, and overseen by John Belushi posters. Check out today's featured workspace to see a well planned room.

Custom Wire Management for Multi-Monitor Bliss

Brian Connolly was tired of cramped desks and messy wiring, so he built his own desk and wire management system to have the spacious and tidy spread he desired.

The Mac-tacular Lair

Lifehacker reader m2j2 has invested quite a bit of time, creativity, and cold, hard cash into his office setup. The result is an office that is not only visually appealing but packed with enough shiny tech toys to cover all sorts of work and play. His office is set up to handle just about anything he wants to throw at it, short of planning a zombie apocalypse resistance, although don't quote me on that—for all we know, the office is in an abandoned missile silo.

Unidentified Floating Desk

Brett wanted to get his monitor off his desk, but didn't want to waste money on an expensive mounting arm. With the addition of some lumber and LEDs, problem solved!

The Innovative Office

Lifehacker reader and architect Jeremy Levine has a spacious and well lit office that will likely be the envy of cubicle-dweller and telecommuter alike. Jeremy's office features a vaulted ceiling with exposed recycled wood beams and a combines clerestory and transom windows to bring in a huge amount of natural light and create an expansive work environment.

The Hidden Cable Workspace

Lifehacker reader Tomas Carrillo—responsible for sharing the handy chain sinnet method of cable tidying with us—has the kind of neat workspace you'd expect from a guy with that kind of cable wrangling knowledge.

The Triple-Monitor Haven

Combine dark colors, ample desk space, and an arc of viewing pleasure, and you've got a workspace dear to many a geek's heart. Throw in a few toys like an Ambient Orb and a break now and then to play some video games on a nearly wraparound display and the deal is sealed.

Handcrafted and Free Floating: The Wraparound Workspace

One of the best ways to cut down on cable clutter is to get all your equipment and cables right off the floor, so cables can never drape across the floor in the first place. Louis' workspace uses a system of shelves to keep everything in a position where the cords travel the shortest distance possible.

The Quad Monitor Alcove

Lifehacker reader Mandrake has assembled quite a setup for himself. From the custom ergonomic chair to the tilting work surface of the ergonomic desk, the workspace is geared for long term comfort.

The Serene Workspace

Lifehacker reader Schodts has been tweaking and tuning his workspace setup for some time. The current incarnation is a pleasing multi-monitor setup with plenty of space to work. Thanks to a wall mount for the TV and a repurposed glass table top turned monitor shelf the common desktop fixtures like monitor stands, phones, and pencil cups have been lifted off the desk freeing up more space.

Before and After: The Wire Loom Workspace

This featured workspace belongs to Lifehacker reader tehdik. He was pretty happy with this workspace, save for the enormous tangle of wires under his desk. Thanks to its sleek glass surface, he could see the mess not only across the room but every minute he was at his work station. Finally he'd had enough of the mess and ordered some supplies to make short work of it.

The Attic Playground

If we had to guess how Lifehacker reader edgefactor627 came about the idea of having such a pile of goodies in his attic, we'd have to go with him having a strong desire to serve as a beacon of fun for the whole neighborhood, drawn to the signal of condensed awesomeness in the highest room in his house.

The Floating Shelves and Hidden Cables Workspace

Lifehacker reader msweston took some basic building blocks from IKEA and assembled them into a sleek workspace with well manged cables and a tidy layout.

Before and After: The Loft Workstation

Lifehacker reader aloftindenver lives, shockingly enough, in a a loft in Denver. They've been cataloging their adventures in furnishing the loft-largely by creating their own designs and furniture-at their blog A Loft In Denver. While we'd highly recommend reading over the entire blog, especially if you're into loft living and modern design, what really caught our eye is the amazingly sleek workspace they built from scratch.

The Mac Lover's Bedroom

This featured workspace pulls off the office-as-bedroom tact without introducing clutter or bulk into the bedroom. Tucked neatly in the corner and with dual monitors to boot, reader ryopang can get work done in style in his bedroom office

Before and After: The Benefits of Basic Tidying and Cable Management

It doesn't float, spin, flash, or appear to contain glowing alien spore, but today's featured workspace gets the job done in a very practical and tidy way. Lifehacker reader Dani Cela just needed to tame the mess of cables at his feet and tidy up.

White Space and LEDs

This featured workspace is an example of how you don't have to spend a fortune to have a fun and functional workspace with a solid dose of style. Obviously Apple products don't come cheap, so we'll discount the presence of a gorgeous and pricey Apple screen as part of the total cost of the space. The rest of the space is composed of simple and inexpensive items, like $89 IKEA Vika Gruvan desktop and a comically large clothespin for temporally stashing important papers.

Land of the Colorful Cubes

Cubes are the antithesis of individuality. Tiny, colorless combs in the hive of industry, right? Not if you work at The Balcom Agency in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Media Mecca

What do you do when you and your roommate are media-loving computer geeks? Why, turn your mutual living room into a mecca of computing and media magic, of course!

Crispin Porter Co-Chairman Alex Bogusky (profiled here) posted the shot to demonstrate CP's massive real-time job management system, which clearly lists two ad campaigns, on January 4th and 8th, for "Windows Phone," first as "Windows Phone Q3 Media Refresh" and second as "09 Windows Phone Banners." So who knows what the actual timing for these ads will be, but its a safe bet that ads will be previewed at CES in some way. (Crispin Porter, by the way, was responsible for the Seinfeld Ad campaign).

It filters water through a double activated charcoal filter in less than ten minutes, and can produce up to six cups of tea or coffee. The Coffee + Tea Maker just became available in the UK here, though there's no word yet on if or when it will come to the US. Hurry up, people that make these decisions! My Dunkin' Donuts grounds might not taste great, but with this they can at least look it. [Design Museum Shop via Unplggd]

The Apps

Honorable Mentions

Raytheon: This is a company that's actively developing iPhone apps for military field use; that they're making a Flight Control-esque iPhone game for us civvies is compelling, for sure. Alas, this app does not exist yet.

The Santa Game: Because it's Christmas, y'all! Almost! And also because navigating a disembodied Santa head out of these mazes is pretty fun.

Avatar: It's a massive third-person adventure game that is absolutely worth a look if James Cameron's new HYPERFILM piques your interest. But really, your $10 should be going toward an IMAX ticket this weekend—save this one for after the initial joy and or/headache has dissipated.

Lou Zoom: Lou Reed—yes, that Lou Reed—made an iPhone app for people with vision problems who have trouble seeing their contact list, or for people who really enjoy massive typography.

This Week's iPhone News On Giz

• Surprisingly, iPhone Takes Over the Weird Japanese Smartphone Market

• Inappropriate App Store Icons, Right Here

• Simpson Arcade iPhone Preview: Steeped in Authenticity

• FSJ's Anti-AT&T Manifesto Makes Me Raise My Fist in Solidarity

• AT&T Has Spent Less on Network Construction Every Quarter Since the iPhone's Launch

• Swedes Camping Outside Apple HQ Asking Steve Jobs to Approve Their App

• The iPhone as a Friend and Foe Tracking War Machine

• Control Your Mac With an iPhone, the Patent

• AT&T Dismisses Operation Chokehold as an "Irresponsible and Pointless Scheme"

• The StickyStrap Is the Weirdest iPhone Holder/Case/Stand I've Ever Seen

• Microsoft: Maybe We Should've Paid More Attention to That iPhone Thingamabob

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Seriously, I wish all computers came like this from the factory. Or at least mine. Check Nick's photographies and how-to documentation at [Bit-Tech]

The only problem is that, at 13-foot in diameter and 5.25-feet high, I doubt it will fit anywhere in our apartment. The XXXLamp uses three white light sources, but you can order it with RGB LED sources to achieve any color you want at any time with a remote controller, like the much smaller Philips Livingcolors Lamp. Oh prettiness. [Eden Design via Dezeen]

Apparently this thief grabbed all the store displays he could find, and "didn't bother to unplug any cords, so he struggled to get the monitors free." He caused so much damage during his escapade that the owner of the store stated that he would've rather "given the man cash than go through this" mess.

Geez. When someone would rather give you money than deal with the mess you leave after your burglary, it's time to find a different gig. [KSL—Thanks, Fred D!]

[Reddit]

With Avatar in theaters, the stakes are simply too high to risk losing a film to some pudgy fat boy film school drop out who is convinced his personal commentary is just as important as the countless hours of work that have gone into the filmmaking process.

The following are a list of rules and responses that I feel, as a society, we need to deem socially acceptable to assimilate into our communal fabric.

6-Inch Voices, Or Group Humiliation
I know I'm coming off rude already. The occasional quiet comment to the person beside you, that's totally fine by me. But If I can hear you from over two seats away, chances are, you need to shut the fuck up (throughout life, possibly, but definitely in the theater). If a person makes loud comments that a single "shhh" doesn't thwart, everyone around them should stand, point and loudly ask them to leave (with liberal use of expletives). It'll be a painful, distracting experience, but chances are, it won't be needed again.

Really, It's OK To Tell People to Shut Up
I know I just made this point, but I want to make it abundantly clear: telling talkers to shut up is OK. You are doing all of the shy, weak and first daters who want to enjoy a movie but not lose out on a potential post-film grope a huge favor. Let's just make an oath, right now, to support one another against the talkers, be they intimidatingly muscley or not. Let's acknowledge a silent brotherhood, poised to attack at the slightest breach of conduct.

If You Pull Out a Cellphone During a Movie, You Relinquish All Rights to It
I don't care if you have it's on vibrate or turned to silent. Any cellphone pulled from a pocket during a movie—most probably a Sidekick—that's glowing in the corner of the entire audience's eye is now communal property. It can and should be yanked from the offender's hand and chucked across the room to break against the nearest hard surface. The offender's head is one such potential surface.

Bathroom Exits, OK, Refills, Not OK
We've all overestimated the endurance of our bladders. And as you grow older, you realize that uncontrollable bodily functions are something we all just need to be adults about. If someone walks out during a pivotal scene because they NEED to go, well, that's alright. But if they take their empty popcorn bucket with them, proceed with skepticism. Do they look like they needed to use the bathroom while they were up? No? Then tripping them on the way back is totally Kosher.

Honor Those Who Watch Credits
In the theater, credits are part of the film. It's your option to watch them, but should you elect not to, do not disturb those around you who enjoy finishing a film by celebrating all those who made it possible. That means, no standing in front of someone seated to finish the credits (a quick, polite pass is OK). And maybe save that thing you NEED to say for the hallway or the parking lot, rather than voice it right as the film fades to black. Offenses in this realm will not elicit punishment, but you may be deemed "tacky."

Oh, But None Of This Applies to Kids Movies on a Tuesday Afternoon
Once again, I'm not an evil or malicious person (by nature). If you're watching some Shrek sequel, especially during a matinee, pretty much anything goes—for children. Adults who are offending any of the above rules in ways not directly resulting from or related to a child's actions are fair game for fair punishment.

And if you have any points or suggestions that I may have missed, please, please, please list them in the comments. Two people can easily drop $40 and and a free evening to see a movie. And the first time you watch something truly special can never be rekindled.

Let's band together and see to it that movie talkers STFU for good.

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If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, Logic Buy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]