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February 29, 2008 11:31 AM PST

Make that iPod nano screen bigger with a cheap magnifier

by Josh Lowensohn

Watching videos on the screen of the iPod nano is a pretty cool feature. However, if it's not a cartoon or three minute video podcast things can get a little rough on your eyeballs. If you don't feel like shelling out $100 for Apple's universal dock and AV cables, and you happen to have a slide viewer laying about, you're in luck.

Ingenious Brit and YouTube user markrirwin has developed a solution called the NanoScope. Taking an old 35mm film slide viewer and adding external speakers, he created a cinema-in-a-box magnifier that makes those tiny videos a reasonable size on its 4 inch screen.

While you'd look (and sound) kind of silly carrying this around with you on public transit, the device's wide base and fairly decent viewing angle make for good horizontal viewing.

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog via Retro Thing]

Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET's blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh.
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Maybe they should call it the iPod Mega
by mattheid February 29, 2008 12:53 PM PST
I appreciate the ingenuity, but come on really. This "solution" counteracts the biggest advantage of the iPod Nano, which is its tiny size.
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Yeah but your eyes...
by make_or_break March 1, 2008 2:34 AM PST
...would thank you if they could. C'mon...even you have to admit that the small FF of the nano isn't conducive for long-term video viewing.

This is an ingenious solution using existing low-tech components; now all someone has to do is apply the principle to a flatter magnifier that has an integrated set of speaker(s) and dock.
Yeah but your eyes...
by make_or_break March 1, 2008 2:34 AM PST
...would thank you if they could. C'mon...even you have to admit that the small FF of the nano isn't conducive for long-term video viewing.

This is an ingenious solution using existing low-tech components; now all someone has to do is apply the principle to a flatter magnifier that has an integrated set of speaker(s) and dock.
by brickbradford August 10, 2009 1:24 PM PDT
I'm goiing to do the same with my zune. I use the zune to watch public domain movies that I download from the net: feature films, cartoons, etc. A 2-hour movie on a zune 8G player? Come on; my eyes are bad enough!
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