When we first came across Microsoft Songsmith, it was the promo video that made us cringe. But the song-making software is inspiring a whole new genre on YouTube where people alter famous music videos and concert footage by stripping out the original instruments and replace them with tinny keyboards or folk banjos, and keep the vocals. The results are a twisted breed of classic hits that are fascinating in the same way that terrible automobile accidents are. Once you start watching, it is hard to look away.

These songs as sung through Songsmith have become a popular meme. Music from the Beatles to “Nirvana to Radiohead have all gotten the Songsmith treatment. There is even a heavy metal version of the Rickroll. Youtube member azz100c, who also appears to be the author of the Journeys of Jack Tripper blog, is particularly obsessed (and adept) at making these Songsmith classics.

Below I present some of the best of the worst.

“White Wedding,” Billy Idol

“Roxanne,” The Police

“Wonderwall,” Oasis

“Just What I Needed,” The Cars

“Beat It,” Michael Jackson

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So Bad It Hurts: Classic Hits By Microsoft Songsmith

Bloomberg’s interview with Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen reveals that Adobe is developing Flash for the iPhone, it’s been in development since June 2008, and is a customized solution just for the iPhone.

Apple has said repeatedly that regular desktop Flash is too heavy (on CPU, and thus battery life) for the iPhone, whereas Flash Lite is too lousy. Jobs has coerced Adobe to create a custom solution. From Narayan’s words of “the ball is in our court. The onus is on us to deliver,” the engineering effort lies more in Adobe’s engineering team than in Apple’s.

Adobe actually said, back in September ‘08, that there would be a version released “in a very short time” if Apple approved it. Obviously either Apple rejected it, or Adobe themselves decided it wasn’t quite resource-friendly enough to launch. [Bloomberg via Apple Insider via Engadget]

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Flash on iPhone IS Coming, Up To Adobe To Clear Tech Hurdles [Iphone Flash]

Japanese minicar manufacturer Takeoka Jidosha Kogei’s Milieu R is the perfect car for anti-social folks, featuring only one seat and a range of 50km that’s just enough to make your commute while being limited enough to get you out of going to the bar afterward. Thus far those who socialize only with (very) small animals have been left out of the company’s offerings, but that all changes with this new prototype, the T10. It’s ever so slightly larger, gaining 90mm in length and 40mm in width, making room for a shelf to the left of the driver’s seat intended for some sort of pet (we’re guessing hamster, possibly a petite guinea pig). The other specs, including that 50 km range and top speed of 55 km/h, stay the same, meaning there’d still be no concerns about getting to work early or having to socialize afterward, but we’re not sure its charming looks make up for a price tag set to be somewhere north of

The Superbowl is in 17 hours, but many people think they already know who will win. The odds on betting site Betfair give the the Pittsburgh Steelers a 69 percent chance of winning versus the Arizona Cardinals. Both were seen as long shots at the beginning of the season, when the Steelers were given a 4 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl, and the Cardinals were only given a 1 percent chance. (See chart).

Betting markets like Betfair’s are a form of prediction market, so it looks like it is the Steeler’s game to lose. Then again, what do Brits know about American football? U.S. residents cannot legally bet on Betfair, which is based in London.

For what it is worth, the MVP favorites are: 33% Ben Roethlisberger (PIT), 18% Kurt Warner (ARI), 12% Willie Parker (PIT), 8% Larry Fitzgerald (ARI), 5% Troy Polamalu (PIT).

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Betfair Gives Steelers 69 Percent Chance of Wining Super Bowl

With Android getting all Flash-ey , Apple’s “Goldilocks” position on Flash — the full Flash player is too hefty, Flash Lite is too weak — seemed pretty untenable. Now Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has revealed that Apple and Adobe are “collaborating” on making Flash a reality on the iPhone, citing the technical challenge it presents. What’s clear is that with all this work to do, it doesn’t seem they’re going the watered-down Flash Lite route, but we’re trying not to hold our breath for a full-on, Hulu-friendly version that will finally help us get that Doogie Howser fix on the go. Naturally, there’s no word on when this will hit.

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Apple teams up with Adobe for iPhone Flash at long last

Wired has a ton of new info and some gorgeous pictures from the upcoming Terminator Salvation for you to salivate over. It looks pretty promising so far.

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New Images from Terminator Salvation Look Very Batmanesque (Batmannish?) [Terminator]

Like these ads but without the social commentary, these magnets can make a whiteboard full of photos look like a screenshot of Photoshop or Illustrator. The magnets have the look of CS3 on a Mac, and include a number of contextual windows, palettes, and the all-important menu bar for creating the perfect fake destop. They retail for $65-95 depending on size and number of magnets, and can be found at the designers’ website. [ Technabob ]

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Photoshop and Illustrator Magnets Cast Suspicion On Your Photography Skills [Magnets]

Researchers have developed robotic stepping stones that actually rearrange themselves in real-time, as you walk. Other details were not provided, but they do seem practical for walking across a bed of hot embers should the situation arise. Video after the break.

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Robotic Stepping Stones Rearrange Themselves as You Walk

Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. In a recent interview with Elevation Partners’ Roger McNamee, the Palm investor explained that Palm knew it had to step up its game after RIM launched the BlackBerry Pearl, which he described as “the first real consumer electronics product in the smartphone category.” The Pearl launch served as the coming out party for the BlackBerry brand among consumers as RIM began stepping up its advertising, and the product’s narrower hardware design was a noticeable break with the staid stylings of previous BlackBerry devices. Indeed, back in November of 2006 as Palm rolled out the somewhat consumer-focused Treo 680, I wrote a Switched On column noting that the Pearl broke with the evolutionary path that RIM had been on and served as an example for the kind of hardware shift Palm needed to make. Palm finally answered the Pearl with the Centro, a compact, inexpensive, and successful smartphone that has apparently served as the final resting place of the original Palm OS architecture

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Switched On: With Pre, Palm breaks from the Storm

With Philips’ new 56-inch, ultra widescreen display, “you’ll be able to enjoy your movies exactly as the director filmed it and without any of those very annoying letterbox black bars on the top and bottom of the picture.” Video after the break. The TV sports 5 HDMI slots for all your HD and console gadgetry and features Philips’ cool AmbiLight technology on 3 sides. it will ship this Spring. [via Gizmodo ]

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Philips Reveals 56-inch Ultra Widescreen 21:9 Display