Self-described cellphone cynic and "father of Linux" Linus Torvalds decided to get a Google Nexus One the other day. And while the customer service lines may be clogged over the phone's performance, Daddy Linux is positively pleased as punch.

Unsurprisingly, the man who invented the most popular open source operating system in the world is a "happy camper" over the fact that this cellphone runs Linux. But Linux alone wasn't enough to get Linus on board with the rest of the smartphone crazy 21rst century, no sir. His previous phones, in fact—the ones he mostly used to "play Galaga" on long flights—also had various versions of Linux, but lacked that certain spark.

Pinch to zoom touch capability and GPS were what finally got Torvalds to commit, and commit he has. The Nexus One "is a winner" he wrote yesterday, adding that it no longer feels as though he's forced to drag along a cellphone for "just in case" emergencies.

So, Google, as you frantically work the phones in that customer support center and stare longingly at other company's smartphone sales, take some solace in the fact that the Father of Linux is out there, somewhere, playing games on your Linux phone. [Linus Torvalds via Laughing Squid]

Motorola claims they're coming out with a couple dozen Android phones in 2010, and with a crop so big a few of them are bound to be pretty weird. This render suggests that the MOTOSPLIT will be one of those.

Like the Samsung Alias 2 before it, the MOTOSPLIT shown here sports a keyboard that has tiny touch screens for keys, though this one has the unique ability to slide out in landscape or portrait orientation. Depending on the way its being held, or maybe the application its running, the mini screens update on the fly. Neat!

Not so neat is the part of the report that claims its specs will be more or less the same as the Backflip's, which essentially banishes it to Motorola's junior varsity smartphone squad.

Still, Android Community's rumors are just that, and it's possible that come the season—Motorola expects the phone to be ready for Q3—MOTOSPLIT will be versatile and powerful. [Android Community via SlashGear]

If you live anywhere on the East Coast and are at all interested in cool stuff that happens in the sky, you'd be remiss not to stay up late tonight to watch for the last ever nighttime shuttle launch.

Or you could wake up early, that works too. Either way, at 4:39 A.M. early tomorrow morning NASA will launch the Endeavor space shuttle, and it will be the last time it does so at night.

On its way up to the International Space Station, the shuttle will fly parallel to America's eastern seaboard and the shuttle's rockets will thus be visible to a surprisingly huge area, weather permitting. Here's a map of where the rocket will be in the first ten minutes after launch and what areas of the country will be able to see it:

I told you it was a surprisingly huge area! To find out more about what you're looking for and where exactly you should be looking for it, check out Space.com's comprehensive rundown of the late night launch. [Space.com]

If you live anywhere on the East Coast, watch for the last ever nighttime shuttle launch. [Update: Launch has been delayed till tomorrow]

Or you could wake up early, that works too. Either way, at 4:39 A.M. early tomorrow morning NASA will launch the Endeavor space shuttle, and it will be the last time it does so at night.

On its way up to the International Space Station, the shuttle will fly parallel to America's eastern seaboard and the shuttle's rockets will thus be visible to a surprisingly huge area, weather permitting. Here's a map of where the rocket will be in the first ten minutes after launch and what areas of the country will be able to see it:

I told you it was a surprisingly huge area! To find out more about what you're looking for and where exactly you should be looking for it, check out Space.com's comprehensive rundown of the late night launch. [Space.com]

Oh-ho-ho this is rich. Some German pranksters saw a Google Street View car parked outside their place in Berlin and managed to sneak a GPS device onboard. Watch the Googlemobile roam around on Google Maps here. [fffff.at (NSFW) via Reddit]

If you've been looking for a case mod that will strike fear into all the other computers you come across, well, look no further. But be careful, this guy gets cranky when he needs to defrag.

A lot of us subject our computers to quite a bit of abuse. We overcrowd their hard drives and overclock their processors. We bang on their keyboards. We smudge their screens. If you want a case mod that will keep you in line, this one, taking the form of Kratos, the main character from the God of War game series, will do just that.

With Kratos's unflinching stare burning a hole in the side of your head, you're sure to always stay on task and treat your machine with respect. Or he'll have your typing fingers. [Engadget]

Someone might judge you for putting together a mock iPad, but it's certainly not going to be us. Be it for practicing the Tablet Sutra or faking out a fanboy friend, here's the template you've been looking for.

Courtesy of Jess Silverstone at Revolutionary Concepts, this template can be printed on standard paper and will fold into an iPad that's just about the same size as the real thing, as long as your printer is capable of borderless printing.

Here's the front and the back, and here's what your arts and crafts project will look like when it's all put together:

So have at it. I'm not gonna ask any questions. [MacRumors]

Curious. Very curious. Eric Schmidt, head Googler, just Tweeted about his excitement for tomorrow's Superbowl. But he's not as pumped for the gridiron action as he is for a mystery commercial running during the third quarter:

Can't wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said "Hell has indeed frozen over.")

Well, color us intrigued. What exactly will Google be advertising? If it is even a Google advertisement to begin wtih? If you have any guesses, let's hear 'em in the comments. [Eric Schmidt]

Curious. Very curious. Eric Schmidt, head Googler, just Tweeted about his excitement for tomorrow's Superbowl. But he's not nearly as pumped for the gridiron as he is for a commercial running during the third quarter:

Can't wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said "Hell has indeed frozen over.")

Well, color us intrigued. What exactly will Google be advertising, if it's even a Google advertisement to begin with? A minimalist Nexus One spot? A rehashing of Apple's famous 1984 ad? If you have any guesses, let's hear 'em in the comments. [Eric Schmidt]

Update: BusinessInsider spotted a blog post by search guru John Battelle which suggests tomorrow's ad will be this one, entitled "Parisian Love":

Sure, it's sweet and all, but really? That's it? Not to mention that the idea of running off to France to live a life of truffles and Truffaut and true love might not exactly resonate with the segment of our nation that will be tuned in tomorrow.

With just a roll or two of painters tape, some patience, and a willingness to forfeit their apartments' aesthetic respectability (except from a single perspective), some brave souls have created an impressive collection of tape-based illusions. Let's have a look.

The video above shows a Back to the Future-inspired piece featuring an impressively detailed DeLorean. Kudos to YouTube user Wablamo for immortalizing everyone's favorite time traveling automobile in such an appropriately mind-boggling medium.

But the true hero of the anamorphic painters tape illusion is a YouTube user who goes by the name of BrussPup. I've watched BrussPup evolve over these last few weeks, from his first experiments in the form—he was, indeed, a mere pup—up through the current moment in which BrussPup stands as a luminary of tape-based illusions.

BrussPup's first piece, "X Room Illusion!," was a relatively simple undertaking but it betrayed the artist's natural ability for such work:

A week later, we were treated to "Crazy Cube Illusion!," a more complex, confident effort that garnered a corresponding increase in YouTube views and blog notoriety:

Emboldened, BrussPup quickly offered up his next piece, "Pac-man Illusion!," which was noteworthy for spanning all the way down his hallway and incorporating a piece reflected by a mirror, which just piled extra mind-boggling on top of the regular mind-blogging to which we had grown accustomed:

BrussPup's most recent piece, "Nintendo Illusion!," is his most ambitious and refined effort to date. In this illusion, BrussPup uses blacklights and white paper to create a glowing Nintendo controller:

There's no telling what's next in the world of tape-based anamorphic illusions. Has BrussPup retired his tape roll forever? Will Wablamo usurp his title as preeminent anamoprhic illusionist? Only time will tell. [BrussPup's YouTube Channel>/a> and Boing Boing]