"Right on Cue, Tablet PCs Arrive" (Fast Company)

"It's been predicted, and the CrunchPad-Joojoo fiasco almost pre-empted it, but the event is happening now: The first tablet PCs are dropping in, ahead of the stormfront that's expected in 2010. One is impressive, the other... not so much.

Notion Ink's Android Smartpad

Due to be properly unveiled at CES, Notion Ink's unnamed tablet PC has not only got a pretty face--it's a damn capable machine.

It has a 10.1-inch 1024-by-600-pixel screen, an Nvidia Tegra T20 chipset for full 1080p video capability, WiFi, tri-band 3G, Bluetooth, A-GPS, accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensors, USB and HDMI sockets, and a 3-megapixel autofocus camera. There's either a 32GB or 64GB solid state drive and an SD slot for augmented storage.

As if that weren't enough, with the tablet acting something like a super-sized, super-charged Android smartphone, that touchscreen is actually a PixelQi unit. If you don't know what that means, then you ought to: PixelQI's technology is a spin-off from the early inventions of electronic paper, and it's combined with an LCD. In other words, it's a dual-purpose screen that behaves pretty much like the e-ink display on an e-reader for daylight, long battery-life performance (and movies too, since it's faster than e-ink) or as a traditional full-color backlit LCD.

That's the device's real killer feature, placing it as a direct competitor for the growing numbers of e-readers, and a direct replacement for the netbook. Because why carry two devices around, each for a specialist purpose, when you can carry Notion Ink's machine in your bag? The all-important price is unknown, though over at SlashGear they're speculating on about $300 with carrier subsidy if you buy it with a 3G data contract...."

"Amazing Feets: 13 Cutting-Edge Kicks for Style-Obsessed Shoe-Gazers" (Fast Company)

#9: "United Nude, under the creative direction of famed architect Rem Koolhaas, continues to produce some remarkable footwear experiments, such as 2009's "Lo-Res" shoe. A typical Mary Jane pump was first scanned in 3-D, and then the resolution of the scan was lowered enough to produce the faceted shape here. Finally, it was molded in flexible but durable plastic."

"Subway Architecture" (Design Boom)

"london’s underground became the first subway system in the world when it began operation in 1863.
since then, underground subways have been built in almost every major city of the world. from new york
and paris to hong kong and dubai, subways are an essential part of public transportation in cities.
within these systems, architecture plays a big role in defining the environment of the subway. here is
a collection of some of the most architecturally interesting subway stations..."