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Page 1: 20/25 | Industrial Design + Future Technology

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table of contents

Back to the FutureArchigram Returns Triumphant

words I david sokol

2025 A Design OdysseyWe don’t have a crystal ball, so we con-

sulted industry experts to discover what

design’s future holds.

compiled by I megan lan patrick

The Office of the FutureWhat will design office of the future look

like?

words I julie sims

ON

TH

E C

OV

ER

DE

SIG

N

10 Best Multiscensory DesignBe inspired by the latest technology and design

innovations.

words I Tuvie

Driving like it’s 2025The latest roadtrack car design

words I Rachelle Lire

small [medium] largeDesign’s future lies in creating content for all

types of media.

words I gil kaurfman

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AR

CH

ITE

CT

UR

E

Space InvadersIn a new book, radical architects and other out-

siders alter our perceptions of the built environ-

ment

words I tim mckeough

Open for ReviewOne breathes, one glides-two dynamic new

housing projects with major personalities.

words I linda sew

Solar PowersSitu Studio, a team of Brooklyn’s brightest, craft

eco-friendly spaces with equal parts sweat and

smarts.word I Sarah Holland

PE

OP

LE

mac funamizifuture of internet

words I my lien

start upsA quartet of art stars exploring the gap between

the possible and the plausible

words I haley mellin

Paul RandWhat makes his work a classic? What will future

designers say about the work we’re doing to-

day? interview I amy leibrok

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FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

MY LIEN

PUBLISHER

RICHARD M. KLEIN

MANAGING EDITOR

AMY PRINCE

ARTICLES EDITOR

MY LIEN

DESIGNER

MY LIEN

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

LEILA BRILLSON, AISHA SPEIRS

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

LIZ ARNOLD, PAULA CHAMPA, ARIC CHEN, BRIAN

FICHTNER, CHRIST AXE, NIKKO KEFALAS, JOHANNA

LENANDER, TIM MCKEOUGH, SUSANNA SIREFMAN,

DAVID SOKOL, CLARA YOUNG, PAUL YOUNG

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

ANDY BARTER, ISABELLE BONJEAN, JAIME CHARD,

PAUL CRUZ, WENDELIEN DAAN, JORDAN DONER,

DAIVD FERRUA, JOSHUA JORDAN, RANKIN, PATRIC

SHAW, KOJI YANO

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

LAURELEI PAPAJANI

ACCOUNT MANAGERS

LINDA YOUNG, JIM HORAN, MICHELLE KORUDA,

KEN STUBBLEFIELD

ACCOUNT EXUCUTIVE

AMELIA LEIB

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

CARLO FIORUCCI

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

JINA WYE

MARKETING MANAGER

LAUREN DRISCOLL

ACCOUNTING MANAGER

SANDRA INOUTE

ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHERS

ABIGIAL VAN DAM

20/25

boston office

953 tremont street,

roxbury crossing, ma 02120

tel 617.669.1318

france/spain/switzerland/uk advertising office

laurant bouziz

18, rue des rigoles

75020 paris france

tel 33.01.44.6270.38

intalian advertising office

fiorucci international

via nazrio suaro 74

20038 serengno (mi) italy

tel 39.03.62.23.11.10

editorial inquiries 212.343.0210

953 tremont street, roxbury crossing, ma

02120

ALL MATERIALS COPYRIGHT 2009 NEAR

PUBLISHING (ISSN):1091-8810

near is a registered trademark of near pub-

lishing, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved. reproduc-

tion in part or in full is strictly prohibited. near

welcomes all contributions: materials must be

accompanied by self addressed stamped en-

velops if they are to be returned. near assumes

no responsibility for content of advertistment.

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OUTSTANDING FUTURISTIC MULTISCENSORY

DESIGNS BY DESIGNERS ALL OVER THE GLOBE.

DESIGN SHOWCASE

built-in projector, camera, and wi-fi connectivitySnowcorn is a bracelet like con-

cept device with sixth sense

which includes a built-in pro-

jector, a camera and Wi-Fi con-

nectivity. Moreover, this device

can be placed anywhere on

around your neck or chest. The

transparent part of this device

is a screen that can show ba-

sic functions or time and more

complicated controls are done

by the projected UL.

the world is in your handMoixa has developed an apple

sized device, named Sphere,

with multi-touch feature allows a

user to surf the world like Google

Earth, control interactive games

and browse web pages. Sphere

can display an interactive map of

world and can be recharged by

releasing a leaf like petal.

diGital translatorOne of the most significant prob-

lems when traveling in a foreign

country is to understand the lan-

guage of the respective country.

ViewTrans is a conceptual digital

translator that can let you relaxed

regarding this issue. Unlike usual

electronic dictionaries where you

can translate a foreign language

only when you can recognize the

letters of that language,

1

3

2

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Tie duis dit pratummy nulput

niam volutpat velit il diam vul-

luptat nosto core facilla ad mol-

or irilisl exer adipsus cipsustrud

dolor susto odolore dolestion

hent ulla feugue euguerit at

luptat, veros aliscinibh erci tatis

nummod digna ad tat. Nullaor

tiniat lut prat vulla

see throuGh lap top

Zero phoneSince time immemorial, zero has

been synonymous with bringing

in a revolution, be it mathemat-

ics or the new concept phone

designed by French designer

Josselin Zaigouche. The phone

is designed in the shape of what

else but zero.

download youOne of the most significant problems when traveling in a foreign coun-

try is to understand the language of the respective country. ViewTrans

is a conceptual digital translator that can let you relaxed regarding

this issue.

5

6

4

10

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Tie duis dit pratummy nulput

niam volutpat velit il diam vul-

luptat nosto core facilla ad molor

irilisl exer adipsus cipsustrud do-

lor susto odolore dolestion hent

ulla feugue euguerit at luptat,

veros aliscinibh erci tatis num-

mod digna ad tat. Nullaor tiniat

lut prat vulla

future of internet

lavender cell phone

The electronics market today is

more and more concentrating in

designing products that are not

just good to look at but also pos-

sess other features like, being

light weight, thin, wire less, water

proof and also shock resistant.

bee parkinG In urban cities, parking lots al-

ways remains full and even if

there is some space, you will

have to waste a lot of time and

gasoline to find it. Bee Parking is

a concept parking card with flex-

ible display and a chipset of Zig-

bee network protocol which will

guide you to the available park-

ing space by showing an arrow.

hybrid tattoo machine

Neuma Hybrid Tattoo Machine is the result of cooperation be-

tween RKS Design and Neuma. This latest evolution of Neuma

tattoo machine was born because of Carson Hill’s (the creator

of neuma) desire to constantly push for improvement. With the

help of RKS, Neuma has revolutionized the tattoo industry and

usher in a new age of artistry, comfort, and safety.

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9

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Drive like

it's 2025

To odolestis do-

lor sum ad modolore

ming estinisisi.

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Imagine 30 racecar drivers riding in peloton formation, helming separate elective vehicles for the same team, zipping by at mesmerizing speeds of up to 250 miles per hour.

WHAT WILL A

RACETRACK

LOOK LIKE

IN 2025?

BMW, Hydrogen power

salt flat racer

gm, chapparal

mazda, kaan

mitsubishi, mmr25

That was the vision for the Mazda Kaan, the winning entry

of the 2009 Design Challenge. Car designers from nine car

companies wrestled with the look and feel of this yers’s

challenge-capturing the world labs blended eco-friendly ap-

proaches with cues to each other their brand’s motor sports

legacies and fantastical, emerging technologies. “Racing,

whether you’re a fan or not, is what pushes the automa-

tive boundaries, “says Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los

Angeles.

Judged for innovation, technology, design and unique styl-

ing by industry experts, the results of the competition were

unveiled during the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show in No-

vember: Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mer-

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cedez-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagon participated, relying on

teams of designers from their California based design hubs

for sketching and modeling. “The other thing that’s very in-

teresting is the high competence of artistic talent that ex-

ists in the studios, “Pely adds. “The backgrounds and the

humanistic elements are here. The more you, the more fun

things you see.”

The Mazda Kaan took top honors as an electric racecar that

reimagines the nature of racing. The vehicle relies on an

electronic tire system and reachers 250 miles per hour san

emission. Each team uses 30 individual drivers on the road

resembling current-day cyclists in formation. “The winner

electricfied the roadway.” Pelly says. “Why carry the motor

in the car? It drew these new ideas.”

mercedez-benz,

forumla zero

Each design center had its own curious take on the future

of motor sports. Mercedez-Benz Advanced Design of North

America envisioned a transparant racetrack, summing up

their mission statement with words from German novelist

Jean Paul Richter. “Do not wait for extraordinary circum-

stances to do good action; try to use ordinary situation.”

Drawing from Mercedes 1930’s racing references, they cre-

ated the Formula Zero Racer. which incorporates modern,

environmentally-minded electric hub motors, aero-efficient

solar created the Chapparal Volt, also citing natural resourc-

es-earth, wind and fire-as thematic inspiration, infusing grav-

ity, aero-thermal resistance and solar energy into their entry.

The BMW Group Designworkds USA’s unexpected design,

the Reuse was made out of barbecue lids and oil barrels.

Mitsubishi Motors Research & Design of North America

produced the MMR25, a multi-terrain vehicle with wheels

using eight independently controlled motors that move

sideways and outward along turns. With this design, the car

can move forward regardless of which direction the wheels

are pointing. The center wing acts as a spoiler, while the

front and rear spilers double as suspension blades.

John Hull, senior designer of Mitsubishi Motor R & D of

America, worked on the MMR25. “The main challenge in

approaching a design project like this is trying to forget ev-

erything you have learned in a production environment and

focus on pure imagination-blue sky thinking, “Hull says.

“The biggest problem is if you don’t push the boundaries

far enough. If you go too far, you can always bring it back to

reality. But it’s almost impossible to do the opposite.”

The fifth annual competition is a main attraction at Design

Los Angeles, drawing 500 designers from across the auto

industry. Las year, the Volkswagon design team secured the

win with their charge-the RoboCar of 2057.

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future of internet

MAC FUNIMAZIThis is what I wish the internet search will be able to do with a mobile device in the NEAR fu-ture. Touch screen, built in cam-era, scanner, WiFi, google map (hopefully google earth), google

search, image search… all in one device. Like this way, when you can see a building through it, it gives you the image search re-sult right on the spot.

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You can even see flowers that are not actually blooming.

It’s got a scanner built in, so you can use it this way when you want to check the mean-ing of a word in the newspa-per, book, magazine, and etc.

Choose a building and touch a floor and

it tells you more details of the building.

Well, it doesn’t have to be a building,

but it can be any object you see. You

can use it when you want to know a car

model, an insect name, what kind of

food is served at a restaurant and how

much, who built a bridge, etc. etc. But

as a designer myself, I hope it’s able to

tell me a name of a font of the type I

see, the size, color (in RGB), and so on.

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TABLET PCS

READY TO

ROLLWords by Luke Peters, Rob Temple, Adam

Bunker Illustrations by Benjamin C.

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Apple’s iPad whetted the appetite of tech-heads worldwide, and its arrival will also shape the tablet and ebook reader markets for years to come. 20/25 explains all...

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Every since the launch of Windows XP Tablet in 2002, HP and other manu-facturers have been punting portable, touchscreens PCs.

They’ve not gained too much traction, mainly because of price and lack of obvi-ous benefits. Today, although the cost of touchscreen technology has reduced dramatically, I

still don’t think this current wave of slates will cause a shake up; it’s just the next evolution of the ubiquitous laptop. Apple iPad will inevitably take the tech to a wider audience and should set the benchmark as it has done with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Hopefully it’ll push more traditional PC brands to cre-ate more intuitive software.

188

8

A US patent is grant-ed to Elisha Gray for an electrical stylus device for capturing handwriting. A pat-en for touchscreens is granted in 1942.

A {BRIEF} HISTORY

Late

19

60

s

195

0s

196

8

In 1989 Tandy launched the GRiDPAD, a two-kilo, stylus-in-

put tablet that cost about $4,000 in today’s money. It was

controlled via handwriting recognition, but didn’t do a great

deal else. In the same year, Apple started development of

its own tablet PDA, the Newton, later the MessagePad. A

cult hit, it nonetheless crashed and burned within a decade,

with a logbook full of criticisms ranging from poor battery

life to unusable handwriting recognition. In 2002, Bill Gates

proudly launched Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. This was

the best example of tablet computing to date, with much-

improved handwriting recognition and an operating system

that worked like Windows. However, consumers and busi-

ness alike found they could live without such things, and

sales floundered.

Despite such not-so-epic fails, the tablet concept has

never gone away. The current generation of smartphones

has stolen the thunder of larger touchscreens devices, but

they and a smattering of heftier gadgets such as ebook

reader and Archos PMPs-have driven the advances needed

to make tablet useful.

We’re talking about thinner screens with smarter tech

such as e-ink, smaller hard drives or solid state storage,

more efficient batteries and the most important advance of

all: always-on connectivity via 3G and Wi-Fi, for web brows-

Tom Diamond demonstrates

the Styalator electronic tab-

let with pen for computer

input handwriting reconiza-

tion software.

Xero’s Alan Kay proposes a notebook computer with optional pen input. The de-

vice is never made.

Stanley Kubrick imagines a flat screen touch tablet wirelessly streaming video in 2001: A Space Odessey

TABLET TIMELINE

TABLETS MAY CAUSE THE DEATH

OF PAPER PUBLISHING OR THE MAY

MUST BE MUCH SEXIER NETBOOKS.

EITHER WAY, YOU’RE PROBABLY

THINKING OF BUYING ONE...

Industry ViewRichard Jones, Technology buyer, Selfridges

Before we explore the exciting new epoch of computing ushered in by the iPad,

let’s get one thing straight: call em’ tablets or slates, but this type of device isn’t

remotely new. It’s just that in the tablet’s 20-years plus history, it’s never quiet

caught the imagination of the mainstream.

ing, online shopping and social networking.Now we have Ap-

ple’s iPad, for which will soon be a plethora of competitors

including Google and Microsoft. There’s also a growing army

of ebook readers from Sony, Amazon and others. Whether

the result is the death of paper publishing and the takeover

of The Cloud, or simply a much sexier, more portable form

of netbook, the new tablets are big news. Chances are you’re

thinking of buying one. But before you do, get stuck into the

next eight pages...

A GLORIOUS HISTORY OF NOT-QUITE-

SUCCESS

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198

5

198

9

199

2

198

9

199

1

Pencept and CIC design consumer PCs that use handwriting recognition instead of a keyboard and mouse.

The GRiDPad from GRiD Systems, owned by Tandy, becomes the first commer-cially available, tablet-type portable computer. Its op-erating system is based on MS-DOS

The Apple Newton enters development. Ultimately more of a PDA, its original con-cept, with a larger screen and sketching capabilities, resem-bled a Tablet PC

GO Corporation releases PenPoint. Lexicus releases the Longhand handwriting recognition system. Micro-soft releases Windows for Pen Computing

Unveiling the first public prototype, the term Tab-let PC is made popular by Microsoft and defined as a stylus-enabled computer

In a word: iPad. The frenzy leading up

to the launch of Apple’s device will

have convinced many tech corps to

bring their own slates to market. More

importantly, cheaper and better hard-

ware mean a greater number of qual-

ity components can now be squeezed

into a magazine-sized chassis that’s

powerful enough to run a full-sized

Why Are tAblets goINg to bIg NeWs IN 2010?

OS - there’s were Windows 7 - and

Chrome-ready slates at CES with guid-

ed prices of under $200.

Today’s touchscreen tech is also light

years ahead of what we had at dawn of

tablet era, and has gained momentum

from its association with smartphones.

We no longer think twice about prod-

ding screens to interact with tech...

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20

01

Unveiling the first public prototype, the term Tablet PC is made popular by Microsoft and de-fined as a stylus-enabled computer

20

07

20

02

20

06

Windows XP Tab-let PC Editions is launched, replacing PenWindows

Fingerworks develops the touch tech and multi-touch gestures used in the iPhone

The Sony Reader launches; an e-ink screen with 166dpi resolution. The slow rise of the e-reader begins.

The iPhone and iPod Touch, lav-ished with liquid crystal, scratch resistant multi-touch-sensing screens, are launched

THE NEW BREED

WhAt WIll these Next geNerAtIoN slAtes be

Used For?

We expect the first generation of tab-

lets to work like a flat netbook, crossed

with a beefed up touchscreen smart-

phone. Web browsing, photo viewing

and basic productivity tools will all be

literally at your fingertips.

Many of them will run full Windows 7

or Linux, but the iPad suggest their

main function will be as multimedia

consumption tools rather than “prop-

er” computers. However, as Steve Jobs

said of the iPad “This is just the begin-

ning of tablets as we kow them. App

developers only had two weeks to

work on it. There’s more to come.”

Finally, we suggest investing in any

company that makes manbags - they’re

going to be more prevalnt if thsse non-

pocketable devices take off.

The current generation of slates, smartphones or

whatever we’re calling them this week are iPad-

rivalling touchscreens gizmos with screen sizes

between and give and ten inches, offering finger

control over a variety of operating systems and

applications. A New Labour-style “third way” be-

tween existing devices, they raise two questions:

will they replace smartphones and laptops or

supplement them, and how will they change our

lives...?

ARCHOS 9 PCtablet

20

03

Archos is an under acknowledged champion of the tablet

form and this svelte slab is its neatest effort to date. A fist-

ful of dedicated, tactile buttons around the bezel activated

the Windows 7-equiped slate’s various features. The front-

facing webcam allow video conferencing while kick-stant

ensures your web recipient doesn’t end up talking to your

nostrils. Specs includes an 8.9 inch LED-backlit screen,

60GB hard drive and the real killer feature, full 1080p hi-def

movie playback. Oh, and it’s just over half an inch thick and

weighs barely 800g.

WE : FLASH AND MULTI-TASKING $949, WWW.EXOPC.COM/EN

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Jan

uary

7-1

0

20

10

CES in Las Vegas is carpet bombed with touchscreen PCs from companies such as Lenovo, Dell, Sony and HP. A lot of them are referred to as “slates” rather than tablet

At 18.08 UK time, after a decade of speculation, Steve Jobs unveils the Apple iPad to grateful universe

It looks like the iPad and quacks like the iPad. But it’s not an

iPad. The ExoPC Slate is an 8.9 inch Windows 7 tablet with a

1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 and 32 GB solid tate drive. It’s look-

ing to dethrone Apple’s upstart with a raft of haungtingly

familiar features: an app store, ebook compatibility, movies

and music playback. It trumps the iPad with Flash and Sil-

verlight support and multi-tasking, although what it seems

to lack is Apple’s syrupy glaze of uber-qualitat and its killer

apps: iTunes and its various online stores.

DELL MINI 5

Jan

uary

2

7 2

010

More beefed up smartphone than a fully-fledge tablet com-

puter, the Mini 5 Mobile Internet Device (MID) uses a swift

version of Android 1.6 and the increasingly omnipresent

Qualcomm SnapDragon processor. Elsewhere there’s a 3G

SIM card slot, a five-megapixel cam and, naturally, support

for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Those sharp enough

to decode Dell’s clever product naming system will kow that

the machine sports a five-inch screen, which multi-touch

should help eke the most of.

EXOPC SLATE

A QUATE OF SOMETHING COOL WILL

GO HERE AS SOON AS I GOT THE

OTHER THINGS IN. THANKS!

Every since the launch of Windows XP Tablet in 2002, HP and other manufacturers have been punting porta-

ble, touchscreens PCs. They’ve not gained too much traction, mainly because of price and lack of obvious benefits. Today, although the cost of touch-screen technology has reduced dra-

matically, I still don’t think this cur-rent wave of slates will cause a shake up; it’s just the next evolution of the ubiquitous laptop. Apple iPad will inevitably take the tech to a wider audience and should set the benchmark as it has done with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Hopefully it’ll push more traditional PC brands to create more intuitive software.

Industry ViewRichard Jones, Technology buyer, Selfridges

WE : FLASH AND MULTI-TASKING $949, WWW.EXOPC.COM/EN WE : FLASH AND MULTI-TASKING $949, WWW.EXOPC.COM/EN

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E-READERSthe saviour of publishing and the death of paper? or just an interesting interim

technology that will be on its way before the 2012 olyimpic flame dies? the

jury’s out on ebook readers. Amazon reportedly sold more eboks on Christmas

day than real books, and the bigger publishing houses are already squabbling

with it over ebook pricing, so it seems ebooks are here to stay. Can the same be

said for dedicated readers, with the iPad and its imitators expected to put the

squeeze on this nascent sector? time will tell, but as that intrigue plays out, as

well as the sex reader reviewed on pg 66, we’ve got a fistful of future readers for

you here. they’ll be in shops in the first half of 2010.

The iPad offers computing prowess and ebook support but

its LED-backlit screen is not tailor-made for extended read-

ing. Ebook readers are great for text

but not much cop for anything else.

Spring Design offers an obvious solu-

tion to this conundrum by offering two

displays. Up top there’s a six-inch e-ink

pane for book and newspaper reading

without the need for optometry. Be-

neath sits a 3.5 inch touchscreen LCD.

The Android OS gobbles up the web

and allows easy browsing and play-

back of video and music.

SPRING DESIGN ALEX READERIndustry viewEllen Murphy, EMEA consumer PR manager, Dell

Tablets are seen as the hot product for 2010, and certainly there is a trend towards smaller and more var-

ied screen sizes. The versatilely of these products provides a unique user experience, especially in terms of consuming content. Personal web habits are evolving; people to-day want to carry their lives with them - they want to discover, cap-ture and share media-rich content as they roam around town and this isn’t always a comfortable experi-ence on a three-inch smartphone scree. Lighter and simpler than a laptop and with the familiarity of smartphone interface, tablet give people the freedom and flexibility to stay connected and up to date.

WE : FLASH AND MULTI-TASKING $949,

WWW.EXOPC.COM/EN

A QUATE OF

S OM E T H I N G

COOL WILL GO

HERE AS SOON

AS I GOT THE

OTHER THINGS

IN. THANKS!

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21

The BeBook Neo is a no-nonsense workhouse of a reader

with a six-inch e-ink touchscreen for fluid navigation. The

main selling point here is that, while most other ebook

readers are tethered to a specific online ebook store, the

versatile BeBook Neo can access and download tomes

from multiple sources, thanks to support for 20 book file

formats. Its processor is also one of the quickest around,

meaning speedy page turns, and you can mark up and

annotate text, too.

BEBOOK NEO E-READER

STORE

Your friendly, local ebook store WE CAN ORDER THAT FOR YOU...

BOOK COUNT PRICE FORMAT

Apple iBook Store

Amazon Kindle Store

BEBOOK

Waterstones

TBA $7.99 to $14.99 EPUB

400,000 $5 to $ 30 AZW

20,000 From Free EUB, PDF, MOBIPOCKET

45,000 $2 to $20 EPUB

Blackwell 45,000 $5 to $175 EPUB

In-plane switching lCd

E-Readers: The Tech

These displays use electri-

cal charges to manipulate

bubbles filled with black and

white particles contained

within a sheet particles contained within

a sheet of plastic film to arrange them

into text. E-ink readers consume less

power than LCD displays because there’s

no blacklighting, but the refresh rate is

slow, meaning it take seconds rather than

milliseconds to trun the page.

Apple’s display of choice for the

iPad was developed by Hitachi

almost 15 years ago until recent-

ly was found only in high-end

monitors for designers. With its

wide viewing angles and deep color con-

trast, it’s perfect for that iPad, being excel-

lent for still and moving images and “good

enough” for text. However, IPS does require

a backlight, which means it’s harsher on the

eyes over extended period than e-ink...

bridgestone

Using particles suspended in air

rather than liquid. Bridgestone

epaper technology is touted

as a more flexible alternative

to e-ink displays. Viewing angle are better,

refresh rates lightening fast and images are

left undistorted when the displays is bent.

Hopefully, most next-gen e-readers will use

this tech.

WE : FLASH AND MULTI-TASKING $949, WWW.EXOPC.COM/EN

e-Ink

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THE FUTUREso, after the iPad, what comes next iPad 2.0, of course. We should also see other

big hitters entering the market; google has shown off its own multi-touch tablet and

Microsoft’s Courier could see the light of day as early as next year. In the long-term,

we’ll start to see a move from flat, rigid screens to bendable ones which could even-

tually allow fold-up portability and a greater choice of screen sizes. the QWerty’s

days might be numbered, too...

A collaborative effort between

T3, Medion and design dons

The Alloy, the NetPad concept

was born a full year before the

iPad made its appearance and

has been honed and tweaked

in response to your input on-

line. The resulting device has

highlighted features we’d love

to see on future tablets, social

networking side panels and

a retractable QWERTY key-

board being just two.

MEDION NETPAD

Available in Japan since May 2009 but only demonstrated to

the wider world at CES 2010, the Fujitsu FLEPia was one of the

world’s first color e-readers. Fujitsu claims its “Cholesteric” LCD

is less flickery and a lot brighter than epaper technologies. It’s

now working on bendable “memory” epaper that can display

images without being powered by electricity. Fujitsu is expect-

ed to roll out this next-gen tech by 2012-it could also appear in

supermarkets and on public transport.

FUJITSU FLEPIA

The success or failure of tablets will depend to a large extent on content consump-tion, primarily due

to the omission of a physical key-board. With cloud computing, apps, 3G etc., we can be “always on” and accessing content, but un-less the hardware and content are joined as a proposition, it doesn’t

work. It will probably be 12 to 18 months before we see anything resembling massmarket adoption, but for sure, the form factor of today’s laptop will change in the future. In the e-reader market, at Sony we’re focused on devices optimized for digital reading and believe that digital book sales will surpass print sales withing five years, if not sooner.

WE : THE SOCIAL NETWORKING SIDEBAR $TBA, FUTURETECH.T3.COM

WE : COLOR WITH OUR TEXT $1,400, JP.FUJITSU.COM/GROUP/LABS/EN

WhAt does the FUtUre

hold For tAblets?

First up, Microsoft, Google and anyone

else who fancies a punt on the tablet

market needs to get involved now or

Apple will own the market, just as it did

with PMPs.

Potential rivals need to look not just

at Apple’s hardware, which is in many

respects not that mould-breaking, al-

though it is beautifully presented, but

as its content infrastructure-iTunes, the

App Store and iBook Store.

Killer apps could include greated Cloud

access to your movies and music, a

Spotify-like service for news and mov-

ies as well as music, compatibility with

home automation and your lounge TV

and home computer, and smoother in-

tergration of multi-touch into gaming.

Bring it on...

Industry viewAnthony Brown, head of network

communications, Sony

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