The ExoPC tablet we showed you last Sunday got torn apart this weekend. While the outer aesthetics were well-documented, the insides were still unseen. Well, no longer. Someone has broken the tablet down, as geeks are wont to do.

Inside there's the netbook-esque bits we discussed one week ago. Intel Atom N270, 2GB RAM, check and check. Mini PCI-Express slot, check. Possible SIM slot, check. Windows 7 runs the whole rig. Still no visuals of the multitouch screen in action, but those should arrive soon. In any event, this post was more about red meat for the gadget tear down sect. [ExoPC via Engadget]

In 1869, Atlantic Monthly writer E. Everett Hale imagined what a primitive space station might look like. It involved a lot of brick. Given NASA's looming cuts, it may very well be all they can afford in the present!

Ha! NASA budget jokes! So topical, yet so sad. Anyway, there are a number of space station concepts from the past century, and while none saw the light of day, some of their features did, and could even help astronauts on missions to the Moon and Mars, if they ever happen.

There's artificial gravity, for instance, which many scientists agree will be important if we're to travel to Mars and beyond. It was first imagined as far back as 1929.

Then there's the inflatable station, which was initially discussed decades ago. It's made a resurgence as of late because it'd be cheap and easy to launch into orbit.

Lastly, there are designs that probably seemed pretty fantastical when artists conjured them up oh so many years ago, but in reality were kind of spot on. Like this one:

Then again, there's this:

George Lucas, you got some splaining to do! [Scienceray via Neatorama]

We know graphene is tough stuff, but Big Blue's discovering the substance makes a great transistor too, to the tune of a record-setting 100GHz.

You see, the 100Ghz graphene transistor IBM was crowing about this week is already much, much faster than a comparably sized silicon one. Current "state-of-the-art" silicon maxes out at 40Ghz. But better still, IBM created the graphene screamer using existing silicon fabrication methods. No new gear necessary!

However, as is commonplace with these types of stories, graphene transistors—at least ones deployed widely in everyday computing—are still a ways away. IBM researchers, why must you tease us so? [IBM via Engadget]

Amazon is still sleeping on Macmillan's couch, but at least they're talking again. Rumor has it Amazon quietly started restocking hardcover and paperback copies of the publisher's books—but not the eBook ones. Updated.

Both companies declined to comment on the eBook side of the debate, so there's obviously some more work to do there.

Small steps. Small $12.99 to $14.99 priced steps...

Update: This is a minor update to a Giz story that ran yesterday. The update info includes the lack of Macmillan eBook titles.

Update 2: As commenters note, eBooks are back in action now as well. [Reuters]

I, not being an artist, am content to ride Boston's subway system quietly, eyes down, in a general malaise. It's a New England thing. French artist Hubert de Lartigue, on the other hand, uses his subway time to imagine X-Wings.

X-Wings from paper metro tickets, to be precise. de Lartique assembles them using nothing but a scalpel and a folding tool—no glue—and they're pretty sharp.

"I'm very proud of how it turned out and I feel like I am the author of a little masterpiece. I got to the point where I asked myself whether the Parisian metro tickets hadn't actually been designed to enable me to one day use it as a canvas for this ‘work.' Their proportions and even the patterns and drawings on them take part in the whole of the work. I'm not kidding, I find that there is a great underlying mystery here…"

So what say you, Parisian metro officials? Who amongst you is the closet Star Wars freak that designed an entire city's subways passes after a marathon Star Wars viewing session?

Step-by-step instructions for creating your own fleet of Empire-defying papercraft X-Wings can be found here. Naturally, also living in Paris will help your construction efforts immensely.

Editor's Note: This is actually kirigami, as the artist is making small cuts to the paper. Apologies to the origami artists out there! -j.l. [Hubert de Lartigue via Neatorama]

Yeah, that brilliant flash of light you saw streaking through the dark sky last early this morning? Not the space shuttle making its last ever night time launch from Cape Canaveral.

Unfortunately for you, the launch was postponed, possibly to Monday, and you were either drunk, stoned, both, or you were "visited" and you're about to mold a mountain out of mashed potatoes. Which is too bad, considering the night launch could have been seen all along the Eastern Seaboard. [MSNBC]

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]

It's the "holy crap it's been a while iPad! CES! Christmas!" edition. This month (or so), we've got m-m-m-multitouch maps, good eats, movies and blawgs.

To see everything on one page, click here.

Other Android App News

• An Embryonic Build of Firefox for Android
• Motoblur Makes Its Way to Verizon via Devour
• A Neat Video of 50 Android Games
• How to Overclock the Crap Outta Your Droid
• How to Circumvent Android 2.1's Word Filter
• T-Mobile's Bundling DoubleTwist for Media Syncing with New Android Phones
• A Guide to Tethering Your Android Phone
• HTC's Espresso Sense UI for Droid, If You Can Hack It
• Our Nexus One Review

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this month, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous monthly roundups here. See ya next month.

Thursday night's edition of the Charlie Rose Show brought David Carr, Michael Arrington, and Walt Mossberg together to discuss the iPad. Having used the iPad briefly, all three seem optimistic about what it has to offer.

Though we've already heard Mosspuppet's preemptive review of the iPad, it's interesting to see all three of these influential voices discussing Apple's upcoming device in one forum. And what emerges is that all of them, to varying degrees, are excited about the iPad's promise.

At one point, David Carr says, "I think there's a revolution in the fact that you lean back and read something," and this, the possibility of a more casual version of computing, seems to be the iPad's greatest promise in the minds of all three journalists. And after reading the 1994 Rolling Stone interview with Steve Jobs that recently resurfaced, it's clear that Jobs is at his most passionate when he has locked in on a revolution to champion. [TechCrunch]

I thought Google Map Buddy's ability to generate printable, hi-res versions of Google Maps was pretty neat but figured I'd never find a reason to use it. These Google Maps envelops, however, are definitely worth the ink and the effort.

There's not a whole lot to them, but some of the best ideas are the simplest. Beste Miray Dogan, a graphic designer from Istanbul, showed that with a Google Map print out and a little ingenuity, you can make a custom envelop that pinpoints the exact location from which it was sent. How nice.

There's no template on her site, but with some trial and error I trust you'll be able to master the mapenvelope in no time. [Beste Miray via Nerd Approved]

As Make puts it, the atomic clock is old and busted. The quantum-logic clock from National Institute of Standards and Technology, keeping time 100,000 times more accurately than its predecessor, is definitely the new hotness.

The quantum clock, developed by physicist Chin-wen Chou of the NIST, keeps time by measuring the energy of a single aluminum ion with UV lasers. It loses one second every 3.4 billion years, compared to the cesium fountain clock which loses a second every 100 million years, and upon which the current international standard is based.

In fact, the new quantum-logic clock is so precise that Chou's team can't even measure it, as the current definition of a second is based on the prevailing cesium clock.

Don't get too excited about setting your life to a more precise clock just yet: there are currently no plans to adopt the quantum clock as the international standard. But with potential applications ranging from use in more precise GPS devices to answering questions about the speed of light and Einsteinian relativity, this clock is still a serious tick into the future. [Wired via Make]

Yesterday, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington was driving around Google's campus, talking on his phone trying to figure out where exactly his meeting was. One righteous Googler didn't approve of Arrington's potentially unsafe talking-while-driving, so he took a stand. Literally.

In what Arrington describes as the young man's Tiananmen Square moment, a stand-off ensued between the TechCrunch proprietor and the bespectacled Google geek. Thankfully, this moment was captured in photographs by both participants.

Here's how Arrington recaps the drama:

...this guy, who's wearing a Google employee badge, decides it's time to take a stand against cell phone use in cars. So he stands in front of my car and won't move...Cars behind me start swerving. I back up to go around him. He steps forward, vigilant in his defense of the law. I'm off the phone now, and snapping this picture didn't help getting him to move on. The light changes. The light changes again. Cars are now backed up behind me...I'm not sure what comes next in a situation like this. I can either drive over him or park my car. So I put the car in park, open the door to get out and discuss the situation with him. That's when he ran away. His mission, apparently, accomplished.

The employee in question, Mike Shields, has not backed down in the face of public semi-humiliation:

@arrington If you really want to talk about this, let's do that when your car is not abandoned in the road.

I take automobile safety as seriously as the next guy, but I'm also a fan of a good razzing when its appropriate, so I'm not really sure who comes out on top in this soon-to-be-legendary Mountain View stand off. I'm just glad that I live in a day and age in which camera phones let me relive the high drama as if I were actually there. [TechCrunch via Business Insider]

Blackberry users who have been frustrated by their phone's inability to properly sync Gmail can unclench their fists. Documents detailing the new features of the upcoming BIS 3.0 show Gmail syncing and WMA support are on the way.

RIM is finally updating BIS so that Gmail will accurately sync read and unread status of your mail. It's about time.

The update will also add support for Windows Media Audio attachments as well as OpenOffice documents. BIS 3.0 will also include the decidedly less exciting updates of a reconfigured, more secure E-mail setup application and more accurate error messages that will direct users to their specific carrier. I'm not kidding.

Carriers are themselves responsible to roll out the new Blackberry Internet Service so it's hard to say exactly when it should be popping up on your Blackberry. But just be glad that Gmail syncing and more exacting error messages are on their way. [BBLeaks via Crackberry]

There's a pretty gnarly GeekBench result running around which appears to be for a new model MacBook Pro—6,1 to be exact—running a crazyfast 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 620M, one of the Arrandale chips Intel announced at CES.

MacBook Pros are definitely in need of fresh guts, and the obvious choice for chips are from the fresh batch of Arrandale processors Intel announced last month. The Core i7 620M would definitely fit the bill—it's a fast dual-core chip, and its TDP is in line with what's in the currently shipping MBPs. The GeekBench score is 5260, which MacRumors notes handily bests the current-gen 2.6GHz MBPs, which typically hit around 3700-4000. Not answered by the Geekbench results is what's up with the MacBook Pro's graphics situation.

In case you're not familiar with the way model numbers work at Apple, like the MacBook Pro 6,1 here, the first number in the set designates a major revision, and the second number indicates a smaller subset—the first unibody MacBook Pros were 5,1 for instance. And it's not unheard of for new hardware to come with a slightly custom build of OS X, like the 10C3067 seen here.

Results posted to GeekBench aren't the most credible evidence of new, gutsier MacBook Pros for obvious reasons, but if even they aren't real, it seems safe to assume we're due for some fresh Core i7 silicon sometime soon. I hope so, anyway. [Geekbench via MacRumors - Thanks OberCFS and Jack!]

If you saw the iPad and said "Yes!" but then heard that it had an LCD screen and said "No!," Yinlips is making the clone for you: their iPad lookalike has an E-Ink screen.

Okay, it's not color and it won't run any of those apps you cherish so much, but if you like the form factor of the iPad and the easy-on-the-eyes screen of the Kindle, this device from Yinlips offers the best of both worlds.

It packs a 6" E-Ink touchscreen and boasts 20 hours of battery life, and can handle PDF, TXT, HTML, and apparently some photo formats as well.

There's no word on the price or availability of this Frankenreader yet, and the original page in Chinese doesn't offer much in the way of detail. Still, if you're an E-Ink devotee but you really don't want to give up that single home button, stay tuned for more information. [Imp3 via PMP Today - Thanks Brian!]

Sure, anybody with ears can agree that something is lost when records are compressed and converted to digital files. But if you really want to walk the walk you can't just listen to vinyl, you have to record your own.

Gakken's Gramophone kit can play records of any size, using a bamboo needle to belch crackling analog goodness out of its nickel-plated iron horn. Playback speed and tone are adjustable, and the player is powered by a hand crank. We wouldn't want to spoil your old-school integrity with batteries, now would we?

But the most fun part of the Gramophone kit is the ability to record your own music directly to vinyl.

To record your own records, sing into the horn and the bamboo needle cuts the grooves into a new piece of vinyl. OK, it's probably not going to sound as good as Garage Band but it's a fun experiment nonetheless.

It'll cost you about $170 to import this sucker from Japan Trend Shop and some assembly is definitely required, but if you're an analog enthusiast and looking for a good project, Gakken's gramophone kit might be the ticket. [Random Good Stuff]

Say Hello to Marko Calasan. He's nine years old and lives in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He's also Microsoft Certified four times over and working on his fifth certificate. (And he prefers Bing.)

This is the type of story that warms your heart but also makes you feel a little bad about yourself. Why? Because still in his single digits, Marko is more computer literate than many of us will ever be. Here he describes his first memories of using a computer:

But my first memory is from when I was approximately 3 years old when I was making simple actions like personalizing Windows, then installing Windows, making remote desktop connections with workstations and servers on remote locations, and so on.

As someone who still struggles to get remote desktop working, that hurts. But still, good for the little guy, who has earned four certificates—MCP, MCDST, MCSA and MCSE—and is going for his fifth to become a Microsoft Certified Trainer. When asked about his plans for the next ten years, Calasan said he hoped to write Windows 7 instructional books for users of all levels. He also said that Bing is his preferred search engine.

When asked if he preferred Windows or OSX, Calasan held back from indulging his literal inner fanboy, explaining, "For everyone, the choice is different, so for me I use Windows because I am satisfied with its security, stability, scalability, productivity and many other good advantages of the Microsoft Windows operating system."

That diplomatic reponse to the enduring operating system debate might be an even more impressive display of precociousness than his certificates. [Network World]

Philip Ross works with a mushroom farm called Far West Fungi. And on it they're growing your future house. Or at least the nontoxic, fireproof, mold- and water-resistant building blocks for it.

There are dozens of mushroom-filled shipping containers on this farm, but what Ross is after are the "fungi's thin, white rootlike fibers" also known as mycelium. He's after these fibers because they make great building blocks:

Mycelium doesn't taste very good, but once it's dried, it has some remarkable properties. It's nontoxic, fireproof and mold- and water-resistant, and it traps more heat than fiberglass insulation. It's also stronger, pound for pound, than concrete.

If you doubt how strong the material is, consider this: Ross "destroyed many a metal file and saw blade" while shaping 500 of these mushroom bricks into a six foot by six foot archway. He hopes to destroy many more tools by one day building entire homes out of mushroom bricks.

And my parents thought I was nuts when I told them I wanted to live in a mushroom just like the Smurfs.[Time via Futurismic]

There are some things that I've always struggled with in life: Professing love, admitting that I'm part robot, and confessing that I like to fight crime. Thankfully this card does it all for me.

Ok, ok. So I'll have to correct the gender on the card, but come on! No product is perfect. [Etsy via The Daily What]

Kickstands are enjoying something of a renaissance lately as tablets have jumped to the forefront of everyone's attention, so it's only natural that the HD2, the most tabletesque of smartphones, is getting a combination kickstand/battery pack of its own.

The battery definitely adds some bulk to the skinny HD2, but if you're looking to take advantage of its 800x480 screen to do some video-watching on the go, then an extended battery and a sweet kickstand are two things that could suit you well.

Taking part in the zeitgeist will only cost you £41.11 when the battery pack is available in March. [Cool Smart Phone via Engadget]