The city of Paris plans to offer something more than a bench to rest and collect your bearings. The structure, planned for Rond Point des Champs-Elysées, is meant to have touch-screen maps, a green roof, and serve as a wi-fi hotspot.

In other news, absurd catalog living abounds in a new book, and is a smaller iPad on the way? See the headlines after the jump.

• A Rest Stop for the 21st Century Flâneur | Architizer
• Don't Try This at Home | Catalog Living at Its Most Absurd | T Magazine
• Apple Preps for New Tablet | Wall Street Journal

(Image: via Architizer)