I can see this sort of thing happening in the no-so-distant future, also if Apps get introduced (similar to apps on the Apple iphone), this can have multiple practical applications, from child education to games to tour group guiding.

The video is titled ‘Window to the World’ and was launched in partnership with the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design.

http://www.psfk.com/2011/08/toyota-imagines-what-it-could-be-like-in-the-backseat.html

The wheels are lit up by tiny LED lights and accompanying reflectors. These LED strip encircling both wheels of the bicycle. According to designers Project Aura has a larger visibility footprint from the side and that conventional reflectors doesn’t even come close.

The lights also changes color from red when slowing down to white when going faster, so motorists can respond appropriately. Project Aura is powered by a hub generator instead of batteries; all cyclists have to is pedal.

http://designtaxi.com/news/35299/Illuminated-Wheels-for-Safer-Night-Cycling/

Most large-volume chemicals are made from petroleum. About 80 million tons of polyethylene are made annually around the world. But high oil prices have increased the costs of petrochemicals. Sugar-cane ethanol production has allowed the industry to drive down costs, making ethanol competitive with fossil fuels.

Dow Chemical is keeping costs down by handling every part of the process, from growing the sugar-cane to producing the polymers. This makes it possible, to provide energy to run the plant with biomass left over from producing sugar from sugar-cane.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/38114/?p1=MstRcnt

Each year, hundreds of millions bars of soap are discarded all around the world. We are throwing away that much soap at the expense of other people who don’t have anything. That might not seem like a big thing, but in some 3rd world counties a bar of soap is the difference between being healthy or being sick.

When people fall sick because they didn’t wash up your hands, it’s more expensive for them to go to the hospital to get treated. That’s where the problem begins and people end up dying.

With the support of his wife, local friends and hotels in Atlanta, USA, Derreck Kayongo began a Global Soap Project in 2009. The big idea is to collect these used bars of soap and send them to 3rd world countries were they are needed.

So far, 300 hotels in America have joined the collection effort, generating 100 tons of soap. Some participating hotels even donate high-end soaps such as Bvlgari, which retails up to $27 for a single bar.

Volunteers across the U.S. collect the hotel soaps and ship them to the Global Soap warehouse in Atlanta, USA. On Saturdays, volunteers gather there to reprocess, clean and package the bars.

The rest of the world should adopt this idea, it’s truly a great cause.

http://www.globalsoap.org/

(via CNN)

Hacking Autism is a story of technology and hope and the difference it’s making in the lives of some people who need it most.

Hacking Autism doesn’t seek to cure autism, but rather it aims to facilitate and accelerate technology-based ideas to help give those with autism a voice.

The organization is looking for developers and people with great ideas. Head over there and see how you cant help.

http://hackingautism.org/

A Toyota plant in Texas has been hit by a parts shortage as a result of the Japan earthquakes and as a result the 2800 workers, that’s employed at the plant, are only productive 50% of the time. Luckily Toyota plans to pay the salaries of these employees during this time.

The plant’s management team came up with a great idea to keep the employees productive during this time. They are going to let the workers build houses for Habitat For Humanity, a non-profit, housing organization building simple, decent and affordable housing, during the time that they’re not busy.

I think this is a great idea, getting the employees to good instead of just sitting around. Nice one Toyota!

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/05/09/toyota-workers-to-build-habitat-for-humanity-homes-when-not-buil/

The guys and girls over at Hyper Island saw this problem, identified a gap in the market and launched the intern store. Yes, you can now browse through a large list of interns, weighing them up against skill level, past experience and general personalities. It’s very similar to buying apps on you smart phone or in your browser (Chrome), except, off course, for interns.

I can see this sort of idea taking off in other industries as well, but the digital industry is definitely a good place to start.

http://internstore.com/

It tracks a range of statistics on the number of swipes of your Oyster Card (London’s public transport smart card). From that information it will make you compete on achievements, missions, places, transport type used, and even the passengers you passed as you travel through the city.

Not only is it better for the planet if we travel using public transport, but with Chromaroma it’s definitely more fun.

http://www.chromaroma.com/

The new shower design from Axor Starck might just have changed that. Its a full body shower. I think the best way to describe it would be to say that it’s like showering in pouring rain, except warm off-course.

It also helps that the shower is part of a bathroom shower collection, so you can now have that shower of your dreams and cleanse yourself in complete comfort and luxury.

http://freshome.com/2009/05/25/the-axor-starck-showercollection/

Today’s idea is one of those. It is a, Japanese made, fire extinguisher called the “SAT119″. What makes it different is that you don’t have to get close to the fire to put it out, you just need to throw this extinguisher into the fire and it will extinguish it. How awesome is that?!

I mean we’ve probably been throwing rocks before we could set fires. I can it take us this long to come up with this?

The way it works is that firstly the water will evaporate that cools down the temperature of whatever is burning. Then ammonium gas would slow down the fire that, in turn, restrains the fire’s chain reaction. At the same time, one of the SAT119′s main ingredients and carbon dioxide would cut the flow of oxygen and kill the fire.

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/04/throwable-fire.php