Wanna Ride?? This one shall prove to be an eco-friendly one with an inveterate entertainment. Yahoo’s newest bike is a complete showstopper. Armed with solar panel, a GPS enabled mobile phone hidden and a script to constantly take pictures at 60 seconds, this bike will be able to map out route that you take (and geotagged it properly) and upload to Flicker account instantly. Beneath the installation on the bikes, there is a Nokia N95 (based on the meta tag found on the pictures), a Solar panels which power the camera phone and Custom Python script installed on the phone which fires off the shutter every 60 seconds while the phone’s accelerometer detects that you’re in motion, and uploads the resulting photo with geotags to the bike’s Flickr account.

Being launched as a part of the company’s new “Start Wearing Purple” marketing campaign, this does have a feminine angle to it but it is well-equipped with valuables to attract men as well. Though initially starting from San Fransico and New York, these bikes would soon be pedaling around the world in countries such as Singapore, Denmark and the U.K.



If this happens to interest you, you can actually download the software to your symbian phone and capture the images yourself.
Via ohgizmo

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The increasing number of designers who are interested in making innovative stuff from recycled tyres and tubes compels me to say that tyre furniture is here to stay! The latest addition being inflatable furniture range called Recycoool comes from Israel. Its designer, Nir Ohayon believes in designs that are cool-looking, easily affordable and leave fewer footprints on nature. He has crafter the entire Recycoool range using recycled car tyres inner tubes. Thus he has churned out sofas, tables& chairs, recliners, shelving and benches etc. by inserting car inner tubes in and around metal tube framework. Finally, the tubes have been inflated to fill out the form and shape!

Nir has given delectable names to his creations like The Master, The Big Yogi, Nirvana, Golam and Plata. If these inflatable furniture pieces have caught your interest then, you may get one custom made for you. All you need to do is contact the chap. I think, the range will delight tyred (oops I meant tired) souls! Just click on recycoool.com and have a look at other pieces too.

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Via: greenupgrader

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When it comes to Future Designs, Italian designers somehow always manage to churn out some of the best eco-friendly pieces-gadgets, furniture, concepts etc. TETRA happens to be one of them. Designed by engineer/designer Daniele Gualeni, TETRA is a nouveau eco-friendly product that is functionality, beauty, flexibility and sustainability rolled into one product-Table. Gualeni’s TETRA transforms breakable wood foil into super strong yet flexible materials without meddling with the original texture so that, the sense of touch of its nature remains the same. He believes in fusing science and technology with design and art to find solutions for the future that tremendously improve our quality of life.

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Breaking away from the norms of planar surfaces the TETRA with its rounded shape and a geometrical concept, is the result of some out-of-the box thinking. Its rotational molding gives it a unique design carved out of 100% LDPP (low density polypropylene). The product retains the aspect of being recycled. TETRA’s top film can be easily removed, reused and is eco-friendly.

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The designer whishes to commercially launch this table and is on the look out for a producer who is interested in this project of his. Well, I would certainly like to see such a table in community eating centers and parks instead of those cheap plastic tables that are usually non-biodegradable.

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Via: Tuvie

You want to save the earth? Ask Mondo-green mermaid Daryl Hannah how. The pretty lass nurtures a deep love for bio-fuels and leaves no stone unturned to make it a part of her life. She has been using the fossil fuel alternative for over a decade in her converted El Camino and bio-diesel for buzzing around her farm. She even founded the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance. Wow, it is indeed very cool to see people and celebs go the extra mile to save the earth.

Daryl’s mantra is simple. She uses fuel from waste vegetable oil, and not ethanol which has received a lot of flak for rising food costs. In Daryl’s words, “There are plenty of fuel processing techniques and feed stocks that bio-fuels can come from—for both bio-diesel and ethanol— like garbage, hemp, algae, cellulose waste, prairie grasses, moringa and jatropha.”
So don’t give up on bio-diesel just because some corporate sharks are promoting otherwise!
Via ecorazzi

Showcased here is a mega trendy ashtray model proposed by a Greek designer. This ultra modish ashtray has got twin pros as it could mingle the two sought-after pursuits of populace there. As in Greece people adore nature and plants and they can’t refrain from smoking too, so it would be better for them to link their both beloved pastimes by way of this exclusive ashtray model. This fantastic blueprint entitled “Ash is Ok” is nothing but an exquisite flowerpot crafted along with a ceramic ashtray. If we go by designer’s assertion we don’t need to agonize as the ecofriendly design of this ashtray would take away the ashes out of the cigarette butts through the holes in the soil of the plant.

Accordingly, the green value of this creation “Feel free, the plant can take it” gets affirmed. This eco design would undeniably beatify beings who are not intense smokers as it would facilitate making up for pollution and making the ambiance unadulterated.

I suppose this distinctively green ashtray design would emphatically appeal people around the globe.

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Makeup is an essential part of our lives today. When we wake up exhausted or hung over from a late night party, we all reach out for the bottles of colour and sprays on our dressing table to make oneself look good. But at what cost do these little extravagances of good life come from? C’mon none of us wants to enjoy something that may impact our health as well as that of our planet. Come to think of it, aren’t the two one and the same!

It is a good thing that the beauty industry has taken its fare share of responsibility to prevent the environment from further damage. Providing fashionable yet less-toxic makeup has become a popular trend with all major brands. But Kaia House, Futurenatural and Beautorium lead the pack. We have already seen how consumer pressure can encourage companies to consider the impact of their products. But there are professional makeup artists whose say also influences rest of the pack. The owner and founder of Futurenatural Emma Pezzack claims that the days of organic and natural makeup being hippy-dippy are long past. There are now plenty of products that are as amazing as conventional stuff. And to create awareness about the same she is having talks with Sarah Brown at Vogue, as well as editors at Body and Soul and Lucky.

Via Eco-chick

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What’s summer fun without barbequing and grilling? But if you care for your planet then conventional barbequing is not a viable option. However, you can still enjoy grilled food in a truly green manner with the new Helios Solar Grill. Designed in a sci-fi manner, Helios brings the goodness of solar energy to you by grilling your food with sun’s heat. This grill is as efficient as a solar oven in terms of energy. While you grill your chicken on it the reflective solar dish is pointed away from you. This ensures maximum safety. This reflective parabolic dish focuses sunlight on a solar receptor ultimately changing sunlight into usable energy. This energy then travels to the grilling platform and heats up a coil which then helps in cooking food.

The solar grill stores upright so as to leave a small carbon footprint on the atmosphere. Its cantilevers open up with ease and when your are ready to cook they lock back in place. Helios can be used on a bad weather day as well so that your cooking doesn’t suffer on a not-so sunny day! For this, the solar grill comes with a retractable plug. The latter is an alternative energy source stored in the base of the device. As compared to barbequing which emits a lot of carbon – emissions that ultimately leads to global warming, Helios solar grill is a cleaner option. If you use less ghee (fat) for your chicken tikkas then with Helios grill by your side, you can stay healthy and go green in a delicious manner!

Via: Tuvie

Surface run-off of water is bad and extremely wasteful whether it happens on soil surface in natural settings or in our bathrooms and kitchens. To tackle with the wasteful procedures at least for the bathroom low-flow showers and taps have been introduced but what about kitchenware? Thanks to designer Ran Shnaper, now the previously wasteful dish drying racks gets a new eco-friendly design. This new green dish drying rack is designed in a manner that it can grow your leafy herbs and spices like mint, thyme or lemon verbena. The designer has drawn inspiration from traditional farming technique- channel irrigation.

Unlike ordinary dish drying racks in this one, the run-off water gets directed to a small section- the bed of your herbs. To add to the green quotient, even the dividers are tree-shaped. Cool concept it is. Only that let’s see when does this eco dish drying rack hits the market shelves. Whenever it does, I’m going to pick one for me definitely!

Via: yankodesign

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A crazy idea, a small step, a new vision, a new invention. That was the easiest way to describe the invention of POWERLeap. For the uninitiated, POWERLeap is a unique flooring system that taps the energy released by your body when you step on it and generates electricity.� It was invented by Elizabeth Redmond, a 23 year old student at University of Michigan’s School of Art and Design.� It started out as a small project for her senior thesis but it turned out to be much bigger idea than she could imagine. POWERLeap is based on a scientific phenomenon called piezoelectricity. In simple words, piezoelectricity is generation of electricity by some substances like crystals and certain ceramics while encountering mechanical stress (and you only thought your boss was capable of it!!).

POWERLeap if funded by keen investors is a product which has the potential to put the eco-drive on a fast track. With endless applications of a simple technology, we can breathe a sigh of relief in all matters pertaining to electricity generation.� With natural resources depleting faster than the speed of light, maybe this was the answer we were seeking for. If you ask me, Elizabeth Redmond deserves a nobel prize for such a noble invention. On second thoughts, a better planet is the best prize.

via Source

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The image of a happy Sarah Jessica Parker walking around on the streets of New York wearing absolutely drop dead gorgeous Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos in Sex and the City will forever be embedded in our hearts and mind.� From personal experience, I can say that beautiful shoes make a happy woman. However, companies like Miôn, Simple Shoes, Planet Shoes, TerraPlana take this concept to a whole new level. They have come up with eco-friendly shoes which not only make women (and men) happy but they also make for a very happy planet.� These shoes come in every style imaginable for men as well as women. They are made completely out of recycled material, animal friendly products and relatively harmless chemicals. What more, the price range for happy earth shoes is quite competitive with shoes costing as less as $74. GreenPiggies have come up with a similar line for children so that our tiny tots learn a lesson or two in saving mother earth.

With eco-friendly shoes, organic food, vegan skin products, one can only imagine what will be the next step in the race to save our planet. Eco-friendly cars have been the talk of the town ever since companies like Honda and Genepax have launched cars that run on water. The commercial viability of these products are still questionable, considering one does not see many people wearing eco-friendly shoes and driving eco-friendly cars. Awareness, thus, become the need of the hour.

via Source