Cooper-Hewitt People's Design Awards

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As part this year's National Design Awards, the Cooper-Hewitt was accepting nominations for the People's Design Award where members of the public could nominate and vote for their favorite designs.  Nominees include the usual suspects like the iPod and the Mini Cooper but they also some great nominations for the wheel, the umbrella, duct tape, air bags and playing cards.  That is my kind of design contest!  Check out all the nomination on at the Cooper-Hewitt site.

The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton

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My friend James bought me an Edward Monkton calendar for Christmas last year and I became an instant fan.  His humorous cartoons about life, friendship, and food are brilliant.  How can you go wrong with a guy who names his website "The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton"? Some of my favorites are; The Penguin of Death, The Meaning of Life, and of course, Ninja Biscuits.

You can enter the world of Edward Monkton at www.EdwardMonkton.com

Nike + Apple

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If you haven't already heard, Nike and Apple have teamed up to create a training system called Nike +.  It consists of a insert for your Nike + shoes and a receiver that attaches to your Apple Nano.  Data from your run is transferred onto the Nano, tracking your pace and run time.  Data can monitored through the headphones as well as tracked over time on your computer.  iTunes has also put together special playlists to optimize your training.

Not only is this a powerful partnership but what I really like about this system is that it is the kind of great idea that designers come up with as concepts but never make it to production.